General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: ‘Illegal immigrant’ no more [View all]LooseWilly
(4,477 posts)... stories about our day at work, or the new tricks we've come up with washing the dishes... or maybe a little composition about that danged crow that keeps taunting the cat three doors down?
Or maybe some things are newsworthy and the "business" of the people.
This is a completely different discussion, but I would argue that the fictional point is newsworthy, because if you have any sort of residency issues, legally speaking, then any interaction with the apparatus of the state will put you in potential jeopardy. If Some software engineer from Sri Lanka wins the lottery but has overstayed her work visa (H1b?) and the paperwork to collect lottery money, specifically the paperwork for the 1099-MISC (or maybe 1099-G, come to think of it) which will have to be filed with the IRS, is liable to lead to a mandatory state reporting of the winner's name to the INS (or whatever their initials are now)... then I would argue that that is a potentially important story for any day laborers, visiting college faculty, heroin smugglers, or anyone else who might have paperwork that is less than in-order & who also likes to play the lottery or buy scratchers or... whatever.
You can argue that it's no one's business. I disagree. I think it serves as a warning to others, though some might well argue that it is just an indictment of one individual who was too irresponsible with his or her paperwork.
I would also point out that it could be argued that a President being investigated for bribery is really no one's business. Or a Senator. Or a state senator. Or a county commissioner. Or a city councilperson. Or that guy who owns those two Arby's out on the east side of town.
On the other hand, the police blotter in most any local paper will actually include not only the story of any crimes of interest to the local public, with a mugshot of the accused acquired from the local sheriff (or whoever it is that runs the jails in your state), but it will often also include notice of everything from assaults to someone calling the police because they suspected that there were vagrants going through and stealing their recycling.
At what point is it no one's business? Well, there are actually entire courses in journalism school devoted to that topic. The gist of the answer is this: It's no one's business when it's no one's business.
The reality is the answer is in the details... which is exactly the sort of realization that makes the argument for using a more specific descriptor, or set of descriptors if necessary, than the overly convenient and too easily spun & loaded with vilification one that the AP has just done away with: "illegal" no more.