According to an internal memo obtained by the Washington Examiner, Politico has become the latest news outlet to instruct its staff not to use the word “crisis” when reporting on the migrant crisis at the United States’ southern border.
“The Beltway publication’s edict, which an official characterized as underscoring earlier guidance from the Associated Press, comes despite President Joe Biden’s own use of the term,” reported the Washington Examiner.
The memo from deputy production director Maya Parthasarathy reads as follows:
Avoid referring to the present situation as a crisis, although we may quote others using that language while providing context. While the sharp increase in the arrival of unaccompanied minors is a problem for border officials, a political challenge for the Biden administration and a dire situation for many migrants who make the journey, it does not fit the dictionary definition of a crisis. If using the word ‘crisis,’ we need to ask of what and to whom.
The Washington Examiner also noted that a spokesperson for Politico told them that “This wasn’t a company-wide memo — it was an email to relevant employees sharing AP style guidance — the industry standard,” before referencing a post titled, “Describing what’s happening at the US border” by John Daniszewski, Vice President for Standards at The Associated Press.
This post begins, “There has been a rise in unaccompanied minors crossing the southwestern U.S. border in the last two months since the start of the Biden administration. This follows a monthly increase in border crossings each month since April, or the last eight months of the Trump presidency. The current level of crossings in 2021 is roughly equal to the last upturn that occurred in mid-2019.”
Later, Daniszewski states, “we should avoid, or at the least, be highly cautious, about referring to the present situation as a crisis on our own.”
This post was written on March 26, 2021. At the time, the available data showed that there were 96,974 migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border in February 2021, which was vaguely similar to the last “upturn” in mid-2019, with a peak of 132,856 in May 2019.
However, according to The Washington Post, border agents apprehended 172,331 migrants in March 2021, which far exceeds the height of the “crisis” in 2019.
According to Merriam-Webster, the dictionary definition of “crisis” is, “an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending,” especially “one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome.”
Not only is the use of the word “crisis” definitionally and statistically justified, Joe Biden himself used the word just days ago while discussing the situation on the southern border, when Biden claimed that his administration’s refugee cap was linked to the “crisis that ended up on the border with young people.”
“We couldn’t do two things at once,” Biden claimed. “And now we are going to increase the number.”
After months of lying and refusing to visit the border, Joe Biden refers to the “crisis” after golfing pic.twitter.com/Qg4NyIsgZY
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 17, 2021