Loyola University Newspaper Apologizes Over Headline
The student newspaper at Loyola University Chicago has issued an apology for referring to the illegal immigrant responsible for the death of 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman.
The Loyola Phoenix released an editor’s note expressing regret over the headline of a recent article concerning the charges against Jose Medina-Medina. Initially, the headline labeled him as an illegal immigrant, but the memo clarified that this description “does not reflect the most important elements of the story.”
The editors noted that the term “illegal immigrant” was not in line with the Associated Press guidelines or the values of the newspaper itself. “Human presence is not illegal. We immediately changed the language to reflect that,” the note further explained.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Medina-Medina is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was previously apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol and later released under the Biden administration. On Monday, DHS issued a press release highlighting that Medina-Medina, armed with a gun and wearing a mask, approached a group of Gorman’s friends and fatally shot her.
In response, the newspaper updated its story to refer to Medina-Medina as a “Rogers Park resident” and retracted a previous Instagram post that had labeled him as an illegal immigrant. New updates included further comments and editor’s notes.
The Loyola Phoenix did not respond to inquiries for comment regarding the situation.
The day following Gorman’s tragic passing, the paper also published an article honoring her during a wake held at the Chapel of the Madonna della Strada, describing her as “an absolute joy,” “compassionate,” and “extremely generous.”
In 2013, the Associated Press Stylebook introduced guidelines that discourage using terms like “illegal” or “illegal immigrant” to describe individuals. At that time, senior vice president and editor-in-chief Kathleen Carroll emphasized that “illegal” should only be applied to actions such as unlawfully entering or residing in a country.
