UPDATE: The Star has added an editor’s note explaining the change in the first paragraph. See the bottom of this post for the text.
American may have been too strong a statement.
The Arizona Daily Star has changed the lede on its story today about a suspect in the killing of a Cochise County Rancher.
The old lede (journalism jargon for the first paragraph of a story):
The killing of a Southern Arizona rancher that sparked an outcry to secure the border was not random, and investigators are focusing on an American suspect, the Arizona Daily Star has learned.
The new lede updated about 12:45:
The killing of a Southern Arizona rancher that sparked an outcry to secure the border was not random, and investigators are focusing on a suspect in the United States, the Arizona Daily Star has learned.
“American” has been changed to “suspect in the United States” indicating the person may still be an illegal immigrant. If so, it raises questions about the stated motivations of the sources the Star used to report the story, that they wanted to “quell the fury over illegal immigration and drug smuggling set off by the shooting death of longtime rancher Robert Krentz on March 27.”
However, if the stated motivation of the Star’s sources is sound, the language change indicates the suspect may be a legal immigrant.
I’ve asked the Star for comment. I’ll update if they do.
UPDATE: Star’s Editor’s Note:
Earlier versions of this news story referred to the possible suspect in the Krentz killing investigation as American. The story — as originally reported — said the suspect is believed to be in the United States. It was changed to ‘American’ in the editing process. To be clear, the suspect is believed to be in the US. The suspect’s nationality is unknown.
Since the “nationality is unknown” there still remains a question about the motivations of the Star’s sources. If the suspect turns out to be an illegal immigrant, it’s unclear how revealing that the suspect is in the United States will “quell the fury over illegal immigration.”