Immigration and US news media coverage
The United States of America has been restricting an efficient policy making on immigration over a decade and the influence of this in the recent past has increased owing to the progressive evolution in the media business. The deeply embedded processes in the American journalism have established a narrative that causes the public to relate immigration with the misdemeanor, crisis, disagreement as well as government failure (Akdenizli, Dionne & Suro 2008). In the meantime, new voices in journalism of support on the media landscape have thrived in assembling segments of the citizens in the antagonism to the policy initiatives and sometimes through the overstatement of the narrative of immigration as told by the traditional news companies. Therefore, immigration in the United States is a problem that has a polarizing implication of politics at the state’s and local level (Akdenizli, Dionne & Suro 2008). The various reports by the media shape the public perceptions on immigration and also influence the public policy that is established by immigrants and the immigration process. This paper, therefore, will base its argument on the reason as to why the media fails to emphasize the difficulties of the American citizens in relation to the immigrants because of their geographical proximity. The paper will also discuss on how the description of immigrants and the policies of immigration by the media influences the perceptions of the people on the issue. The paper will finally discuss how the choices of words and images that the media uses to illustrate the immigrants have a negative implication on immigrants.
The media fails to emphasize the difficulties of the American citizens in relation to the immigrants because of their geographical proximity.
Geographical extent determines the kind of information that is covered in the media. The media mostly covers stories and news that occurs within a community and not those occurring far away. Therefore the media often emphasizes on the news coverage of the immigrants near the borders and not far away from the borders (Soderlund 2007). As a result of the geographic extent hindering the coverage of the immigrants to geographic distances far from the border, the American citizens within the center continues to suffer from employment pressure as well as unemployment cases due to the deprivation of their economic opportunities by the immigrants (Branton& Dunaway, 2009). It is thus clear that the American citizens who are far away from the border are widely affected by the immigrants and they continue to suffer silently as their sufferings are not covered by the media. The media only concentrates more on the borders hence the coverage on the media is on the immigration issues at the geographical border.
The description of immigrants and the policies of immigration by the media influence the perceptions of the people on the immigration issue.
The media is a strong influential tool since it offers the citizens crucial and sensitive information that changes or even builds up the citizens’ perception on immigration and immigrants. The most important thing to understand is that the way in which the information is transferred by the media onto the citizens is essential as it determines how the viewers from their different viewpoints about the different issues. This influences the American’s support or non-support of the immigration policies and their perception in relation to the immigrant’s education, ethnicity, identity, and ideology. The way the citizens view the immigration, influences the policymaking process and decisions by law (Branton& Dunaway, 2009).
Most of the people in the communities associate illegal migration with a misdemeanor, human smuggling, drugs as well as trespassing. News that are covered on immigrants as the ones that are purportedly taking over the American employments paints the immigrants as people who are hungry for power hence building up a negative perception about them. They are also described as those causing a rise in the tension of the economy. This, therefore, results in a higher rate of competition for jobs and thus crowding effect in the local facilities (Soderlund 2007). This, therefore, results in a poor perception of the immigrants and thus influences the immigration rules on immigration. However, it is clear that the media is taking lightly the issue of immigrants as they do not want to show that it is an issue in the United States as most of the companies take advantage of the illegal immigrants and employ them at a lesser salary than the American employees.
The choices of words and images that the media uses to illustrate the immigrants have a negative implication on immigrants.
The style, words, and images that the media uses determine the persuasiveness of the media in portraying and reporting of the immigration policy. In most cases, the journalists usually use images and words that tend o have an emotional effect as it is regarded as more persuasive. Different words evoke varying emotions and the choice of some of these words determines the way in which the viewer will understand the facts of immigration-related news. Some of these words such as the use of the undocumented employee relay a negative image of the immigrant as it indicates that the employee is illegal which means he is a criminal. Other words such as, an alien to refer to an immigrant portrays an image of not belonging there which is rather hostile and unethical word to use (Branton& Dunaway, 2009).
The immigrants face a lot of suffering as they stay in those countries that they migrate into especially to those who lack the documented papers. The media, therefore, profiles them as undocumented in relation to the laws that are made against the immigrants. The media, therefore, covers the immigrants’ problems by use of harsh words that poses a hostile emotion especially when they do not have the documentation (Valentino, Brader & Jardina 2013). It is thus clear to state that the media is in one way responsible for the negative connotation of the public due to the wrong choice of words and images while covering news or stories of immigrants or the immigration policies.
Conclusion
The media is taking part in and will continue taking part in the most important responsibility of shaping the current and the future of the immigrants, the immigration process as well as the immigration policy since it has a central role in persuading the citizens through their coverage. Thus they have a responsibility to the citizens to report to them facts and therefore they must be conscious of their potential to shape their viewer's judgment and attitudes about the laws on immigration.
Reference
Akdenizli B, Dionne, E.J & Suro R (2008). Democracy In The Age Of New Media: A Report On The Media And The Immigration Debate, Brookings Institution retrieved from:
Branton, R. P., & Dunaway, J. (2009). Spatial proximity to the U.S.-mexico border and newspaper coverage of immigration issues. Political Research Quarterly, 62(2), 289-302. Retrieved from http://libproxy.sdsu.edu/login?url=http:// search.proquest.com.libproxy.sdsu.edu/docview/215329316?accountid=13758
https://www.brookings.edu/research/democracy-in-the-age-of-new-media-a-report-on-the-media-and-the-immigration-debate/
Soderlund, M. (2007). THE ROLE OF NEWS MEDIA IN SHAPING AND TRANSFORMING THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF MEXICAN IMMIGRATION AND THE LAWS INVOLVED. Law & Psychology Review, 31, 167-177. Retrieved from http:// libproxy.sdsu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.sdsu.edu/docview/ 229340527?accountid=13758
Valentino, N. A., Brader, T., & Jardina, A. E. (2013). Immigration opposition among U.S. whites: General ethnocentrism or media priming of attitudes about latinos? Political Psychology, 34(2), 149-166. doi:http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.sdsu.edu/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2012.00928.x
