research review

Media and “illegal” immigration

By Sylvie Xieng

In a Political Research Quarterly article, “Spatial Proximity to the U.S.-Mexico Border and Newspaper Coverage of Immigration Issues,” professors Regina P. Branton and Johanna Dunaway explore how frequently Latino immigration issues are covered in different locations. Not only did they find a higher volume of news coverage in areas closer to the border, but they also found most news focused on negative aspects of immigration and illegal immigration.

The study collected data from 47 California newspapers from March 2004 through March 2005. Branton and Dunaway examined over 1,500 news stories on immigration to test three hypotheses: the volume of Latino immigration coverage decreases the farther the publication is from the border, the amount of negative coverage is more concentrated proximal to the border, and publications closer to the border offer more coverage of illegal immigration.

Findings found strong evidence for all three predictions. As a result, perceptions of Latino immigration as a negative threat more greatly influenced citizens living by the border. These findings suggest local news has the ability to shape political attitudes regarding immigration, and likely racial attitudes toward Latinos.

In this instance, California newspapers demonstrate how media can educate its citizens on issues of Latino immigration.