{"id":1331,"date":"2019-04-17T23:24:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T03:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2019-04-17T23:24:46","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T03:24:46","slug":"immigration-and-the-influence-of-media-in-the-4th-district-of-iowa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/immigration-and-the-influence-of-media-in-the-4th-district-of-iowa\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration and the Influence of Media in the 4th District of Iowa"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Slide 1: <\/span><\/p>\n

Racially, Iowa is an overwhelmingly uniform state, and Steve King’s 4th district is no different. \u00a0White individuals comprise 91.9% of the state\u2019s population, and only 2.3% of the fourth district is represented by the Asian-Americans and 1.5% by the black community (Census). \u00a0In a separate category, the Census breaks down that 7.1% of the population is Hispanic or Latino, of any race (Census). Furthermore, 5.3% of the population is comprised of foreign born individuals (Census). \u00a0The 4th district of Iowa has been redistricted multiple times since 2000, which in turn makes it difficult to gauge an accurate percent change of immigrants as well as racial makeup of the 4th district specifically from 2007 to 2017. \u00a0However, more broadly, over the last nine years, nearly 40% of the state\u2019s population growth has been immigrants, which shows the accelerating growth of this group which can be applied to the 4th district (Lynch). Given the statewide trends, it is likely that the immigrant population in the redistricted 4th district has also increased significantly. \u00a0The median wage is $55,496, which would place the majority of the population into the lower middle class category. Both the population size as well as increasing change in immigrant population are correlated with more conservative views among whites, which is discussed throughout the remaining slides. <\/span>\"\"<\/p>\n

Slide 2:<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that the media\u2019s coverage of immigration is a major driver for public opinion on immigration which in turn dictates immigrant experiences, I will discuss the existing literature in this order. \u00a0It is no secret that news outlets tend to adopt a negative view on immigration, since the 1960s, they have highlighted the apparent overwhelming crime of immigrants and the strain on public resources that they pose. \u00a0But why? News outlets should provide the public with \u201cinformation sufficient for use in the evaluation of matters of policy and governance\u201d in an objective manner, not present a slanted view on specific issues (Branton, 257). \u00a0However, as Branton analyzes in his article, there are economic benefits for news outlets to produce stories pushing a certain narrative. Although the idea of an impartial press is universally encouraged, profit maximizing news organizations are cognisant of the demands of their consumers who prefer polarizing and ideologically slanted stories (Branton, 259). \u00a0Furthermore, given that many of these groups are owned by larger corporations which inherently adopt republican views, their stories reflect that ideology. In the context of immigration, if the news organization perceive their audience to be geared towards sensational and negative stories, there is an incentive for news outlets to \u201cslant coverage in accordance with their perceptions about the preferences of their clientele\u201d (Branton, 267). \u00a0Thus, we are likely to \u201c<\/span>see [a] negative slant in coverage of immigration\u201d (Branton, 259).<\/span> \u00a0This rationale is reflected in Emily Farris\u2019 study, where she analyzed immigration images from three major news magazines. \u00a0In her research, she found that although only \u00bc of immigrants are undocumented, more than half of the images in their dataset portrayed illegal aliens held captive in detention centers or attempting to cross the border illegally (Farris). The representation of the \u201cLatino threat,\u201d a false reality, reinforces the public\u2019s preconceived notions and has shown the ability to \u201c<\/span>shift<\/span><\/a> white voters toward the Republican Party,\u201d adopting an anti-immigrant ideology (Farris). \u00a0The manipulation of public perception shining immigration in a negative light fosters resentment and anxiety towards the inclusion of foreign born individuals. \u00a0Abrajano warns that if \u201cwelfare, redistribution, and criminality dominate white views,\u201d as it is publicized in the news, then immigrant relations with American citizens could mirror the backlash experienced by blacks in the past (Abrajano, 124). \u00a0Additionally, <\/span>Sofya Aptekar<\/span> speculated in her piece that representation of foreign born individuals may not be correlated with an increased immigrant population. \u00a0She observed that <\/span>\u201chalf of the new Edison residents in the 1980s were Asian\u201d however, they had little political representation regardless of their economic prosperity and increased population (Aptekar, 223)<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Slide 3:<\/span><\/p>\n

Given Iowa\u2019s overwhelming Republican majority, it would be reasonable to believe that the bulk of media coverage regarding immigration would discuss restrictionist views. \u00a0As Branton contends, although Iowa is relatively far from the border which is theorized to decrease the prevalence of immigration in the news, the astounding Republican population will still influence news organizations \u201cto print stories with a negative tone toward immigration\u201d (Branton, 267). \u00a0There likely will be an overemphasis on \u201cthemes related to a threat narrative, particularly in regards to crime and illegality\u201d (Farris). This persistent framing of the immigration debate indoctrinates viewers and leads them into the illegality trap, whereby inflating the \u201csingle-minded focus on undocumented immigration\u201d develops into \u201cthe inability [for individuals] to shift this focus\u201d (Farris). \u00a0As Republicans represent 92% of the counties in the fourth district, the already polarizing partisanship views on immigration are intensified by slanted stories in the media to foster negative feelings towards immigration (<\/span>Almukhtar)<\/span>. \u00a0Steve King, congressman of the 4th district, advocates for the implementation of a border wall which reflects the views of his constituents. \u00a0This anxiety instilled in citizens about immigrants boosts opposition towards foreign born individuals. Furthermore, this attitude \u201ctoward Latino immigrants are quite negative and strongly associated with policy opinions\u201d to the detriment of Latinos (Valentino, 154). \u00a0Given all this existing research based on media\u2019s slanting of information and its effect on public opinion, one would logically conclude that immigrant experiences in Iowa\u2019s 4th district would be one of oppression and marginalization. While this is true in many cases, it does not tell the full story. \u00a0Immigrant experiences often vary by race, as Aptekar discussed, the Asian immigrants in Edison were incredibly successful economically \u201cthey are much better off than whites in terms of socioeconomic status\u201d however struggled politically (Aptekar, 235). Similarly, whites react very differently to an Asian American context compared to the Latino\u2019s in that they view Asian immigrants as the \u201cmodel minority and ally\u201d (Abrajano, 152). \u00a0This is important in that whites believe Asian Americans are capable individuals and who are able to integrate into society, whereas \u201cLatinos seem to be a real threat that whites counter with more restrictive and more punitive policy making\u201d complicating their integration into society (Abrajano, 152). <\/span><\/p>\n

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Slide 4:<\/span><\/p>\n

To test the prevalence of slanted news in the media, I will conduct a study to uncover the salience of framing and use of tone regarding immigration from the top three newspapers in Iowa. \u00a0Given that the Des Moines Register, The Gazette, and the Quad-City Times are the three most read newspapers in Iowa, according to Cision Media, I will conduct my research using these three outlets. \u00a0I will try to understand whether the theory of news organizations catering their material to the consumer\u2019s preferences is true. To set the stage for this research, I will examine these newspapers from January 1-February 1, which should give me enough time to produce a reliable and applicable conclusion. \u00a0More specifically I will calculate the percent of immigration related stories from these three outlets, the number of buzzwords used to invoke a sense of fear or anxiety amongst the readers, and I will also attempt to figure out the demographic and party affiliation of each respective newspaper\u2019s readers. From these variables, I hope to find whether or not newsgroups do in fact slant their stories in order to maximize their profit and in turn influence the public perception of immigrants in a negative way. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Slide 1: Racially, Iowa is an overwhelmingly uniform state, and Steve King’s 4th district is no different. \u00a0White individuals comprise 91.9% of the state\u2019s population, and only 2.3% of the fourth district is represented by the Asian-Americans and 1.5% by the black community (Census). \u00a0In a separate category, the Census breaks down that 7.1% of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1248,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-districts-2","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1340,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions\/1340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}