{"id":1722,"date":"2019-05-16T03:34:24","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T07:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics\/?p=1722"},"modified":"2019-05-16T03:34:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T07:34:24","slug":"tx-27-a-study-on-local-medias-treatment-of-immigrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/immigrationpolitics-2019\/tx-27-a-study-on-local-medias-treatment-of-immigrants\/","title":{"rendered":"TX-27: a Study on Local Media\u2019s Treatment of Immigrants"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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To perform a media analysis around immigration, it is imperative to understand the effects of the media\u2019s framing of immigrants. First, it has been proven that framing the news with a perspective influences the audience\u2019s perception of immigrants (Adidas, Lo, and Platas 2018). Second, a study of the NYT shows that not only has the volume of immigration coverage increased dramatically in the past few decades, but immigrants are mostly perceived badly (Abrajano & Singh, 2015). This only worsens once it is considered that the district has seen an increase of 2.5pp in the Latino population, which should encourage anti-immigrant sentiment (Hopkins 2010; Enos 2014). Finally, proximity to the border influences how salient immigration is, with border state residents considering it a major issue (Dunaway, Brandon, & Abrajano, 2010). Considering these conclusions from previous research, it is likely that TX-27 will have local news that focus on incidents around immigration, adding a negative bias towards immigrants.<\/span><\/p>\n

As well, it is important to take the district\u2019s basic electoral and demographic compositions. Electorally, Republican Michael Cloud represents the solidly Republican district. Demographically, Latinos make just over 50% of the district, with most of the remaining population comprising of non-Hispanic Whites (39%). As mentioned earlier, the district\u2019s composition is changing. This change is mostly accentuated in Victoria, Representative Cloud\u2019s hometown, which saw a 4.6pp change in the Latino population between 2012-2017. Otherwise, the district\u2019s largest city, Corpus Christi, has an increase in Latino population closer with the district\u2019s average at 2.3pp.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

To test whether the research holds true, this assignment covers two local sources from district TX27\u2019s biggest cities: Corpus Christi\u2019s KRISTV and Victoria\u2019 Victoria Advocate. This study will check the number of articles published between the beginning of the government shutdown (12\/11\/2018) to a week after the shutdown was over (01\/31\/2018). To search the articles, I used the keywords \u201cimmigration\u201d and \u201cborder\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

To test the two predictions, I measured the articles\u2019 political scope and immigrant framing. First, I analyzed the Scope, or specifically the scope of the issue the article is covering. Scope can range from a national bill to a minor, local incident with immigrants. Second, I analyzed the Immigrant Framing; that is, whether individual immigrants were framed negatively, positively, or neutrally. Since these are subjective, I chose specific characteristics for each category:<\/span><\/p>\n