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Immigration and the Media
Abstract:
The public’s perception of the world today is widely shaped by the media. A controversial topic
that is frequently in the news these days is immigration. The purpose of my research was to find
a correlation between how the television news media presents immigration issues and what the
public’s feelings about immigration are. The project involved intense media immersion that
provided insight as to how immigration is presented. While the secondary analysis of attitudinal
data about immigration in the U.S. through the GSS public opinion surveys provided a portrait of
how the public feels about immigration. The focus was a comparison between English-language
news and Spanish-language news. The findings show Spanish-language news media presents the
topic as if they are an advocate for Latino communities and that overall, Americans are currently
unsure about the topic of immigration as many of them are more concerned with issues
surrounding the economy and unemployment.
Introduction:
By nature, the mass media outlets have the ability to reach many people at one time.
Every day many people turn on the news to see what events are happening around the world and
how they might be affected by them. One of the main functions of mass communications is
surveillance. Surveillance is “primarily the journalism function of mass communication, which
provides information about the processes, issues, events, and other developments in society,”
(Pavlik 2011). In a perfect world, the function of the news media is to inform the public in an
objective manner that is free from bias. In reality, the way in which the news is presented to the
public affects what opinions they will form about certain topics because it is nearly impossible to
avoid biases. One issue that is regularly covered in the news is immigration, as it has stirred up a
serious debate among politicians and the public. Immigration also has caused debates about the
future of the American economy and unemployment which are also making daily appearances in
news broadcasts.
Immigration is a catalyst for a lot of debate and sparks strong feelings in many people
that are living in the United States. It is important to take into consideration how people receive

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the information that they make opinions about. It is equally important to make connections
between how they receive the information and what their opinion of a subject like immigration
is. Immigration impacts each person living in America, for example, if they are an immigrant
themselves, a child of an immigrant or a natural born citizen. Other people work with
immigrants. Chances are each person has some time of interaction with an immigrant. Also,
immigration will continue to happen as the world becomes smaller due to globalization. This
research investigates the facts about the manner in which television news media operates and
how it relates to public opinion.
Literature:
There is an obvious relationship between the media and public opinion. Since the
beginnings of mass communication in the late 1880s with mass circulation of newspapers, (The
Rise of Mass Communication, 2011) the function of journalism has been to inform, but the
media has been unable to inform without also influencing. Most news broadcasts are slanted in a
certain direction and therefore create avenues in which the public can form opinions. There is
also the intentional swaying of opinion through the process of agenda setting which is where the
news focuses its attention on certain topics. From this it can be said that the news does not tell
people how to think, but what to think about, (Abrajano and Singh, 2008). In fact the majority of
the public learns of current events and issues through watching television news, (Pavilk, 2010).
The television media is more prominent than newspapers and radio as people spend a lot of time
in front of them. Research done in 1985 concluded that the television news was, “more
informative than newspapers, the radio and magazines,” (Abrajano and Singh, 2008). As stated
in the introduction, a popular issue that is presented in United States news is the topic of
immigration.

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Immigration is the foundation of the United States as we are a nation built upon people
who settled in the United States to make a better life for themselves. There have been waves of
immigration throughout U.S. history, with mass immigration happening in the late 19th and 20th
centuries, (Borjas, 1999). At this time, there is an influx of immigrants from Latin America with
countries in Asia also showing a large number of immigrants coming into the United States.
According to data from the Migration Policy Institute (2007), 1.8 million people entered the
United States between the years 2002 and 2006. Of that about 1.3 million were legal while
500,000 entered illegally. From this it can be seen that the majority of immigrants enter this
country legally, (Migration Policy Institute, 2007). The fact is that whether immigrants enter this
country legally or illegally, they are making an impact on the United States.
Immigrants have their reasons for coming to this country. Many arrive searching for the
“American Dream,” hoping to find better jobs and improve their economic situations; scholars
often call them labor immigrants, (Portes, 1996). This gives way to why immigration is a hot
topic in the media: because so many people are immigrating and many of them have plans to
make the United States their permanent home, which is threatening to many Americans. If the
rate of immigration was not so steep, we wouldn’t see it in the media, (Boomgaarden and
Vliegenthart, 2009). The simple fact is that people are immigrating and the news is covering it,
therefore public opinions will form and there is an obvious connection between the media
coverage and public opinion.
That is why to study the topic of immigration in the media, it is important to also look at
the other stories in the media. More than just immigration stories are covered and these other
stories are just as important in the United States right now. Additional hot topics up for debate in
right now are unemployment and the economy. The economic situation of many Americans also

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influences their view of immigration, (Borjas, 1999). Right now unemployment is at a high and
the economy seems to be slipping further downward with every day that passes. The national
unemployment rate as of July 2011 is 9.2 percent with 14.1 million people unemployed, (U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics). As was mentioned, immigrants are coming to this country in order to
find jobs, but many American people are also struggling to find jobs. Many Americans feel
threatened by immigrants and feel as if they are taking jobs away from them, (American Civil
Liberties Union, 2008). This fuels the anti-immigration sentiments that many Americans are
feeling.
However, most Americans do not realize that it is a misconception that immigrations are
a negative impact to our economy and take away our jobs. They couldn’t be any more wrong.
The President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) published a report called “Immigration’s
Economic Impact” in June of 2007. The report concluded that immigrants actually stimulate
economic growth and have a positive impact on our economy, (American Civil Liberties Union,
2008). For example, just like American citizens, they are paying taxes and they are consumers.
The biggest complaint that American workers have is that immigrants take jobs from
Americans. This speculation is also false. American workers do not want the dirty jobs, the
manual labor, (Jin and Isao, 2004). Immigrants will take that job; in fact they will take whatever
they can get. It is the concept of the skilled versus the unskilled worker. The immigrants aren’t
taking jobs; rather they are filling in the gaps for the jobs that most Americans don’t want to do,
(Jing and Isao, 2004).
Covering Immigration:
To reiterate, the topic of immigration is regularly covered in television news and because
it is being presented to the public, it means that people are going to form opinions about it.

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However, each program presents the topic in a different manner. According a paper written on
the relationship between Latinos and immigration reform from 2008, there are three main ways
to present a story: positivity, negatively or in a neutral manner, (Abrajano and Singh, 2008).
To present immigration in a negative light is to discuss it in a demeaning way. Whereas
to talk about immigration in a positive way is to talk about how immigration is a benefit to
United States economy and culture. Finally, to present immigration in a neutral sense means that
the news discusses immigration reform from all sides and does not use interviews or additional
resources in their discussion, it merely explains a policy reform. The positive and negative ways
to slant immigration usually means that interviews are used in their presentation of the topic thus
adding personal opinions to the stories, (Abrajano and Singh, 2008). For example, the news
broadcast brings a political analyst into the segment in order to make a statement about the
reform.
There are many variables that affect the slant of a particular immigration piece and the
audience who will watch the broadcast. One variable is the language in which the story is
presented in. In the case of this research, news was presented in either English or Spanish. The
question of language also relates to which network is being viewed. Is the network a cable
network or network? Is it owned publicly or by a private company? However, in this project only
privately owned networks were viewed so the ownership of a network was not a variable in this
project. An opinion of immigration can be dependent upon these variables.
Let’s look at the difference in the manner in which a story is presented based on
language. What follows is an analysis of the differences between English and Spanish networks:
“it appears, then, that Latino journalists see themselves as “advocates” for the Latino
community,” (Abranjano and Singh, 2008). On the other hand, it can be seen that many negative

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immigration stories are from English-language networks. This doesn’t always hold to be true, but
is commonly written about by scholars, (Abranjano and Singh, 2008). Whether a news program
is presented in English or Spanish, they are deliberate in the way in which they present their
stories.
The slanting of immigration stories goes deeper than just the language it is presented in.
It also depends on the network that is presenting the story because even though the main function
of journalism is to inform the people, the media corporations cannot help but to be profit driven
which is another factor that influences the manner in which they frame stories, (Branton and
Dunaway, 2009). For a television network to remain afloat it needs advertisements and affiliates,
(Pavlik, 2010). The ownership of the network has influence over the manner in which stories are
presented and in fact what is presented. Privately owned networks have to power to be more
selective of what and how they tell news stories, (Branton and Dunaway, 2009). This is evident
in the Fox News Network which is notably conservative and has many Republican viewers,
(DellaVigna and Kaplan, 2007).The privately owned networks don’t need to rely on shareholders
as much and therefore have the ability to choose what and how to present on their own accord.
However, publicly shared stations are noted to interfere more with news broadcasts, (Branton
and Dunaway, 2009). This is because they are owned by many shareholders and their goal is to
make a profit and therefore in the case of immigration they seem to present a negative tone,
(Branton and Dunaway, 2009). The difference between privately or publicly owned is the extent
as to how much the public has a stake in the company and how that might affect the stories that
are presented.
Another variable that influences the manner in which a story is presented is whether or
not a station is cable or network television. People have the ability to watch cable news 24 hours

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a day, where as in network television, the news is presented about three hours a day, (Cable vs.
Network, 2004). Also, the network news usually is on at five-thirty in the morning and then
again at six-thirty or seven PM. The amount of time that a person has to watch a network
broadcast is a lot less, but as the cable networks are on 24 hours a day, they can catch the news at
their convenience. The fact is that even though the network news proved to be more influential in
the beginnings of television news, now as the majority of the public has cable, the number of
viewers of network news is dwindling. This can be seen from a Pew survey in 2002 that says that
from 1992 to 2002 the amount of viewers of network television news dropped from 58 to 32
percent, (Cable vs. Network, 2004).
Also, a person’s personal opinion of immigration can depend on the knowledge of the
topic by the viewer. A person who may not know a lot about immigration laws and procedures
probably would not care about immigration as much as someone who follows the topic closely,
(Abranjano and Singh, 2008). The type of home that a person has grown up in and their
education level also affects opinions that they have about immigration. It may also dictate which
program they choose to watch.
When all these factors are put into place the bottom line is that as of right now the
overall sense of feeling towards immigrants is negative. Most Americans are for stricter
immigration reform and have negative feelings towards immigration, (Public Opinion on
Immigration, 2011). This opinion is influenced by other media factors as well, not just the
language in which they receive their information.

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Research Question:
How is immigration presented in the television news outlets? Is there a difference
between Spanish-language news and English-language news presentations? What is the public’s
current opinion of immigration?
Data and Methods:
The best way to see how immigration is presented to the public is to become the public.
The primary focus of this research was to survey the major news networks available in the
United States in order to find out how they present the topic of immigration. I focused on the
immigration into the United States by Hispanics and consequently viewed both English-language
news and Spanish-language news programs. I chose eight television networks and for two weeks
watched various daily programs. The networks were as followed: MSNBC, Fox News, CNN,
Univisión, Telemundo, NBC, ABC and CBS. Three are cable, three are from the major networks
and two are Spanish-language. The networks studied are broadcast throughout the entire nation
on a daily basis; they are not specific to any region of the country. They were viewed
systematically at different times of the day and the following information was recorded: the
broadcast, the name of the broadcaster, whether or not there were stories about immigration and
if so how many. Comments about the broadcast were also recorded.
The networks, (Wikipedia.org):
MSNBC: is a cable network that is owned by NBC Universal. It was created in 1996 by Tom
Rogers. It has been labeled as a liberal and progressive network.
Fox News: is a cable network that is owned by Fox Entertainment Group which is a part of
News Corporation who was created by Rupert Murdoch in 1996. It commonly known that that
Fox News presents the news in a conservative manner.

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CNN: is a cable network that was created by Ted Turner in 1980. It was the channel to present
the news 24 hours a day. CNN is owned by Time Warner.
Univisión: is a Spanish-language network. It reaches mostly a Hispanic and Latino audience and
its viewership can be compared to that of the major English-language networks in the United
States. It is the largest Spanish-language network in the United States.
Telemundo: is a Spanish-language network and the second Spanish-langue network in the United
States. It is part of the NBC Universal family and reaches many Hispanic and Latino households.
NBC: is network television. It is part of NBC Universal.
ABC: is network television, it is owned by The Walt Disney Company.
CBS: is network television, it is owned by CBS Broadcasting Inc.
The broadcasts that were viewed were newsroom broadcasts rather than personality based
programs as those tend to be more opinion driven. This was a deliberate choice made in order to
prevent potential bias.
Here is a sample of the table that was used to record notes about the news programs:
TV
Network
Time
of Day Broadcaster Broadcast
Immigration
Stories?
Number
of
stories Comments
MSNBC
(cable)
Univision
(Spanish)
Fox News (cable)
CNN
(cable)
Telemundo
(Spanish)
NBC (newtwork)
ABC
(network)
CBS
(network)

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The second part of the research examined survey results from the GSS in order to find
information regarding public opinions on immigration. The GSS is the most profound project of
the National Opinion Research Center or NORC at the University of Chicago. The GSS produces
surveys that contain a variety of demographic as well as attitudinal questions for the American
public to respond to, (NORC). Most of the questions used in this project dealt with the public’s
attitudes of immigration are as well as what they feel the impact has been. The data examined
have ranges from 1994 through 2004.
Findings:
Media coverage of Immigration (by network): The TV networks were viewed from June 7, 2011
through June 17, 2011.
MSNBC: Over the course of 2 weeks, only one piece about immigration was recorded. (June 9,
2011). The majority of the stories covered were about the Anthony Weiner scandal as well as the
Middle East and the upcoming 2012 election. The story about immigration focused on an
immigration bill. It was about a new bill passed in Alabama that was stated to be the toughest bill
yet. This bill will allow Police to detain anyone who is suspicious of being in the country
illegally, schools must also verify the documentation of all students and it is illegal to transport
any undocumented person. The story was covered very quickly right before the broadcast went
to a commercial break.
Fox News: Over the course of the two weeks that news broadcasts were viewed three
immigration stories were recorded. Two were recorded on June 13, 2011. The program viewed
was “America Live with Megyn Kelley” which was viewed at 1 PM. The first story talked about
guns that Americans were supplying to Mexican drug cartels and the impact that it has on

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immigration as it has resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry during
Operation Fast and Furious which was a plan started by the U.S government. In this operation
the U.S. government knowingly sold guns to Mexican drug cartels in an effort to catch them in
the act of drug trafficking. The other immigration story that was viewed on July 13 was about the
new Alabama immigration law.
The other story about immigration by Fox News that was noted was viewed on June 15,
2011. It was on the program “Happening News with Jon Scott and Jenna Lee” which was viewed
at 11 AM. That story focused on the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. It criticizes the
work of the United States government during Operation Fast and Furious.
The other stories that Fox News presented over the two week period included the Casey
Anthony trial and Anthony Weiner scandal. They also covered the massive fires that were raging
in Arizona as well as stories that looked into election 2012 and more specifically the United
States economy. Other stories talked about conflict in the Middle East and the economic crisis in
Greece. Finally, gay rights were also discussed.
CNN: Over the two week viewing period two stories that focused on immigration were recorded.
The first immigration story recorded was presented on June 9, 2011. It was viewed during the
program “Newsroom” at 3 PM. The story presented the approval of a new immigration law that
was passed in Alabama. This law will be effective as of September 1, 2011. It will make is a
crime to drive illegal immigrants. The other immigration story was recorded on June 17, 2011
during the program “Newsroom” at 4 PM. It presents the death of US Border Patrol Agent Brian
Terry due to Operation Fast and Furious.

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CNN also broadcast many stories about the Anthony Weiner scandal as well as the Casey
Anthony case. They also covered the fires in Arizona, the U.S economy and the upcoming
election of 2012.
Univisión: Over the course of the two week viewing period 15 stories about immigration were
recorded. Univisión presented many stories that discuss changes in immigration reform and
immigration law in the United States. They reported on the immigrants in the work force and
how employers verify the status of their employees. Univisión also covered the Anthony Weiner
scandal and Casey Anthony case as well as the fires in Arizona. The other stories that they
presented dealt with issues that the Latino population faces such as discrimination, as well as
stories that covered the happenings in the rest of the Spanish speaking world.
Telemundo: Over the course of the 2 week viewing period 23 immigration stories were
recorded for Telemundo. Telemundo has a daily segment called “Ola Inmigración,” meaning
“immigration wave” which is presented in both their 6:30 and 11 PM broadcast of “Noticiero.”
Many of the stories about immigration that were covered by Telemundo discussed the growing
number of secure communities that are being formed in the United States for example in Los
Angeles. These communities are cracking down on finding illegal immigrants and are very strict
when it comes to immigration law. Other stories about immigration that Telemundo covers deal
with education for immigrant children under the Dream Act.
Telemundo also presented stories about strict immigration laws that are constantly being
passed. However, Telemundo also covers stories that do not have to do with immigration. They
also covered the Casey Anthony trial, as well as the Anthony Weiner scandal. Also, like the
other networks they also covered the fires that had taken place in Arizona.

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But the majority of their stories seem to be directed towards the Latino communities in
the United States. They also cover the happenings in Latin America, with a lot of stories that
discuss the drugs and violence that takes place in Mexico.
NBC: Over the course of the two week viewing period only one story regarding immigration
was noted. It was recorded on June 10, 2011 from the “Early Today” show. The show presented
the new immigration law that is soon to take effect in Alabama. The other stories that were
covered by NBC covered the economy, the Casey Anthony case and the Anthony Weiner
scandal.
ABC: Over the two week viewing period no stories regarding immigration were recorded. There
were stories regarding the Middle East, the U.S. economy, as well as the upcoming election. The
fires in the Midwest were also covered.
CBS: During the two week viewing period no stories about immigration were recorded. CBS
presented stories regarding the war in the Middle East, the economy and unemployment and the
upcoming 2012 election. They also talked about Obama disapproval. The Anthony Weiner
scandal was covered regularly as well.
Between the eight television channels that were viewed there were a total of 45 stories
regarding immigration that were covered. The majority of the stories were presented by the news
anchor in a straightforward manner. Occasionally, outside experts were interviewed, the majority
of the time by Fox News and CNN. Since the cable networks were 24-hour broadcasts, they were
just telling the stories quickly and on repeat each hour. However, the Spanish-language networks
almost exclusively used outside interviews that included speaking to anyone from an expert on
the topic to a member of a community. They were very interested in what people had to say
about each story that they covered.

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The GSS survey results: from selected questions that are from 1994 to 2004, (NORC). The
questions chosen related to how people felt about immigrants in the United States in general as
well as specifically Latino immigrants. Also, seeing as other topics in the media that are
important to Americans right now are the economy and unemployment, questions that dealt with
immigrations connection to those topics were also examined.
Question: Since the beginning of our country, people of many different races, nationalities, and
religions have come here and settled. As I name some of these groups please tell me if the group
has made a positive contribution, or little positive contribution to this country? Mexicans?
(2000)
46.8% of the people who responded to this question believe that Mexicans have made
some contribution to the United States. 27% of the respondents felt that Mexicans have made an
importation contribution and 4.1% feel they have made the most important contribution. 22.1%
of the respondents felt that Mexicans made little of a positive contribution.
Question: What about the number of immigrants from Latin America (that is Spanish-speaking
countries of the Americas) should it be increased a lot, increased a little, left the same as it is
now, decreased a little or decreased a lot? (2000)
46.9% of the respondents are fine with the way that immigration from Latin America is.
21.9% of the respondents would like it decreased a little and 22.3% would like it decreased a lot.
Question: In general, how warm or cool do you feel towards Hispanics? (2000)
60.9% of people have warm feelings towards Hispanics, 25.9% of people are neutral in
their feelings and 13.2% have cold feelings towards Hispanics.

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Question: Do you think the number of immigrants from foreign countries who are permitted to
come to the United States to live should be increased a lot, increased a little, left the same as it is
now, decreased a little, or decreased a lot? (1994)
37.1% of the respondents feel that immigration to the United States should stay the way it
is. A total of 54.9% of the respondents feel that it should be decreased. 25.8% feel it should be
decreased a little and 29.1% feel it should be decreased a lot.
Question: What do you think will happen as a result of more immigrants coming to this country?
Is each of these possible results very likely, somewhat likely, not too likely, or not at all likely?
Higher unemployment? (1994)
32.4% of respondents feel that it is somewhat likely that the number of immigrants will
increase unemployment. 57.1% feel that it is very likely that the number of immigrants will
increase unemployment.
Question: What do you think will happen as a result of more immigrants coming to this country?
Is each of these possible? (Very likely, somewhat likely, not too likely, or not likely at all) People
in the U.S. losing their jobs? (1994)
25.5% of respondents feel like it is very likely that Americans will lose their jobs due to
immigration, 33.4% feel that it is somewhat likely. 30.8% feel that it is not too likely that
Americans will lose jobs and 10.3% feel that it is not likely at all.
Question: Higher economic growth? (From the same question as above) (1994)
17.4% of people feel that it is completely unlikely that immigrants will lead to economic
growth. 41.3% of people feel that it’s not so likely that immigrants will lead to economic growth.
30.8% of people feel that it is somewhat likely and 10.5% feel it is very likely.

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Question: What do you think will happen as a result of more immigrants coming to this country?
Is each of these possible results very likely, somewhat likely, not too likely, or not likely at all?
Making the country more open to new ideas and cultures?
5.7% of people feel it is not likely at all that the country will be more open to new ideas.
18.3% of people feel it is not too likely. 48.9% of respondents feel that it is somewhat likely that
immigrants will increase open-mindedness and 27.2% feel it’s very likely.
Discussion and Conclusion: The main purpose of this research was to establish the differences
between Spanish-language news and English-language news in regards to the topic of
immigration through the process of media immersion. Furthermore, the manner in which
immigration is presented to the publics was examined along with an analysis of the GSS survey
questions in order to conclude what the public’s current opinion of immigration is in the United
States.
What was found through the media immersion segment of the research is that the
Spanish-language news channels present more stories regarding immigration than the English-language
networks. In fact, the network Telemundo has a segment titled “Ola Inmigración” in
which they present stories regarding immigration daily. On average the Spanish-language
networks presented four stories daily. Many of these stories discussed how many Latinos are
being deported and the immigration laws are growing increasingly stricter. Immigration is a topic
that may be a part of life for Latinos living in the United States. They covered stories that talked
about “communidades seguros” in Los Angeles. This means that these are communities in which
law enforcement are strictly enforcing laws regarding illegal immigrants. However, Telemundo
and Univisón presented other stories in addition to those about immigration.

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The other stories that both Telemundo and Univisión presented were often Latino interest pieces.
The findings show that these networks presented many stories about education for immigrant
children and advocated for the passing of the “Dream Act.” They also reported live from
President Obama’s visit to Puerto Rico as he was the first president to visit since J.F.K. This
suggests that Spanish-language networks are sympathetic to the Latino population of the United
States. This also means that they are informing their target audience which is the Spanish-speaking
population of things that would most likely be of interest to them.
The English-language networks also presented immigration in their programs. However, they did
not present nearly as many stories regarding immigration. The English-language network that
had the most stories regarding immigration was Fox News, with three stories. As stated in the
findings Fox News discussed immigration reform, as well as the death of the U.S Border Patrol
agent due to Mexican drug trafficking. However, most of the stories that the English-language
networks presented and specifically Fox News were about unemployment, the economy and the
upcoming election.
It seems from this information that Spanish-speaking news is there to support and
advocate for the Latino community. This is where it can be seen that some believe that the Latino
community feels that it is them against everyone else. The GSS results however conclude that
most Americans have positive feelings towards Hispanics. Answers from a question on the 2000
GSS found that 60.9 of people have warm feelings towards Hispanics and the majority of the rest
of the respondents have neutral feelings. In addition to the fact that most people feel warmly
about Hispanics in this country, it was also recorded that 73.8% of respondents feel that
Mexicans have made a contribution to this country. Therefore, the fact is that people most people

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do not exhibit negative feelings towards Hispanic immigrants and that the frustrations regarding
immigration have roots in other issues.
For example, the number of long-term unemployed people is increasing daily. To be
considered part of the long-term unemployed a person must be unemployed for a year or more,
(Aaronson, Bhashkar and Schechter, 2010). Unemployment is an issue that is important to the
public as it was expected that President Obama would help combat this issue during his first
term. As stated in the literature, 14.1 million people are currently unemployed, (U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics, 2011). That is why it is in the spotlight of the media at this time.
Networks like Fox News as well as MSNBC also presented many stories that brought up
the 2012 election. Fox News focused on the GOP debate and discussed the Republican hopefuls.
Fox News specifically was found to share through interviews from powerful Republicans their
distaste with President Obama’s inability to fix unemployment and save the dwindling economy.
Their focus was not immigration unlike their Spanish-speaking counter parts.
That is why when it came down to it, even though there was speculation that there would
be a difference in between network news stations and cable news stations, the greatest difference
was only seen in regards to the language in which the news was presented in.
From here it can be decided what the public’s opinion of immigration is. According to an
analysis of the GSS survey results it can be seen that the majority of the public has neutral
feelings towards immigration. That is to say that at this time immigration is not as important to
Americans as the economy or unemployment are. The GSS results show that people are
concerned that immigrants may impact their ability to find jobs but they are also aware that
immigrants are not the only reason for unemployment. 30.8% of respondents to a 1994 question

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that asked whether or not they think it is likely that immigrants will cause them to lose their jobs
said that it is not likely. However, the findings show that in 1994 57.1% of respondents also felt
that it was very likely that immigrants would lead to higher unemployment, (NORC). The
conclusion that can be made from this research is that other issues that the United States faces,
such as unemployment and a poor economy influence the public’s opinion about immigration but
in the context of immigration by itself there is a sense of neutrality among the American public.
Discussion and Conclusion: The main purpose of this research was to investigate the
differences between Spanish-language news and English-language news in regards to the topic of
immigration through the process of media immersion. Furthermore, the manner in which
immigration is presented to the public was examined along with an analysis of selected GSS
survey questions in order to conclude what the public’s current opinion of immigration is in the
United States.
As discussed in the findings, what was found through the media immersion segment of
the research is that the Spanish-language news channels present many more stories regarding
immigration than the English-language networks. In fact, the network Telemundo has a segment
titled “Ola Inmigración” in which they present stories regarding immigration daily. On average,
the Spanish-language networks presented four stories daily. Many of these stories discussed how
many Latinos are being deported and the immigration laws are growing increasingly stricter.
Immigration is a topic that may be a part of life for Latinos living in the United States as there is
an influx of immigrants coming from Latin America and they are new wave of immigrants at this
time. Many Latinos are immigrants themselves or children and or grandchildren of immigrants.
They covered stories that talked about “communidades seguros” in Los Angeles. This means that
these are communities in which law enforcement are strictly enforcing laws regarding illegal

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immigrants. However, Telemundo and Univisión presented other stories in addition to those
about immigration.
The other stories that both Telemundo and Univisión presented were often Latino interest pieces.
The findings show that these networks presented many stories about education for immigrant
children and showed some support for the passing of the “Dream Act.” They also reported live
from President Obama’s visit to Puerto Rico as he was the first president to visit since J.F.K.
Because so many stories covering the different Latino communities in the United States, it is
possible that Spanish-language networks are sympathetic to the Latino communities of the
United States. This also means that they are informing their target audience which is the Spanish-speaking
population of things that would most likely be of interest to them.
The English-language networks also presented segments on immigration in their
programs. However, they did not present nearly as many stories regarding immigration. The
English-language network that had the most stories regarding immigration was Fox News, with
three stories. As stated in the findings Fox News discussed immigration reform, as well as the
death of the U.S Border Patrol agent due to Mexican drug trafficking. However, most of the
stories that the English-language networks presented and specifically Fox News were about
unemployment, the economy and the upcoming election.
The findings show that MSNBC and CNN also had segments on immigration. However,
the main interests of these networks were the Anthony Weiner scandal and the Casey Anthony
trial.
It seems from this information that Spanish-speaking news is there to support and
advocate for the Latino community. The support that Latinos receive from Spanish-speaking

21. 21
networks offers insight into the idea that some Americans believe that some of the Latino
communities feel that it is them against everyone else. The GSS results however suggest that
most Americans have positive feelings towards Hispanics. Answers from a question on the 2000
GSS found that 70% of people have warm feelings towards Hispanics and the majority of the rest
of the respondents have neutral feelings. In addition to the fact that most people feel warmly
about Hispanics in this country, it was also recorded that 74% of respondents feel that Mexicans
have made a contribution to this country. Therefore, the fact is that people most people do not
totally exhibit negative feelings towards Hispanic immigrants and that the frustrations regarding
immigration have roots in other issues.
For example, the number of long-term unemployed people is increasing daily. To be
considered part of the long-term unemployed a person must be unemployed for a year or more,
(Aaronson, Bhashkar and Schechter, 2010). Unemployment is an issue that is important to the
public, as it was hoped that President Obama would help combat this issue during his first term.
As stated in the literature by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14.1 million people are
currently unemployed. That is why unemployment is in the spotlight of the media at this time.
Networks like Fox News as well as MSNBC also presented many stories that brought up
the 2012 election. Fox News focused on the GOP debate and discussed the Republican hopefuls.
Fox News specifically was found to share through interviews from powerful Republicans their
distaste with President Obama’s inability to fix unemployment and save the dwindling economy.
Their focus was not immigration unlike their Spanish-speaking counter parts. That is why when
it came down to it, even though there was speculation that there would be a difference in
between network news stations and cable news stations, the greatest difference was only seen in
regards to the language in which the news was presented.

22. 22
From here it can be decided what the public’s opinion of immigration is. According to an
analysis of the GSS survey results, the feelings of immigration are neutral. That is to say that at
this time immigration is not as important to Americans as the economy or unemployment are. It
cannot be denied however, that some Americans are hostile towards the idea of immigration
while others approve of it. The results of the GSS and the media immersion cannot pinpoint one
set opinion are a great number of mixed feelings. The GSS results do show however that people
are concerned that immigrants may impact their ability to find jobs but they are also aware that
immigrants are not the only reason for unemployment. 30.8% of respondents to a 1994 question
that asked whether or not they think it is likely that immigrants will cause them to lose their jobs
said that it is not likely. However, the findings show that in 1994 57.1% of respondents also felt
that it was very likely that immigrants would lead to higher unemployment, (NORC).
One conclusion that can be made from this research is that other issues that the United
States faces, such as unemployment and a poor economy influence the public’s opinion about
immigration but in the context of immigration by itself there is a sense of neutrality among the
American public. There is not enough evidence that favors the idea that people feel negatively or
positively towards it at this time, because the public’s main concern is not immigration. People
seem to be more concerned with where their next pay check is going to come from, or if there is
security in the job that they currently have.
In the future, it would be great to immerse myself deeper into the media and do a longer
analysis of news programs. It would also be interesting to look deeper into network ownership
and see how much of a role that really pays in the slanting of the news stories.

23. 23
Revisiting the news:
As the election comes closer it is important to revisit the news media to see what role
immigration is playing in the election and in the media in general. As in during the in-depth
media immersion the same television networks were looked at. However, this time they were
examined for only one week during the evening. And as in the earlier research the Spanish-language
networks presented more stories regarding immigration. Telemundo still regularly
presents stories regarding the education of immigrants and the children of immigrants. In the
stories that were viewed for this recent time period said that President Obama supports the
Dream Act. Telemundo showed a lot of support for President Obama.
Univisión also regularly presented stories that had to do with immigration or immigrants.
This network discussed the rights of immigrants and their identity as people. There was no
mention of Obama or the election.
The only English-language network that brought up immigration was Fox News. Fox
News presented stories about Immigration Laws as well as covering immigrants who have gotten
in trouble with the law.
In general, the number of immigrant stories from the summer to now remain about the
same on the Spanish-language networks however, the English-language networks focused on the
GOP and the election as well as the approval ratings of President Obama. According to CNN,
Obama’s approval is back to 50%, (ORC International).
In conclusion, as of the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012, the United States is
focused on President Obama and the upcoming election. There is more and more emphasis in the

24. 24
news on the Republican Candidates. Immigration is remains in the news and is remains a
pressing issue to the Spanish-speaking population but it is still not the most important thing in
United States news media at this time.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Dr. Shannon Anderson for being my faculty advisor during this
project. I wouldn’t have been able to complete it without her input, support and shared
enthusiasm for the topic. I’d also like to thank Dr. Anita Turpin for assisting me with finding
some great sources and finally I’d like to thank Dr. Jose Bañuelos-Montes and Dolores Flores-
Silva for their support and encouragement during the extent of the project.

25. 25
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