This research project analyzes how perceptions of immigration and immigrants have changed over time according to media portrayals. Newspapers were analyzed from 1985-2013 to determine how they frame discussions of immigrants and immigration policy. Articles from 24 papers discussing immigration were coded based on topics like economic impacts, origins of immigrants, and politics. Future directions include completing the coding, analyzing public opinion data, and exploring additional media like Spanish-language outlets to broaden perspectives.

1. ImagesofanImmigrantNation:PortrayalsofImmigrantsintheMassMedia
Abstract
Immigration is a complex and controversial issue in America.
Views on immigrants and immigration as a whole are widely
shaped through the mass media. Newspapers especially can
have an enormous influence over the public’s perceptions of
immigrants and immigration, both legal and illegal.
Consequently, our research project analyzes 18 regional papers
as well as six national papers. The goal of this research is to
determine how perceptions of immigration and immigrants
have changed over time, how the media changes the public
perception of immigrants, and why views on immigration and
immigrants are changing.
Methods
The databanks NewsBank and Factiva aggregated all of the
articles from our 18 regional and six national papers. Coders are
trained and conduct searches in these databases for the term
‘immigra*’. Two percent of all articles that included the term
“immigra*”would then be coded if it matched the following
criteria: the article is 2/3 about immigrants or immigration, the
immigrants or immigration mentioned must be in the United
States, and finally it must be within the time frame of the project,
1985-2013. Articles that match all of the criteria are then
downloaded to a shared Dropbox folder that is accessible to all
participants in the project. The survey asks about the type of
article (e.g., news, editorial, human interest story, etc.) and details
about how immigrants and immigration are discussed within
these contexts. Questions in the survey pertain to economic,
political, and cultural impacts of immigration, specifically the
jobs held by immigrants, country of origin of immigrants, regions
to which people immigrate, and the complicated interplay
between politics and immigration. Each
article is subject to inter-coder reliability testing.
Future Directions
The first goal of this project is to finish coding the regional and
national papers. Upon completion, public opinion data may be
analyzed. This involves understanding influences of media on
the public and vice versa. Exploring different sources of news is
another option. Telemundo, Univision are U.S.-based
Spanish-language news outlets that would bring a new
perspective on the issue. Analyzing TV news coverage from
major news networks would diversify the data as well.
Ted Brader, Professor - University of Michigan
Ashley Jardina, Professor - Duke University
Nicole Yadon, Ph.D. Candidate - University of Michigan
Chris Ferrill, John Hibbard - Research Assistants
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Results/ Conclusions
Does the story mention proposed changes to U.S. government
policy or mention recently enacted government
policies (laws) regarding immigration and immigrants within the
United States?
Does the article mention whether either or both political parties or
members of the parties - Republicans, Democrats, presidents or presi-
dential candidates (any or all) - take a positive or negative view toward
immigration?
What was the dominant issue of the story as it relates to immigration?
Which regional or national origins of immigrants are
mentioned?