The book 'Shaping Immigration News' by Rodney Benson explores the reporting of immigration issues by French and American journalists, revealing how distinct societal positions and journalistic practices influence coverage. Through extensive research and interviews, it highlights the emotional framing of immigration debates and challenges assumptions about media convergence in a globalized world. The study aims to provide insights for scholars, journalists, and policymakers regarding the complexities of immigration coverage and the role of journalism in democratic societies.

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Winner, 2015 International Journal of
Press/Politics Book Award
Winner, 2014 Tankard Book Award,
Association for Education in Journalism
and Mass Communication
Winner, 2014 Griffiths Research Award,
NYU Steinhardt
Shaping Immigration News
A French-American Comparison
Rodney Benson
New York University
About the Book
This book offers a comprehensive portrait of French and Ameri-
can journalists in action as they grapple with how to report and
comment on one of the most important issues of our era. Draw-
ing on interviews with leading journalists and analyses of an
extensive sample of newspaper and television coverage since the
early 1970s, Rodney Benson shows how the immigration debate
has become increasingly focused on the dramatic, emotion-laden
frames of humanitarianism and public order. Yet even in an
era of global hypercommercialism, Benson also finds enduring
French-American differences related to the distinctive societal
positions, professional logics, and internal structures of their
journalistic fields. In both countries, less commercialized media
tend to offer the most in-depth, multi-perspective, and critical
news. Benson challenges classic liberalism’s assumptions about
state intervention’s chilling effects on the press, suggests costs as
well as benefits to the current vogue in personalized narrative
news, and calls attention to journalistic practices that can help
empower civil society. This book offers new theories and meth-
ods for sociologists and media scholars and fresh insights for
journalists, policy makers, and concerned citizens.
How To Order
Visit www.cambridge.org/9780521887670
or Call 1.800.872.7423
or +44 (0) 1223 326050
Enter Discount Code BENSON15 at
checkout to receive the discount.
Expires 31 December 2015.
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Praise for the Book
“Shaping Immigration News uses one of the most salient and
challenging issues facing contemporary democracies immigration
as a lens through which to examine that critically important
democratic institution, the press. Comparing the experiences of
France and the United States for explanatory leverage, the author
of this fine book identifies and tracks the prevalence of alternative
frames and authorized spokespersons in immigration news over
four decades and in so doing demonstrates how institutional
differences in the journalistic field refract coverage of events and
debates in striking and often unanticipated ways.”
—Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University
“Rich in literature and well documented. This is one of the few
volumes that offer an empirical verification of Bourdieu’s field
theory applied to a very puzzling theme immigration and news
media in a comparative dimension. Differences in French and U.S.
coverage of immigration are placed within a convincing interpretive
framework, supported by data and a wellrooted theoretical
apparatus.”
—Paolo Mancini, University of Perugia
“In this comprehensive study of news coverage of immigration
in France and the United States, Benson shows the virtues of
comparative media research. Bringing together insights from media
policy, the sociology of journalism, and globalization studies, the
study examines why coverage is different in both countries. Benson
deftly probes conventional wisdom by dissecting differences and
similarities between ‘national’ journalistic fields. With a fine-
toothed comb, he examines the strengths and limitations of French
and US journalism. He has amassed powerful evidence showing
why globalization does not make journalism homogeneous across
borders. Against rushed conclusions about media convergence,
he offers a cogent and persuasive argument about why political
dynamics and economic issues contained within states remain
crucial for understanding how journalism works. Past historical
dynamics and institutional designs continue to shape reporters’
work. This book should be of interest to scholars interested in
understanding the possibility for multiperspective and critical
journalism in democratic societies, as well as continuities
and changes in fluid news systems. Benson has produced a
sophisticated, elegant, and evidence-packed cross-national analysis
that will be a go-to reference for comparative research.”
—Silvio Waisbord, George Washington University
August 2013 | 296 pages
22 b/w illus. | 22 tables
Paperback | 978-0-521-71567-6
List Price: USD 29.99
Discounted Price: USD 23.99
List Price: GBP 19.99
Discounted Price: GBP 15.99
Hardback | 978-0-521-88767-0
List Price: USD 95.00
Discounted Price: USD 76.00
List Price: GBP 60.00
Discounted Price: GBP 48.00
How To Order
Visit www.cambridge.org/9780521887670
or Call 1.800.872.7423
or +44 (0) 1223 326050
Enter Discount Code BENSON15 at
checkout to receive the discount.
Expires 31 December 2015.