Racialization of Latinx Immigrants: The Role of (Seemingly) Positive Newspaper Discourse

• In Event: 2166 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 13: Reception & Perceptions of Migrants

Abstract

The news media play a vital role in the racialization of Latinx groups given its privileged access to and considerable influence over public discourse. However, most work examining portrayals of Latinx immigrants focuses on explicitly xenophobic media coverage. In this project, we investigate how elite news media discourse that is seemingly “positive” (i.e., portrays immigrants sympathetically and/or advocates on their behalf) may contribute to this group’s racialization. In our research, we analyzed over 1,300 frames derived from newspaper articles appearing on the front page of The New York Times between 2001 and 2015. We found that even supportive articles contribute to the racialization of Latinx immigrants, especially when compared to supportive articles about non-Latinx immigrants. Specifically, positive newspaper articles portrayed Latinx immigrants as economically exploitable, vulnerable in ways that subtly blamed the victim, and mostly illegal. We also found that positive newspaper articles portrayed both Latinx and non-Latinx immigrants as family-loving. However, we argue that this depiction reinforces a hierarchy based on deservingness. Our findings have implications for our understanding of how media racialize Latinxs in American society through colorblind ideologies.

Authors

• Emily P. Estrada

• Emily R. Cabaniss, Sam Houston State University