A Study of Local Media Portrayal of Undocumented Latino Immigration In

A STUDY OF LOCAL MEDIA PORTRAYAL OF UNDOCUMENTED LATINO IMMIGRATION IN

US IMMIGRANT GATEWAYS

ASHLEY JOYAL

B.A., Keene State College, 2015

A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the

University of Colorado Colorado Springs

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts

Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

2020

This thesis for the Master of Arts degree by

Ashley Joyal

has been approved for the

Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

Emily Skop, Chair

John Harner

Curtis D. Holder

Date___5/26/2020____

Joyal, Ashley (M.A., Applied Geography)

A Study of Local Media Portrayal of Undocumented Latino Immigration in US Immigrant

Gateways

Thesis directed by Professor Emily Skop.

ABSTRACT

With increasing numbers of undocumented immigrants from Central America arriving in nontraditional destinations in the United States, some research has begun to articulate these new geographies. Local media portrayals of undocumented immigration in the United States have the power to influence the perception of these newcomers in these new destinations. This research observes news media and examines how local news outlets represent undocumented Latino population in the United States. I examine newspaper coverage of Latino undocumented immigrants in six cities that have either maintained a high foreign-born population or have newly emerged as a gateway for the foreign-born population in the United States. Using a key word search for “illegal immigration” and “undocumented immigration” in the headlines, I pulled newspaper articles from the ProQuest database. I examine these media portrayals through a geographic lens by observing the language in media based on the immigration trends in distinct regions of the United States and as a related to proximity to the US-Mexico border. Results identify trends in local media in the selected gateways from the last two decades by exploring: 1) variations in the language used to discuss these populations, 2) whether the diversity of these Latino immigrants is reflected, and 3) the types/sections

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of articles in which certain words appear. Key findings indicate that the use of “illegal” greatly outweighs the use of “undocumented” when addressing immigrants in the United

States, though this shifts over time. Additionally, certain sections of the newspaper feature undocumented/Illegal immigration prominently and the articles in Opinion pieces is more value-laden than in other types of articles. Finally, there is minimal diversity reflected in the media narrative regarding undocumented Latino immigrants in the United

States. Given the important role of representations of immigration in the public arena, these findings are likely to have important impact on public perceptions of immigration and broader impact on public policy.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I would like to acknowledge my advisor, Dr. Emily Skop, and my other committee members, Dr. John Harner and Dr. Curt Holder. Their insight, patience, and direction throughout my extended time in the Geography program have proved invaluable. Additionally, I give special thanks to Systems and User Experience Librarian,

Joel Tonyan, for his assistance with my work with NVivo. His considerations and suggestions regarding this research were greatly appreciated.

Also, I recognize my friends and family. Becky Gronewold, Nicole Blais, Kayla

Schierbeek have remained supportive and gracious throughout this process. My family has encouraged my academic success, and wherever it may lead. Lastly, I am thankful for my husband, Alex, and his unyielding faith and patience.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I: INTRODUCTION...... 1 Background ...... 1 Purpose and Scope...... 4 II: LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 7 Immigrant Gateways—Old and New ...... 7 Latinization and Visibility ...... 10 Media Influence ...... 16 III: METHODS ...... 25 Selected Immigrant Gateways ...... 25 Media sources ...... 27 Limitations ...... 29 Procedure ...... 30 Methodology ...... 33 IV: RESULTS ...... 35 Language Trends Between Gateways ...... 35 General Language Trends in the Media ...... 44 Exploration of Diversity and Other Terms in the Media ...... 48 Comparison Across Sections of Newspapers ...... 49 V: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ...... 56 Language Used ...... 56 Reflected Diversity ...... 58 Comparison Between Newspaper Sections ...... 59 Geographic Lens ...... 59 Conclusion ...... 60 REFERENCES ...... 62

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE

1. Number of Articles with Titles Using the Search Terms by Gateway and Newspaper…………………………………………………………………………………………….....…………...... 35 2. Words That Appear in Each Gateway………………………………………………………………....…...... 39 3. Examples of the Usage of “Want” and “Many” …………………………………………………...... 47 4. 20 Most Frequently Used Words Between Privately and Publicly Owned Newspapers...... …………………………………………………………………………………………………...... 54

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE

1. Map of Six Selected Gateways in the United States……………………………...... 26 2. Number of Articles for Each Year…………………………………………………………...... …....36 3. 20 Most Frequently Used Words in News Articles of Each Gateway...... 37 4. Frequency of “Undocumented” v. “Illegal” in News Articles...... 45 5. 20 Most Frequently Used Words in Perspective Sections of Newspapers...... 49 6. 20 Most Frequently Used Words in News Sections of Newspapers...... 50 7. 20 Most Frequently Used Words in Regional Sections of Newspapers ...... 50

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background

Undocumented immigration from Mexico and Central America has been, and will continue to be, a paramount topic in the United States. Shah and Thornton (2004) find that 80 % of immigrants—from the 1980s to late 1990s—come from Asia and Latin

America. Consequentially, racial, and ethnic minorities will account for the majority of the nation’s population for the next six generations. The Pew Hispanic Research Center estimated there were 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States in

2015 (Krogstad, Passel, and Cohn 2017). There is a considerable amount of research on undocumented migration from Mexico, but a new wave of undocumented migration is coming from Central America. Endemic poverty, unemployment, growing violence and deteriorating citizen security have pushed people out of what has been termed the

Northern Triangle in Central America—comprised of El Salvador, Guatemala, and

Honduras—and into the United States illegally (Chavez 1994; Cohn, Passel, Gonzalez-

Barrera 2017; Dominguez Villegas 2015).

By 2008, these national origin groups had accounted for nearly three quarters of the increase in the undocumented population (Massey and Pren 2012). Rosenblum and

Brick (2011) report, since 1990, the three nationalities of the Northern Triangle make up

6% of U.S. immigrants—1.1 million Salvadorans, 798,682 Guatemalans, and 467,943

Hondurans. The Pew Hispanic Research Center has published various reports showing the influx of Central American migrants into the United States, both lawful and undocumented. “The number of immigrants in the United States from El Salvador,

Guatemala, and Honduras rose by 25% from 2007 to 2015, in contrast to the modest growth of the country’s overall foreign-born population and a decline from neighboring

Mexico” (Cohn, Passel, and Gonzalez-Barrera 2017:1). According to Pew Research

Center estimates, of the 3 million Northern Triangle, immigrants in the United States as of 2015, 55% were undocumented (Cohn, Passel, and Gonzalez-Barrera 2017).

In the past, distinct regions of the United States have certainly experienced heavier and more frequent migration flows from Mexico and Central

America. However, trends of undocumented migration from Mexico and Central

America to the United States have changed over the recent years. Yet, because this specific population is recently arriving, there is little research and the gaps need to be filled. In particular, the geographic distribution and impact of these groups needs to be considered. Some work has begun to articulate these new geographies. New immigrant

“gateways” are emerging throughout the United States faster than anticipated. Singer

(2004) defines “gateways” as destinations that hold opportunities for newcomers and are both well-known and emerging centers populated by significant numbers of immigrants, both legal and undocumented. Migrants from new source countries—like those from the Northern Triangle—are amongst the immigrants who populate these new gateways.

Using Singer’s identified gateways, I have chosen to examine the media portrayal of Latino1 undocumented immigrants in six cities: Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago

Illinois; Charlotte, North Carolina, Phoenix, Arizona; Nashville, Tennessee; and Salt Lake

City, Utah. In recent decades, these cities have either maintained a high foreign-born population or have become newly emerging gateways for the foreign-born population in the United States.

Media discourse of undocumented immigrant populations in the United States influences the perception of newcomers. Nationally, the dominant themes in the media suggest undocumented immigrants take jobs away from “real” Americans, undermine

U.S. politics, commit crimes, abuse alcohol, spread disease, displace citizen workers from jobs, and exploit social and economic resources (Chavez 1994; Chavez 2013;

Walker and Leitner 2011; Stewart, Pitts and Osborne 2011). With so much at stake for immigrant groups in the United States, it is important to understand the variation in news coverage regarding undocumented immigration geographically (Branton and

Dunaway 2008).

1 “Hispanic” and “Latino” are often used interchangeably. Arias and Hellmueller (2016) explain the differences between the terms in their research and ultimately come up with their own— “Hispanics-and-Latinos”—in order to include all members of this panethnicity. The distinct nationalities of this group often get mixed up, therefore, in my research, the term “Latino” immigrants is used to encompass the migration trends of Mexican and Central American immigrants in the United States.

Purpose and Scope

The objective of this research is to identify trends in local media coverage in newspapers of undocumented immigration in different types of gateways from the last two decades. The research question for this project asks, “How does the media represent this increasingly visible community in various types of migrant gateways?” To specify, I am most interested in the undocumented Latino population; however, the literature sometimes includes individuals who follow both legal and lawful processes of immigration. In fact, Furuseth, Smith, and McDaniel (2015) find that the Census Bureau routinely undercounts minorities, including new immigrants, many of whom are undocumented and avoid contact with government agencies. Also, some families have a mixed status with some members born in the United States, and others being undocumented. This is significant to note as certain details of immigrants’ legal statuses are not always specified and in turn may influence the stories in the news. Nonetheless,

I will observe how the Latino undocumented population in the United States is portrayed in both established and newly emerging gateways. Media portrayals of

“illegals”—often considered code for undocumented Latino immigrants—further exacerbates the image of immigrants as dangerous and threatening neighbors (Menjívar

2016; Furuseth, Smith and McDaniel 2015).

Thus, it is important to discern the language and terminology that crafts the media narratives. Interestingly, the AP [Associated Press] Stylebook announced their modification to the usage of the term illegal immigrant in 2013. “Except in direct

quotes essential to the story, use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant” (Colford 2013). Similarly, the social identities of these individuals are also changing. The term Latino which traditionally refers to both male and female genders according to the rules of the Spanish language, has evolved within the literature and daily conversations as Latin, Latino/a, Latin@, and Latinx

(Salinas Jr. and Lozano 2017:2). The term Latinx increasingly shows up in news articles, blogs, professional conferences, social media, and higher education institutional websites. “Latinx challenges the ideologies of language, culture, and gender, and is a way to recognize the importance of the intersectionality of social identities” (Salinas Jr. and Lozano 2017:11). As language adapts to societal changes, it is interesting to see if dialogue in the media makes similar adjustments.

Gateways are important to this research because they frame different immigration patterns. Thus, they provide a geographic lens through which one can take a closer look at the way communities are receiving newcomers. Immigration gateways have evolved in the United States and this research explores how a certain group of immigrants is represented in each type. “Cities and localities become identified with immigrants, and their reputation itself may generate further settlement as social networks circulate information on employment, housing, and educational opportunities there,” (Singer 2004:4). Although the term “gateway” may imply a completely new destination, this study uses it exclusively in reference to Singer’s (2004) previous research with identified immigrant gateways. Looking at how undocumented Latino immigrants are received may affect future trends.

In this research, I explore the type of language used to describe the immigrant population in certain gateways. Because the sentiments and connotations associated with “illegal” are explicit, I contend that this language will be more prevalent in news articles addressing “illegal” and “undocumented” migrants. I also suggest that, with the influx of people coming from new source countries, the diversity of Latino immigrants will not be reflected in the media. I understand that the term Northern Triangle is specific to academia and research, therefore I will look for the actual source countries—

El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—in media representation of immigration to outline any variations in representation. Lastly, I will examine the type of news article in which certain words appear by observing the section of the newspaper (i.e. editorials, business, or breaking news) where the terms “illegal” or “undocumented immigration” appear. Essentially, I intend to analyze the diversity of immigrants and the language through the categories of gateways, sections of newspaper, and geography.

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

Immigrant Gateways—Old and New

Dispersal of Latino immigrant populations in the United States from traditional areas of settlement have intensified dramatically (Singer 2004; Winders 2014; Mohl

2003). Singer (2004) identifies six basic types of immigrant pathways in the United

States. The first type is former gateways. Cities such as Cleveland, Buffalo, and St. Louis attracted immigrants in the 1900s, but have seen substantial decline throughout the decades of the 1900s. By 2000, the native population in these cities was 95% because the immigrant population aged, and new immigrants settled elsewhere.

The second type is continuous gateways. Like the former gateways, these cities began the century with large numbers of immigrants. Apart from a decrease in foreign- born population in the mid decades, continuous gateways, like Boston, New York,

Chicago, and San Francisco, have maintained their immigrant population through the end of the century.

Third, post-World War II gateways are comprised of cities such as Los Angeles,

San Diego, and Miami. Liberalization of immigration in the Western Hemisphere contributed to the influx in foreign-born population in the last 50 years. For example,

Miami experienced the sharpest growth upon the arrival of Cuban refugees. The immigrant population was 60 percent of the overall population in 2000.

The fourth type of immigrant gateway demonstrates a contrasting trend. Cities such as Dallas, Washington D.C, and Atlanta are included in the emerging gateways. These cities experienced some of the most rapid growth in foreign-born population in the later decades of the 1900s. Fifth, re-emerging gateways are cities who had higher growth in their immigrant populations in the early 1900s, saw them decline in through the 1970s, then grow again through the 1990s. Some examples of re- emerging cities include San Jose, Denver, and Seattle.

The last type is called pre-emerging gateways. This is a very specific group that had few foreign-born residents throughout the century, but experienced rapid growth the 1990s. Austin, Salt Lake City, and Charlotte are examples of this type of gateway.

For example, Charlotte had an immigrant population less than 15,000 in 1980, which was at 100,000 by the turn of the century. That 315% increase in a 20-year period exemplifies the rapid growth of pre-emerging gateways. More specifically, Mexicans and other Latin Americans dominate this type of settlement and comprise more than half of all immigrants.

Singer’s (2004) typology of immigrant “gateways” has helped identify cities with recently changing migration trends. However, as population in the United States began to shift to the South and West, immigration flows followed the same trends. Thus,

Singer’s research was revisited in 2014 and updated to create new subtypes of gateways. A Typology of Immigrant Gateways, 2014 identifies the following new types: former, major-continuous, minor-continuous, post-World War II, re-emerging, major- emerging, minor-emerging gateways, and low immigration metro areas. What were

previously termed “emerging” and “pre-emerging” are now, respectively, “major emerging” and “minor emerging.”

For this research, I have chosen to focus on three of the newly identified subtypes. First, major-continuous gateways are characterized as having large and sustained immigrant populations over the course of the 20th century and are home to almost 25% of all immigrants in the United States. Secondly, I have chosen major- emerging gateways, which are areas where their foreign-born populations grew faster than the national rate during one of the last three decades of the 20th century. The third subtype is minor-emerging gateways. The growth of the foreign-born populations in these areas is at least three times the national rate in either the 1990s or 2000-2014 period.

Furthermore, Winders (2014) reports the trends of immigration and its new directions. “In the U.S., immigrants, especially those from Latin America, have increasingly settled in urban, suburban, and rural locales that are socially and spatially removed from established destinations such as New York City or Los Angeles” (Winders

2014:S150). In this research, the three chosen types are representative of the longstanding gateways with established networks and prominent immigrant communities as well as the newer places that have had less experience with immigrant populations. Also, they include varying geographic regions of the United States.

Latinization and Visibility

New gateways create changing cultural landscapes. Latinization refers to the growing Latino immigrant population in the United States and their influence in their communities (Mohl 2003; Furuseth, Smith and McDaniel 2015; Shah and Thornton

2004). Where some communities have had a longstanding Latino influence, others are experiencing a cultural shift. Mohl (2003) examines Latinization and the effects of emergent multiculturalism in certain states. She argues that some Latino immigrants have cultivated communities in the United States that mirror their homelands.

Latinization is seen in the hundreds of restaurants, grocery stores, music and dance clubs, and holiday festivals that celebrate the distinct Latino cultures of immigrants.

Furuseth, Smith and McDaniel (2015) examine Charlotte, North Carolina through the lens of Singer’s (2004) designated gateways. From the 1980s in the early 2000s

Charlotte had earned several new monikers as a result of its economic progression such as “Wall Street South” and “Global City.” Their research focuses on how Latino immigration into this city has changed the demographics of Eastside and South

Charlotte. “The weakening of local and national identities and the loss of hegemony are easily perceived by the slippage toward Latino place identity in public spaces

(signage, ethnic businesses, and parks and play fields) and institutions (schools, clinics and service centers)” (Furuseth, Smith and McDaniel 2015:12).

The authors explore controversy of control of urban spaces regarding emerging ethnic places and Latino territorialization. An example depicted in their study is the

argument concerning loncheras or taquerias—mobile food vendors that offer freshly prepared food from a panel truck. Critics of these businesses complain of the lights, noise, smells, loitering and traffic congestion. In November 2008, these grievances eventually led to tougher mobile food regulations by the Charlotte City Council.

The Latino population in Charlotte increased 614 percent in the last decade of the twentieth century. Since 2000, Latino migration to Charlotte has increased 128 percent. Furuseth, Smith and Daniel’s study pays close attention to the diversity of the

Latino population in different areas of the city. The findings show that the Eastside is more ethnically homogeneous with 54.7 percent of Latinos born in Mexico, 25.6 percent in Central America, and 3.4 in South America. On the other hand, in South Charlotte,

Latinos of Mexican origin comprise 39.9 percent, Central American 34.9 percent, and

South American 8.8. “The effects of the economic slowdown spread into the Charlotte region and the national discourse surrounding ‘illegal’ immigration from Latin nations grew more strident and politicized, community reception of Latino immigrants was affected” (Furuseth, Smith and McDaniel 2015:3). Because Charlotte is a prime example of latinization in the United States, it is necessary to observe how this new population is represented and received. Moreover, there is significant diversity of Latinos within one city so it will be interesting to see how that diversity is portrayed.

In 2016, the Hispanic population represented 17 percent of the total US population (Arias and Hellmueller 2016); however, Hispanic and Latino cultures vary significantly. Indeed, Latino immigrants in the United States are often represented as one group of people with one culture, one history, and one language. While the

majority does speak Spanish, there are dialects and other linguistic variances unique to each Latino nationality. “We call attention to this diversity, even though at the moment, studies of non-Mexican Latino communities and experiences in new southern destinations are too few to speculate on how processes of racialization, experiences of work, and practices of transnationalism may differ among various groups of Latino/as who are often racialized as ‘Mexican’” (Winders and Smith 2012:225). Additionally,

Skop and Zanowiak-Antonelli (2011) reinforce the heterogeneity of the “Latino” population, as these undocumented immigrants are coming from countries throughout

Latin America, at the same time they are settling in new destinations.

In his research, Yarbrough (2009) conducts interviews with Central Americans living in Atlanta, Georgia. The interviews explore how they view themselves and their perceptions of how they are viewed by native-born Atlantans. In his analysis of the responses, he finds that Central Americans are racialized through their everyday interactions according to phenotype, and their presumed Mexican nationality. “Central

American immigrants actively negotiate a Hispanic moniker within an urban context dominated by native-born residents whose racialized assumptions lump Spanish- speaking, brown skinned individuals into a monolithic ‘Mexican’ category” (Yarbrough

2010). Mohl (2003) finds that observers tend to view new Latino immigrants almost exclusively as Mexican. While this may be the case in smaller towns, statistics show diversity of national origin. For instance, Florida, which is generally thought of as dominated by Cubans, that group is surpassed numerically by Latinos from Central and

South America (Mohl 2003:38). Regardless of their actual nationality, immigrants from

Mexico and Central America are forced to construct and understand their new identity as “Hispanic” in the United States (Menjívar 2016).

Spreading latinization leads to increasing visibility, which is a term often used in research associated with undocumented immigration. Research in news media assessing immigration related to the Hispanic-and-Latinos and the impact of negative

Latinos stereotypes increased dramatically in the 1990s (Arias and Hellmueller 2016;

Valentino, Brader, and Jardina 2013). As a population with limited or no legal status, undocumented immigrants have traditionally remained hidden in established destinations. Yet today, media coverage of rallies and immigration policies permeate daily news, and discussion of the undocumented population in the United States is at the forefront of political discourse.

Skop and Zanowiak-Antonelli (2011) study how new Latino immigrant settlements have become visible through the roles of raids and rallies. Their study confirms that these immigrants are moving away from traditional gateways and gravitating toward smaller industrialized areas in the middle and southern belts of the

United States, including those identified by Singer. Though their research does not conclusively define newly emerging gateways, it identifies emerging settlement patterns in “unlikely” places (Skop and Zanowiak-Antonelli 2011:133).

Walker (2014) investigates similar trends of immigrants deviating from traditional metropolitan gateways. Through a comparative analysis of four local immigration policies in the Chicago and Washington DC metropolitan areas, he finds

that exclusionary policies are intended to preserve the “American Dream.” His research supports the evidence of newly emerging gateways and the negative attitudes toward immigration. Latino immigrants significantly predominate the demographic change in these suburban areas (Walker 2014:512). Valentino, Brader, and Jardina (2013) find that Whites think of Latinos when they think of immigration. Correspondingly, survey respondents in Walker’s (2014) research are more likely to view immigration as a local problem if the immigrant population is Hispanic. As the Latino immigrant population becomes more visible, research indicates the presence of Latino immigrants is both stigmatized and anxiety-producing (Walker 2014; Valentino, Brader, and Jardina 2013).

Increasingly, new migrants are settling in the southern United States, in cities like Charlotte and Nashville. Latinization in the South is a particularly complex topic because of the historical legacies of segregation and racism (Walker and Leitner 2011;

Shah and Thornton 2004). “Black and White once defined the racial landscape of the

American South, but multicultural and multiethnic rather than biracial now describe society in many southern places” (Mohl 2003:35). As the economies in southern states has evolved, new groups of people are beginning to settle there.

Shah and Thornton (2004) take a closer look at interethnic conflict and racial anxiety in the South. They believe one of the most visible conflicts is the one between

African Americans and Latinos. The former minority group accuses Latinos of being successful at their expense. Latinos claim that African Americans are insensitive to needs of the Latino community and clearly do not want to share the benefits of civil

rights victories with other minorities (Shah and Thornton 2004). Research shows that it is difficult for communities and politics to adjust to these demographic changes.

In Memphis, Tennessee, African American Mayor W.W. Herenton denied a request from the Hispanic Business Alliance for government affirmative action. He claimed Latino experiences of racial oppression paled in comparison to those of African

Americans. His actions, and scholarly research, illustrate these unwritten racial hierarchies in the South that force Latino immigrants to the bottom. “Although

Latino/as were clearly present in southern locales, the growth of a cohort of Latino children in public schools, the visibility of ethnic enclaves or business districts in southern locales, the emergence of established business and political Latino organizations, all took place in the early 2000s” (Winders and Smith 2012:227—228).

The emergence of new gateways appears to be unsettling norms and hierarchies.

Experiences in newly emerging gateways—seen previously in Tennessee— illustrate how citizens tend to view immigration as a threat because the history of their location is not familiar with the culture of the incoming populations. Communities are typically not accustomed to, nor do they know how to accommodate, the needs and requests of the undocumented newcomers (Singer 2004; Skop and Zanowiak-Antonelli

2011; Winders 2014). Generally, schools are not equipped with the tools or personnel needed to address the linguistic and cultural needs. Local governments and law enforcement are not prepared to attend to an undocumented population that lives in increasing numbers of neighborhoods. “When NIDs [new immigrant destinations], which by definition have limited experience with immigration, shape national debates

about immigration, understanding them becomes key to arguing for humane immigration policies” (Winders 2014:S154). Some gateways have responded to this migration to the United States using more aggressive strategies. Rosenblum and Brick

(2011) explain the idea of “enforcement through deterrence”—which is the large scale and highly visible enforcement resources along heavily trafficked parts of the border to discourage entrants. As denizens of these newly emerging gateways receive the incoming undocumented population, this portrayal of these newcomers by the media can be essential to both short-term and long-term integration.

Media Influence

Immigration has been extensively researched through the lens of media. A key finding is that media influence the perception of immigration in communities around the United States (Branton and Dunaway 2009; Ryan, Clegg, and Mayape 2014;

Weberling McKeever, Riffe, and Dillman Carpentier 2012; Shah and Thornton 2004).

Branton and Dunaway (2009) found that most Americans believe one of two things: (a) that news has a liberal slant because most journalists are liberal, or (2) the news has a conservative slant because their corporate parent companies have conservative policy interests. Branton and Dunaway’s study seeks to find two forms of slants in the newspaper coverage of immigration related issues: negative slant in both general coverage and in the editorial and opinion pages where the community perspectives are represented.

By evaluating the tone of both news and opinion pieces, they found that newspapers closer to the border are more likely to print negative news about immigration. Branton and Dunaway (2009) find that media ownership is significantly and positively related to news focusing on negative aspects of both immigration and

Latino immigration. Their research determines that publicly owned newspapers produce 98% more articles that focus on negative aspects of immigration and Latino immigration than privately-owned newspapers.

Similarly, Gentzow and Shapiro (2010) explore the driving factors of media slants in US daily newspapers through a political lens. They analyze the content and ownership of four newspapers—the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the

Christian Science Monitor, and USA Today. Using the 2001 Editor and Publisher (E&P)

International Yearbook, they were able to identify the owner of each newspaper as of

2000. Furthermore, the E&P dataset isolates the zip codes of the newspapers’ headquarters as well as the geographic market. By using zip code-level data, they find right winged newspapers circulate more in zip codes with higher concentrations of

Republicans, even with a defined geographic market (Gentzow and Shapiro 2010).

They were not directly searching for terms and conversation related to immigration. However, they construct lists of two- and three-word phrases most used by Democrats and Republicans in the media. Democrats had no frequent phrases concerning immigration. The lists show that Republicans frequently use the terms

“illegal aliens,” “illegal immigration,” and “border security.” These findings agree with

the aforementioned notion that economic incentives tailor their slant to the ideological predispositions of the consumers.

Valentino, Brader, and Jardina (2013) examine ethnocentrism of Latinos in the media and seek to find a relationship between immigration coverage in media and a focus on certain immigrant groups, namely Latinos. They use internet surveys and track journalistic attention to specific immigrant groups in newspapers from 1985 to 2012.

They choose seven prominent regional newspapers from different areas of the country with large subscriptions. Samples of immigration related news were taken from the

New York Times, the Houston Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, the Charlotte Observer, the Seattle Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Washington Post.

They find that the words “immigration” and “immigrant(s)” are often coupled with “Hispanic” and “Latino(s).” Survey results also suggest that Whites think of Latinos when they think of immigration. Furthermore, their results suggest that newspaper coverage of immigration seems to underemphasize immigration from Asia while it is quite sensitive to changes in immigration trends from Mexico, Central, and South

America. In fact, they point out that the impact of Latino stereotypes increased dramatically by 1996. They find that attention to immigration in the media rose during the late 1990s. Into the mid-2000s, the distinct mention of Latinos is the most common group in stories about immigration. “News mentions of Latino immigrants peaked in

2006 in the wake of elite debate and mass protests surrounding the Border Protection,

Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act” (Valentino, Brader and Jardina

2013:160). Consequently, it is important to examine the media narrative of immigrant

groups, which seem to point the finger at undocumented Latino immigrants in the

United States.

Some media brand the undocumented population and make them the enemy using selective and manipulative word choice. The media repeatedly cover immigration raid at work sites in a manner that portrays immigrants as criminals (Singer 2004;

Massey and Pren 2012; Chavez 2013; Branton and Dunaway 2008, 2009; Cisneros 2008;

Golash-Boza 2009; Menjívar 2016). In a review of immigration in American media,

Massey and Pren (2012) focused on the nation’s leading newspapers: New York Times,

Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times. They found that the words

“undocumented,” “illegal” or “unauthorized” were paired with “Mexico” or “Mexican immigrants” and the words “crisis,” “flood” or “invasion.” They find that the undocumented inflow has been framed as a “tidal wave” threatened to “drown” society, or an “alien invasion.” The threatening marine and martial imagery in media fuels, what Chavez (2013) has coined, the “Latino threat narrative.”

Chavez (2013) characterizes the “Latino threat narrative” as the taken-for- granted and often-repeated assumptions about Latinos, both immigrants and citizens.

Some examples of assumptions include how Latinos do not want to learn English; and

Latinos do not want to integrate socially into the larger United States. Chavez (2013) highlights how media portrays the Latino threat. He introduces the idea of spectacles.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines a spectacle2 as “something exhibited to

2 Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spectacle

view as unusual, notable, or entertaining; especially an eye-catching or dramatic public display.” “Media spectacles transform immigrants’ lives into virtual lives, which are typically devoid of nuances and subtleties of real lived lives” (Chavez 2013:6). Chavez approaches this “threat” and idea of a “spectacle” as something completely fabricated by media outlets and politics.

Comparably, Branton and Dunaway (2008; 2009) also explain how local media outlets rely on a “crime news script,” which disproportionately focuses on crime and nonwhite perpetrators of crime. Their (2008) study identifies differences in Spanish- and English-language media representation of immigration. While this particular research is concerned with English-language media, their comparative analysis shows there are other media narratives of immigration in the United States. Spanish-language media outlets are motivated to provide positive news coverage of immigration to keep their audience in the United States. They find that “English-language media outlets cater to their audience by producing coverage that focuses on negative aspects of immigration and tend to produce negatively slanted news stories when compared to their Spanish-language counterparts” (Branton and Dunaway 2008:1016). Branton and

Dunaway (2008:2009) have done an exceptional job in showing how the media will portray certain themes according to their audience.

This Latino “threat” and negative focus in media is also seen in the works of

Stewart, Pitts and Osborne (2011). Their study traces the development of newspaper discourse about undocumented immigrants from 1994 to 2006. These years were chosen because of their correspondence with salient political turning points. Some

critical events include, the passing of Proposition 187 in California, the election and reelection of George W. Bush, and increasing controversy surrounding undocumented immigration. They find that immigration discourse is marked by an “us” versus “them” modality; they also demonstrate that anti-immigration discourse in the media tends to group certain themes. For example, “they are taking our jobs” or “they are criminals”

(Stewart, Pitts, and Osborne 2011:10)

Lexical content analysis of news articles in the Virginia-Pilot (VP)—a daily newspaper that serves the Hampton Roads of Virginia—elicit negative tones and perceptions of Latino immigrants. Stewart, Pitts, and Osborne (2011) find that articles in the VP presented an overall negative tone when “illegal immigrant” is mentioned.

Similarly, they find that there is an intentional aspect of “otherness” included in the language used. For example, they analyze more closely one article about a fatal car accident in Virginia Beach involving two [White] teenage girls and a native Mexican driver. The driver was intoxicated and killed the teens waiting for their traffic light to change. Rather than focusing on the dangers of drunk driving, the focus of the news story became a cautionary tale of the dangers of “illegal immigration.” Although similar events are isolated and complex, these narratives of undocumented Latino people are far too common.

Cisneros (2008) examined media representation of immigration through rhetoric. “Immigrant as a pollutant” was the metaphor. He states, “Much of our knowledge about how immigration is represented in media and popular discourse has centered on metaphors such as a crime wave or war as guiding tropes through which

the ‘problem’ of immigration is represented” (Cisneros 2008:570). He explained the concept of a metaphor and how it is used to connect phenomena with cultural assumptions and experiences. He argues that the words used in this simple literary tool hold immense power. He outlines some of the various metaphors of immigrants and immigration in existing literatures, some of which include disease, infection, criminal, invader, burden and genetic defect. “When the nation is conceived as a physical body, immigrants are presented as either an infectious disease or as a physical burden. When the nation is conceived as a house, immigrants are represented as criminals, invaders, or dangerous and destructive flood waters” (Cisneros 2008:572).

In 1994, California passed Proposition 187. This initiative was designed to prevent undocumented immigrants from accessing publicly funded social services, including health care and education. The campaign for this proposition was fueled by media images and headlines depicting immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border illegally to enter California to take advantage of California taxpayers (Cisneros 2008;

Golash-Boza 2009). “The ‘civic’ rhetoric emanating from government and mainstream media sources reinforced dominant assumptions about the danger of ‘illegal’ immigration by focusing on nativist, racist, and xenophobic justifications for immigration restriction” (Cisneros 2008:571). The representation of Proposition 187 is one example of how the media is used to propel a political agenda at the expense of certain populations.

Golash-Boza (2009) also delves into how the roles of media and politics have contributed to the failure of immigration policies in the United States. She examines

media representation and counters them with scholarly research. One example she uses is Lou Dobbs and his constant distorted discussion of undocumented immigration.

In 2007, 70 percent of his shows revolved around undocumented immigration.

According to her research, in one of his shows he stated, “just about a third of the prison population in this country is estimated to be illegal aliens” (Golash-Boza

2009:285). The reality of that time was that less than six percent of prisoners are foreign-born. This kind of media distortion perpetuates the racialization of crime and fear of immigration in the United States.

Menjívar (2016) also studies the context of reception of Latino immigrants in

Phoenix, Arizona. She examines the legal regime and enforcement practices coupled with the media portrayals of immigrant identities. “Phoenix, Arizona is allegedly one of the most inhospitable contexts for immigrants today—and on the experience of recent

Central American and Mexican immigrants, the most targeted immigrants of Arizona’s tough laws” (Menjívar 2016: 598). Through examination of The Arizona Republic—the largest newspaper in the Phoenix metro area—she gathers a snapshot of general media representation of immigration that also comes from radio, television, and social media.

She searches for the term “illegal” in articles covering immigration and finds it is used in

36% of articles from 1999-2004, then jumped to 49% in 2007 and to 57% in 2008.

However, the use of the term “undocumented” decreased from a high of 36% in 2005 to

11% in 2011. These terms are used to send a message and as the term “illegal” became more prevalent in the media, tougher immigration laws were passed in Arizona.

Also prevalent in the literature associated with immigration in the media is the idea of hostile media bias. Hostile media perception has been used for various topics— religious conflicts, social issues, and labor disputes. Researchers find that audience members who strongly favor one side of an issue believe the media coverage from the other side is biased against or hostile toward their beliefs (Ryan, Clegg, and Mapaye

2014; Weberling McKeever, Riffe, and Dillman Carpentier 2012). Weberling McKeever,

Riffe, and Dillman Carpentier (2012) further investigate this hostile media bias in North

Carolina. Between 1990 and 2000 the Latino population in North Carolina grew 394%.

Telephone survey data measured: anti-immigrant sentiments, perception of favorableness of news coverage, presumed influence of media coverage, subjective knowledge about immigration, and news exposure. The findings of this study are consistent with existing research in that, “Many respondents in this survey held strong and negative sentiments toward immigration, and opinions consistent with a view of immigration as a sociotropic threat” (Weberling McKeever, Riffe, and Dillman Carpentier

2012:433).

CHAPTER III

METHODS

Selected Immigrant Gateways

Throughout my research of immigrant settlements in the United States, several key terms prevalent in the literature are latinization, visibility, and gateways. These terms serve as a framework for observing how the perception of Latino immigrants in the media occurs in the United States. Thus, my research goal is to observe the trends and language news articles from certain immigrant gateways from January 1, 1998 through December 31, 2017. Gateways illustrate the key role of place in the study of local media in the United States since each of these gateways experience dissimilar immigration trends. Figure 1, generated in ArcGIS Pro, identifies each gateway that is the subject of study in this research.

Figure 1: Map of Six Selected Gateways in the United States

I have chosen two cities from each gateway subtype that represent the city with the highest and the lowest percentages of growth in their foreign-born populations. Of the major-continuous gateways, Boston, Massachusetts had a 38% increase, where in

Chicago, Illinois it was 15%. Of the major-emerging gateways, Charlotte, North Carolina and Phoenix, Arizona showed increases of 110% and 43%, respectively. Lastly, of the minor-emerging gateways, Cape Coral, Florida showed the highest growth, both in this subtype and nationwide, of 170%. However, there is not enough academic research, or prominent media sources from Cape Coral to support this study. Therefore, Nashville,

Tennessee showed the second highest growth of 137%. The lowest growth of this subtype is shown in Salt Lake City, Utah at 47%.

These cities were chosen because I want to see if the media representation within types is similar or differs substantially, as well as how representation varies across types and regions. For example, Charlotte and Phoenix are both major-emerging gateways. Even though they are comparatively categorized, there may be significant differences in what news is reported. Observing two different cities may reveal some discrepancies.

Media sources

To search newspaper coverage of this topic, I use ProQuest, a database containing decades of articles from local and national newspapers, newsletters, journals, and magazines from January 1, 1998 through December 31, 20173. I limit my research to Latino population increase in newly emerging gateways and the narratives crafted in the media. Newspapers were used because of their accessibility and consistent coverage of immigration over the last 20 years. I believe the printed narrative offers a less sensitized approach than, for instance, radio broadcasts, websites, or local television segments and transcripts.

For each city, I have chosen a popular newspaper in the metropolitan area with its respective circulation. McIntyre (2017) identifies America’s 100 largest newspapers based on print and digital paid subscriptions. The list includes their ownership information and circulation data provided by the Alliance for Audited Media. The

3 The dates chosen were to encapsulate a 20-year period, but there were no articles that came up in the search for the year 1998 in the cities that I studied. 27

newspapers and its circulation chosen include The Boston Herald (40,914), Chicago Sun-

Times (146,539), The Charlotte Observer (107,321), The Arizona Daily Star (57,765), The

Knoxville News Sentinel (119, 172), and The Salt Lake Tribune (152,210). As part of the data verification, I also explore the ownership of each of the papers to gain an understanding of the politics behind the media coverage.

To analyze the content of newspapers, I use NVivo, a software dedicated to organizing audio, video, survey data, transcripts and articles (Bazeley and Jackson 2013).

This tool allows me to search through articles and other media and discover themes and trends associated with Latino immigration in the aforementioned cities. To obtain my sample of articles, I searched “undocumented immigration” and “illegal immigration” in the titles of articles in local newspapers in ProQuest for the six identified gateways in the United States. I chose these words because “undocumented” is called a benign term where “illegal” generally holds negative connotations (MenjÍvar 2016: Colford

2013). Originally, I searched for the simple mention of these terms anywhere in the text, but that search brought up thousands of articles. By limiting my search to the usage of the terms in only the headline or document title, the results became more manageable.

Ultimately, the news articles are imported into NVivo and can be reviewed through various perspectives. I sort the article by gateway type to observe the media representation in cities that have similar patterns of growth in their immigrant communities. Next, I explore the representation of diversity of immigrants in the news articles. Third, I filter the articles by section of newspaper to determine if there are

trends in certain sections of the newspapers. I search the frequency of certain terms and can also observe their context. While NVivo identifies words, I attempt to decipher some of the messages local newspapers have printed in the last 20 years.

Limitations

Even though there are newspapers with higher circulation and more widespread distribution, I had to choose certain newspapers. For instance, the use of the Knoxville

News Sentinel representing Nashville which is 179 miles east of gateway city. The newspaper title does not include the name of the city nor the state, so this can lead to some confusion. In order to gain the most consistent results, I also decided to go through one database rather than draw from multiple sources. That way, the formats were similar, and all the articles were chosen using the same criteria.

Also, the use of NVivo does elicit some limitations. The software will generate a list of words with the parameters the user appoints. Following the list production, it is up to the user to determine the value of these words. Thus, the words that appear in the analysis may be taken out of context.

The six newspapers garnered a significant sample size, but some newspapers provided a small fraction of that sample. For example, the Boston Herald only yielded five news articles. Those five articles are supposed to represent 20 years of media coverage for that gateway and there is little data to compare. The Salt Lake Tribune proved to be a much better source. The search terms appeared in 72 articles and across various sections of the newspapers.

With that, it is necessary not to overstate the results of this study because of the limiting data. Analysis of six available newspapers is performed and conclusions drawn from that analysis must be interpreted with these limitations in mind. Again, this study only observes articles with “undocumented” or “illegal immigration” in the headlines.

Immigration may be discussed in other articles that do not necessarily have those headlines. Further research might examine the content within any articles that include the search terms and/or select more widely circulated newspapers or newspapers with known biases to ensure a more complete investigation with more articles to represent the 20-year time period.

Procedure

Altogether, I collected 223 articles that included the search terms from the six newspapers. Using NVivo, I began by importing each individual article as a Rich Text

Format (RTF). Saving the data in the RTF format kept the articles concise and easy to work with. I elected to exclude certain words and terms from the original RTF before importing them to draw more focus to the headlines and content of the articles. These words and terms were related copyright information, contact information for the authors of or contributors to the news articles. Additionally, I excluded the name of the newspaper because that information is simply used for sorting purposes.

From there, I was able to assign multiple codes to each article. In NVivo, each code is represented as a node. Different nodes were created for each year and section of the newspaper in which the article was published. Subsequently, a node was created

for each newspaper with subgroups including each year and section of the newspaper.

By coding the data this way, I was able to examine the articles from any newspaper in

2006. Using the same dataset, I could also observe the content of any newspaper article included in the 20-year period in any of the sections of the newspapers.

Moreover, I decide to investigate where in the newspaper the discussion of immigration was taking place. I identify 34 sections in which the selected articles appear. The most common section for these articles about immigration, by far, is the

News section. It is important to note that it was difficult to compare because some newspapers identify their sections differently; some were labeled as Main, Top Stories, or Breaking. This was important to me because I wanted to find if there were more stories in the Opinion section or News and Breaking stories.

My dataset did allow me to sort the articles accordingly. Some of the articles were categorized in more than one section so I coded them as such. In the few articles from the Boston Herald, all were coded into the News category. However, there are numerous articles in the Salt Lake Tribune that have multiple sections listed. For instance, one article’s section includes Politics/News/Local. That article then gets coded in each category and would be considered in any observation regarding each distinct section.

Then I began my comparison across newspaper sections because discussion of immigration in the media occurs in many different sections of these newspapers.

Indeed, from the Business section to Faith and Values, immigration is explored and

portrayed in multiple ways and I wanted to examine the messages and attitudes conveyed in various news sections. I construct three distinct groups of sections to observe the common themes of these articles. My first group I call Perspective. This group includes news articles from the following sections: Editorials, Letters, Comments,

Opinion, Perspective, and Columnists. These sections are comprised of individuals who are either professionals, community members, or staff writers. The opinions in these pieces are deemed important and relevant to the readership of the newspaper.

Second, the News group is comprised of the following newspaper sections:

Asection, Breaking, Feature, Front Page, Main, News, Top Stories and Politics. Stories in these sections are regarded as holding the most “fact-driven” and relevant information.

The Politics section is often paired with the previously mentioned sections making it one of the most popular sections. Politics are frequently part of breaking news and immigration is often at the forefront of political debate.

Thirdly, I construct a group to encompass the sections devoted to regional news.

The Regional group includes sections that are specific to a geographic community and includes Local, Metro, Tucson, Utah, Region and LDS [Latter-day Saints]. I chose to include the LDS section because the religion is significant to the culture and views of the

Salt Lake City community.

Methodology

My approach to this analysis is both inductive and deductive. To exercise inductive reasoning, I ran a query in NVivo to find the 50 most frequently used words larger than four letters and included stemmed words. After that initial query, I designated several stop words that were not pertinent to the content of the article.

Those words include “like,” “also,” “last,” “section,” and “words.” The words “like” and

“also” yield no substantial inferences. The word “last” is often used to indicate time, such as “last” year, “last” week, or “last” time. The words “section” and “words” are purely organizational in the news articles. I found them useful in my initial step of importing the data, but less useful to the content analysis. After observing the most frequently used words, I use them as references to potentially determine trends in the language to do with undocumented Latino immigrants in the United States.

Deductively, I use the Text Search tool in NVivo to search the use of terms that I wanted to explore. The literature review reflects my curiosity about the terminology regarding the words “illegal” and “undocumented.” Even though the pejorative use of

“illegal” has been addressed (Colford 2013), I believe the media will portray ignorant and negative messages in newly emerging gateways based on the findings of the academic literature on this topic. I predict the media narrative will generalize the immigrant population, and there will be a lack of diversity amongst undocumented

Latino immigrants in the United States. Despite the increase in Central Americans migrating to the United States over recent decades, I suggest that specific countries of

origin will not be addressed. Therefore, I will use the Text Search tool to search Central

America and its constituents to see if or how it is represented, geographically or not.

Furthermore, I look to see if certain types of gateways more often express that increasing diversity.

CHAPTER IV

RESULTS

Language Trends Between Gateways

Table 1 examines the overall results of the data in terms of the geography of articles that were collected. There are certainly trends that stand out. Chicago and

Boston, which are continuous gateways had a relatively low count of articles with titles using the search terms compared to the others. Charlotte had one of the highest increases in foreign-born population [110%] and had the highest count of articles with titles using the search terms in the previous decades.

Table 1: Number of Articles with titles using the search terms by Gateway and Newspaper

Boston Herald (5) Major-Continuous (25) Chicago Sun Times (20)

Arizona Daily Star (28) Major-Emerging (113) Charlotte Observer (85)

Knoxville News Sentinel (13) Minor-Emerging (85) Salt Lake Tribune (72)

Figure 2 illustrates trends over time. The data show a peak in articles with titles using the search terms in the years 2006-2008. This appears to support research indicating that mentions of undocumented Latino immigrants increased in the mid-

2000s (Valentino, Brader, and Jardina 2013). Also, the tail end of captured time-period shows the number of articles mentioning “undocumented/illegal immigration” ascending. This could be due to the most recent political climate and its relentless stance on undocumented immigration in the United States.

Figure 2: Number of News Articles with titles using the search terms for Each Year

Overall, there are words that appear in every gateway, but some appear more frequently in the text of the articles in each gateway type. Figure 3 breaks down the 20 most frequently used words in each gateway type. Some words (i.e. enforcing, enforcement, borders, border) have been grouped together to represent the same term. Each of the three categories contain the sum of the articles from the two newspapers in that gateway.

Figure 3: 20 Most Frequently Used Words in Each the News Articles of Each Gateway

At first glance, the results of the query show that major-continuous gateways publish more value-laden terms like “taking,” “problem,” “deporting,” “arrested,”

“enforcement,” “bill” and “security.” These terms encapsulate the negative representations occurring in media outlets. They suggest controversy surrounding immigration discourse in these localities. Interestingly, after exploring the context in which the words are used, the message varies. For instance, “taking” is simply used in figures of speech (i.e. take a stand, take control, taking steps, taking time). Yet

“arrested” is also high on the list (this is a high percentage given that there are only 25 articles total for this gateway type). In one instance the article plainly reads, “It would be wrong to arrest them [undocumented immigrants].” Meanwhile the term “security” is almost always referred to regarding the Department of Homeland Security and indicates that articles are focused on the role of this organization in articles with titles on immigration. This is a significant example of how the words produced by NVivo cannot be taken at face-value.

In each of the gateways, certain names appear in the list of 20 most frequently used words, as Figure 3 illustrates. “Chicago” appears in major-continuous because

Chicago represents that gateway. “Carolina” and “Charlotte” appear in major-emerging gateways because Charlotte, North Carolina represents that type of gateway. Curiously,

“Arizona” appears on the 20 most frequently used words in minor-emerging gateways.

Thus, while this term appears value-neutral initially, upon further investigation, Arizona is used as a model for immigration policy and constantly referred to in minor-emerging gateways. In 2010, one article in the Knoxville News Sentinel (minor-emerging) states,

“Arizona commands the stage in national drama over illegal immigration.” Indeed,

Arizona (65 mentions) is referenced more than American (48 mentions) which the most frequently used word in the major-continuous gateways.

Table 2: Words That Appear in Each Gateway

Major-Continuous Major-Emerging Minor-Emerging

borders 5% 81% 14%

country 12% 56% 32%

workers 7% 70% 23%

work(ed) 8% 75% 17%

legal 12% 63% 24%

bill(s) 8% 53% 39%

enforcing/enforcement 11% 66% 27%

The information in Table 2 shows the number of mentions between each gateway. There are several words that appear frequently in each gateway: borders, country, workers, work(ed), legal, bill(s), and enforcing/enforcement. Table 2 shows those words and their respective percentages between gateways. For example,

“country” is mentioned 332 times throughout the news articles. 186 of those mentions occur in newspapers that represent major-emerging gateways. Thus, 56% of the mentions of “country” occur in major-emerging gateways. So, while “enforcing” appears high on the list in major-continuous gateways, it only accounts for 11% of the total mentions. Similarly, “borders” appears on the list for most frequently used words

in major-continuous gateways. However, the usage of the word is largely outweighed by that in major-emerging gateways where the usage of “borders” accounts for 81% of the mentions.

Major Continuous Gateways

Boston Herald. In terms of geography, Boston is the furthest city from the US-

Mexico border. It was interesting that the word “wall” was one of the most frequently used when it is so far from the actual site of the potential controversial construct. In the few articles from this source, the Herald gave off an especially political tone. All the articles were positioned in the News section of the paper, and political party and figureheads are constantly discussed.

Chicago Sun Times. In this established immigrant gateway, “American” was one of the most frequently used words. It is often attached to terms to create a nationalist and prideful narrative. Some examples of this usage include, but are not limited to

American dream, American citizen, American history, American society, native born

Americans.

As a whole, major-continuous gateways had low articles counts paired with strong value-laden language. The articles in this category have a strong tie to the

“American” way of life. After decades of mass migration to these gateways, the media narrative seems to be irritated. As the literature supports, a more visible Latino population is not often greeted with open arms. In Chicago, a News article discusses the effects of latinization. “While it’s easy to spot those new Hispanic-owned businesses in

the Bungalow Belt, perhaps less apparent has been the extent of displacement caused by gentrification in some of the neighborhoods that were historically the points of entry for Latinos in Chicago —Pilsen, Humboldt Park and West Town.” Another article expresses concern that Chicagoans are so displeased with their new undocumented populations that they are taking matters into their own hands.

The NVivo results shown in Figure 3 are reflected in the content of the news articles in this type of gateway. These cities have long catered to immigrant populations and the media portrayals generally reflect a distaste for making any new accommodations. The sample size for this gateway was significantly lower than those in major- and minor-emerging, but the percentage of articles that utilize value-laden language clearly indicates that negative representation predominates in major continuous gateways.

Major Emerging Gateways

Arizona Daily Star. With the exception of the Arizona Daily Star, the most frequently used word in the majority of the news articles in major-emerging gateways is

“immigration.” However, in this Arizona newspaper, “borders” is the most frequently used word. As Arizona is the closest state to the US-Mexico border, it was vital to observe the discussion regarding immigration in that area of the country. Immigration is a prominent factor in the history of this region (Menjivar 2016). News articles with titles related to immigration appear almost every year in this gateway. In fact, The Arizona

Daily Star was the only newspaper to have articles in 1999, which was the beginning of the studied time period.

Also, the section in which most articles appear is the News section. The News is constantly discussing issues related to the border. Border Patrol and undocumented immigrants have long affected the communities near this gateway and the media represent the interests of both parties (Branton and Dunaway 2009; Valentino, Brader, and Jardina 2013). Some articles refer to the influx of undocumented immigrants as an

“epidemic.” In a more sympathetic and strategic tone, another article urges the United

States to increase aid to Mexico to ultimately help the United States’ economy. Other articles narrate the constant attempts to curb undocumented immigration, and the protests that ensue.

Charlotte Observer. Referring to the work of Furuseth, Smith and McDaniel

(2015), the foreign-born population in Charlotte has increased dramatically over the last

20 years. It remains a gateway with one of the highest increases in foreign-born population. The economic opportunities in this major emerging gateway continue to attract undocumented workers, and articles appearing in the Charlotte Observer unquestionably recognize this.

The regulatory dialogue is consistent throughout this newspaper. Because of the economic attraction—described by Furuseth, Smith and McDaniel (2015)—news articles announce and focus on the bills and laws that will sanction employers who hire undocumented workers. This explains why words like “workers,” “worked,”

“employers,” and “bills” account for so many of the mentioned words in this gateway.

At a time where economic progression attracted many undocumented workers, the articles appearing in the Charlotte Observer focus on deterrence.

Minor Emerging Gateways

Knoxville News Sentinel. Representing a minor-emerging gateway, this newspaper is frequently discussing bills and voting to create ordinances addressing the incoming population. In these news articles, the mention of bills is often a debate. In one article, the proposed legislation is described as “heavy handed and unnecessary.” Yet other articles describe the necessity of bills designed to slow the traffic. These articles focus on legislation that penalize employers and deny undocumented immigrants government benefits and voting rights.

Most of the articles from this gateway fall into the Perspective category I created.

Thus, the results reflect the perspective of strongly opinionated individuals. For example, one author asks, “Why are we seeing more Mexican flags flying next to or above our

American flag?” Another Perspective author claims, “American traditions, values, ideas and freedoms are at stake.” This type of content tends to impart a negative tone and affect the overall representation of undocumented immigrants in minor-emerging gateways.

Salt Lake Tribune. In the initial query, this newspaper is the only one that contained the word “undocumented” in its top 10 frequently used words. All others include “illegal” high on their list, but the readers around Salt Lake City are more often

exposed to the changing terminology. In this newspaper, the word “Utah” is often used as an identifier (e.g. Utah Senator). The most frequently used words and sections in the

Tribune suggest that the inhabitants of Utah have a distinct religious and conservative culture that is different from the other gateways.

The conversation in this region is often polarized. In recent years, the articles have more neutral headlines; for example, “Utah seeks to study costs, benefits of illegal immigration.” With such fast-growing foreign-born populations, there seems to be a simple sentiment of curiosity expressed in the media at that time. However, around the time of presidential elections, the discourse is heavily concerned with politicians taking strong positions on areas and expressing their views on controversial issues.

General Language Trends in the Media

“Illegal” versus “Undocumented”. In the collected articles, the most frequently used term [including its stemmed words] was “immigrant.” One of the biggest comparisons I wanted to draw was the use of the words “illegal” and “undocumented.”

Figure 4 displays all the articles where the word “illegal”—and its variants i.e. illegal, illegals, illegally, illegality—which totals 1375 times. This far exceeds the usage of the term “undocumented,” which appears 311 times throughout 20 years of news articles.

The increase in 2006 is simply because there were more articles in that year. It is also important to note, it is not possible to know whether the term appeared more than once in one article. So, “undocumented” could have been referenced 12 times in one article and three times in another.

Figure 4: Frequency of “Undocumented” v. “Illegal” in News Articles

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

Undocumented Illegal

Figure 4 shows a dramatic increase in the mid-2000s and then a decrease of both terms in recent years. But in 2012 it appears that there is very little difference between the number of mentions of the two terms. For example, in 1999, “illegal” accounted for

98 percent of the mentions of the two terms. In 2008 (the year with the highest number of articles), “illegal” accounts for 66 percent. In 2017, “illegal” accounts for 51 percent. In three years, “illegal” actually has less mentions than “undocumented.” Even though “illegal” is used more than “undocumented,” this analysis shows that the use of the two terms has changed over time.

General Terminology. Since immigration is the topic of discussion, I ran another query eliminating the words “immigration,” “illegal,” and “undocumented.” As the keywords used to obtain the sample, they are bound to be the most common. By eliminating those words, I can make more connections to what words are commonly associated with the discussion of immigration. I elected to include the words “many” and “want” after seeing their context. First, “many” is used to lump together communities of interest in this immigration process in the United States. These communities include the migrants, the lawmakers, and the communities receiving new immigrants. The use of this word creates a narrative that the majority of this group is the same, and as a result “essentializes” each group.

Second, I include “want” because it carries an emotional component. There are

“wants” from both sides of the border, and these news articles seem to assume the

“wants” of “many” as they are often used in the same statements. In correspondence,

Table 3 shows several of the plentiful examples of how these terms are used to generalize in the news.

Table 3: Examples of the Usage of “Want” and “Many” in News Articles

Many Want

”…many industries need those cheap and “A lot of things are kinds jobs that most available workers.” Americans don’t want to do.”

“….many find it more advantageous to come “He says immigrants, whatever their status, illegally.” want to be part of society.” “We should not reward citizens who do not “Like many members of the majority Latino want to pay the price of being a legal community, Zambrano was here illegally.” citizen.”

“Sitton said the legal immigration system “For many, the memory of past crimes by brings in people who want to learn our illegal entrants overwhelms the fact the language, customs and history and must be actual danger posed by them is slight.” discussed apart from Border Security.”

“Like many states, North Carolina is “The elites are talking about amnesty for weighing measures that would limit the illegal immigrants, but the public doesn’t access of undocumented immigrants to want it.” driver’s licenses and public dollars.”

Lastly, I also thought it necessary to keep words associated with place. Words like “city,” “state,” and “country” are frequently used throughout each article. It is important to see at what scale and at what levels of government immigration is discussed, and how communities respond to the increasingly visible immigrant population. The word “country” is commonly attached to terms like “this” or “our.”

There is a strong sense of nationalism in the usage of this word and varies between gateways. For example, “American” is used most frequently in the Major-Continuous gateways to express the rights and feelings of people who carry American citizenship. It is more combative and creates an “us v. them” mentality.

Exploration of Diversity and Other Terms in the Media

With the increasing number of undocumented immigrants coming from Central

America, I found it imperative to explore their representation. A mere three news articles came up in my search for “Central America” in the entire 223. To make my examination more specific, I search the individual countries and its variants. Altogether,

11 articles contained some variation of the following: El Salvador, Salvadoran,

Guatemala, Guatemalan, Honduras, or Honduran. Of these articles, 82% of them were in

Charlotte. A major-emerging gateway is portraying some diversity in the undocumented immigrant population. Still, in response to the original hypothesis, diversity is undeniably underrepresented. Perhaps more importantly, “Mexico” and “Mexican” came up 273 times, as illustrated in Figure 3. This fact indicates that illegal/undocumented immigration is an essentialized phrase that lacks necessary complexity.

One term I was eager to explore was “invasion.” I search this term and its synonyms, and eight articles use this terminology. In one of those articles out of the

Charlotte Observer, the author(s) identified Ranchero music as an “intrusion.” Invasion and “intrusion” are aggressive words with negative connotations. In the news articles, the words associated with an “invasion” are also frequently attached to the word

“Mexican”; indeed, “Mexican invasion” accounts for about half of the mentions of

“invasion.”

Value-laden terminology related to “disease/threat” is a theme in this sample, though it is not a dominant theme. One news article from Charlotte in 2001 is titled,

“Send Illegal Aliens Home—Immigration Poses a Bigger Threat to This Country Than

Anthrax.” In Salt Lake City, an article from 2007 is titled, “Satan Behind Illegal

Immigration, Utah County Republican Claims.” However, the majority of the headlines do not read this way, and in fact, use more nuanced language.

Comparison Across Sections of Newspapers

After removing the terms “illegal,” “undocumented,” and “immigration” from the analysis, the following figures show the 20 most frequently used words in each of the groups I created based on section of all the newspapers. The larger the word, the more mentions it has in the section. The color of the words in the following figures are not indicative of the number of mentions.

Figure 5: 20 Most Frequently Used Words in Perspective Sections of Newspapers

Figure 6: 20 Most Frequently Used Words in News Sections of Newspapers

Figure 7: 20 Most Frequently Used Words in Regional Sections of Newspapers

Looking at the most frequently used words in the Perspective group, Figure 5, there seems to be a trend. Words like “Mexico” and “American” are high up on the list.

From previous examples, we see that discourse involving these words is used in a manner that preserves the “American” way of life. Comparatively, the word “citizens” is frequently paired with “American” or “Mexican.” Writers express their opinions about how undocumented immigrants affect American citizens as well as their opinions about what would help Mexican citizens in their native country.

Generalizing terms such as “many” and “want” are heavily utilized throughout

Perspective news articles. Also, the word “million” appears on this list. The word is used to measure the number of undocumented immigrants coming into the United States.

The Perspective section seems to be highly concerned with reporting the numbers.

Figure 6 shows the most frequently used words in the News group which includes the main articles that draw the readers in. The numbers of mentions of the words in Figure 6 are significantly higher. For example, in the News group, “people” is mentioned 392 times. This compares to the number of mentions of “people” in the

Perspective group (145 mentions). For the term “state”, the news section has * mentions of the word “state”, but in the regional group, “state” has 181 mentions. It is important to recognize the raw numbers and not overstate the results.

The most frequently used terms in this section are value neutral and deal mostly reporting the facts. Seeing the word “groups,” I assumed that it was mostly concerned with migrant groups. However, the term “groups” is associated with terms such as pro-

immigration groups, Christian group, citizens group, Aid group, groups of immigrants.

There is no “group” that is overly emphasized. Again, the word “deporting” appears in the list. Initially, it may seem to be a negative term. In the News sections, it simply reports how many people have been deported or are “deportable.”

Figure 7 depicts the 20 most frequently used words in the Regional group and has an exceptionally political tone. Words like “federal,” “county,” and “county” refer to different levels of regulation. This emphasis on “bills” and “enforcement” may explain why “Arizona” is also on the list of most frequently used words for this group.

The Regional group is comprised of local and community-based news. This may be why the word “state” is the most used word in this group. Several examples of how

“state” is used include state-voters, state funded, state ballot, state senate, state board, state election and state police. Also, this is the only group where the words “support” appears as a frequently used word. I wanted to take a closer look to see just who was receiving that support and found that it is solely used in reference to bills and laws and in terms of the role of political support for that legislation.

Private v. Public Ownership of Newspapers

Research supports the notion that companies that own the newspapers will align themselves to push certain political agendas and narratives (Branton and Dunaway

2009; Gentzow and Shapiro 2010). In my quest for information about the ownership of the chosen newspapers, I came up short. Of the six newspapers, half are privately owned, and half are publicly traded publishing companies. The Boston Herald, the

Chicago Sun Times, and the Salt Lake Tribune are all privately owned, and their headquarters are generally located within the metropolitan area they serve. It was difficult to find any information about the types of investors or other projects in which these companies are involved.

For the entirety of my sample period, the Boston Herald was owned by a privately owned and Boston-based company called Herald Media Inc. The Chicago Sun

Times was owned by Sun Times Media Group, but when that company filed for bankruptcy it was acquired by Chicago-based Wrapports, L.L.C. The Salt Lake Tribune is owned by a family-operated private investment platform called Huntsmen Family

Investments. Although headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, it invests in diversified industries globally.

On the other hand, the Arizona Daily Star, the Knoxville News Sentinel, and the

Charlotte Observer are governed by massive publicly traded American companies.

Essentially, these control centers are situated in areas removed from the newspapers’ local audience. The Arizona Daily Star is owned by Lee Enterprises, located in Iowa. The

Knoxville News Sentinel is owned by the Virginia-based mass media holding company that is Gannett Company, Inc. Lastly, the Charlotte Observer is owned by the

Sacramento-based McClatchy Company.

Table 4: 20 Most Frequently Used Words Between Privately and Publicly Owned Newspapers

Private Public Utah (269) borders (434) workers (160) workers (363) bills (151) worked (295) country (137) country (208) works (131) legal (201) legal (121) Mexico (200) issue (123) enforcement (197) enforcement (123) bills (187) federal (113) Carolina (186) American (112) employers (186) border (106) federal (179) support (98) want (170) city (92) housing (162) laws (90) county (159) want (88) deported (152) coming (85) nations (149) county (85) north (149) many (85) migrants (148) nations (83) program (146) governments (83) many (144)

Table 4, shown above, displays that publicly owned newspapers seem to focus more on creating a narrative of who is coming and from where. Words like Carolina,

Mexico, north, and borders all indicate importance of place. Also, the word “want” is higher on the list. This suggests that they are more inclined to use emotions in whatever story they are trying to portray. Interestingly, the mention of “borders” is

overwhelming in the public category. This may be because the newspapers are from the three gateways closest to the US-Mexico border.

The privately owned newspapers show a more regulatory approach. This makes sense because the number of articles in the Salt Lake Tribune fiercely exceeds the sum of the Boston Herald and Chicago Sun Times. Words like “bills,” “support,” “laws,” and

“issue” show that their news is mostly concerned with the legislature needed to deter immigrants from coming into their spaces. Also, “American” is used more in privately owned newspapers. Customarily, this term is used to preserve the American culture.

Drawing from Table 4, the most frequently used words do not narrate a negative slant against undocumented Latino immigrants. The publicly and privately owned newspapers are fairly balanced in the number of news articles and newspapers. This particular analysis does not support the notion that ownership focuses more on negative or positive aspects of immigration as previously studied by Branton and

Dunaway (2009). The use of NVivo for this study does not elicit a clear political slant in any of the newspapers.

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

This study employed NVivo to do a content analysis of newspaper article titles to 1) observe the language trends in certain immigrant gateways in the United States; 2) explore the diversity reflected in those titles; and 3) illustrate the types/tone of articles in different sections of the newspaper all while employing the geographic lens to understand the role of place. By observing the most frequently used terms and searching for terms that have often appeared in previous research, this study can draw conclusions about the role of language, diversity, and geography over the 20-year period. Overall, the findings generally confirm the literature on immigration, media and bias, though some variation is also found.

Language Used

To begin, in terms of language trends, reviewing the usage of “illegal” v.

“undocumented,” it interesting to see that the term undocumented has not replaced the use of illegal, despite calls in the literature to move away from that term (Colford

2013). Though there is a trend in recent years where the usage of “undocumented” and

“illegal” has become more balanced, for the most part, “illegal” is a term that functions as both an adjective and a noun in most news articles. I hypothesized that that

“illegal”—with all its negative connotations—will be the more frequently used term.

The literature supports the notion that the incoming immigrant populations, especially

Latino, are met with fear and aggression (Stewart, Pitts, and Osborne; Chavez 2013). As

the literature suggests, by identifying individuals as “illegal,” an automatic criminalization and stigmatization occurs (Singer 2004; Massey and Pren 2012; Cisneros

2008; Golash-Boza 2019). If I were to extend my results further than 2017 into present media, I believe the trend would continue. I predict the usage of “illegal” would not heavily outweigh the use of “undocumented” in the identification of certain immigrants in the United States, though I suspect that there would be an increase in the use of the term in the current era when anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise.

Importantly, in terms of the language used, the most common phrases used in all the articles were based on the idea of regulation. This news coverage aligns with the notion of “enforcement through deterrent.” As Rosenblum and Brick (2011) argue, the proposed bills are designed to make things difficult for newcomers and deter the newcomers. Since immigration cannot be stopped completely, legislating bodies in every type of gateway appear to be involved in the policies that will affect undocumented immigrants in their communities. This is a point that reinforces the idea of the hostile media bias. As the Latino immigrant population grew in North Carolina, so did the rise in anti-immigrant sentiments (Weberling McKeever, Riffe, and Dillman

Carpentier 2012). The Charlotte Observer comprised the largest portion relative to the other newspapers. This may be because of the increased latinization in a community that historically has not had to engage with a Latino immigrant population.

Key themes in the literature regarding media representations include jobs, politics, crime, infection, disease, threat, security, borders, burden, aliens, crisis, flood invasion. Some of these words come up, thus media bias does exist. Importantly it is

most obvious especially in those places that have seen more visibility and the process of

Latinization. There is also considerable evidence that media bias exists in major emerging and minor emerging gateways, given the total number of words mentioned frequently in each title. It is true that most frequent words in titles of these gateways are value-neutral, but some words, such as “issue,” “border,” “enforcement,” and

“Arizona” indicate there is more to the story. Like Menjivar (2016) suggests, these news articles stress the prominence of Arizona’s role in immigration policy. Thus, there is some evidence that the language does impact representation, and that even as likely that Latinization appears, the language is not as obvious in these places.

Reflected Diversity

An important inquiry posed during the research relates to the reflected diversity of the incoming immigrant population in the media. In this analysis, I found that these unique cultural identities were overlooked and generalized as a broader “Latino threat narrative.” For decades, migrants from Central America have continued to head north through Mexico into the United States. However, this is not the story in the news. The

US-Mexican border an entry point for many immigrants into the United States. So,

Mexicans get the most attention and all undocumented immigrants fall into the category of “many.” It is one of the 20 most frequently used words in all the news articles. Additionally, Latinos were the only group associated with headlines regarding illegal/undocumented immigrants. As a result, this “essentialization” reinforces the grouping of individuals as a form of othering (Stewart, Pitts, and Osborne 2011).

Comparison Between Newspaper Sections

This study also directly identified how the “pollutant metaphor” appeared in the selected articles and discovered the key role of the newspaper section. Harsh and discriminatory terms that were present in previous research did appear in some news articles but were certainly not the majority. Rather, biased discussion against undocumented Latinos appeared mostly in the Perspective group of news articles. This supports the argument that this type of language is used in the opinion section of the newspaper (Branton and Dunaway 2009).

At the same time, the fact that the majority of headlines were nefarious support the research that news articles compare a human population to disease and pollutants

(Cisneros 2008; Massey and Pren 2012). As Golash-Boza (2009) reports, aggressive accusations towards undocumented Latino immigrants stigmatize this population. This is a key contribution of this research to the broader literature and illustrates that it is important to explore the context within which certain words appear.

Geographic Lens

The geographic perspective was a unique method used in this research, since the only research that focuses on geography narrows the lens to the border (Branton and

Dunaway 2009). Certainly, results appear to indicate that the border does play a role in coverage. Figure 1 shows that Boston is the furthest from the border and had the least amount of news articles. Comparatively, Chicago is the second northernmost city and

the other major-continuous gateway, and similarly has fewer news articles compared to other gateways. This appears to support the notion that spatial proximity to the US-

Mexico border, may have an effect of media coverage (Branton and Dunaway 2009).

Because this research specifies the histories and dynamics of place through the lens of gateway city types, it captures the role of place more clearly than other research on media bias and immigration. Major-Continuous gateways have the fewer total articles for the 20-year time period. This could be because the established gateways are used to heavy flow of undocumented immigrants, therefore there is less attention to drawn to these communities. In addition, the relative significance of terminology between gateway types serves as additional evidence that geography plays a role in media representations.

Conclusion

The representation of immigration in the United States has an impact on public policy, as well as on the short and long-term integration of immigrants. In terms of public policy, immigration in the United States is both timeless and timely (Branton and

Dunaway 2009). As Mexican migration to the United States slows down, undocumented migration from Central America continues to grow. This research clearly shows that the diversity of undocumented immigrants is not reflected. There is no way to accommodate or learn about these new populations if they are simply categorized as

“other.”

Regardless of their country of origin, Latino migrants transform new communities. The media has the power to influence the public about these newcomers and can guide their reception and longer-term integration. As this research only produces results up to year 2017, it would be interesting to observe the trends in language in media over the last couple of years. In terms of immigration, the current presidential administration has enacted several controversial policies. This research shows that certain gateways and newspaper sections will narrate the experience of undocumented Latino immigrants differently.

As Latino immigrants blaze new trails through different areas of the United

States, their experiences will vary from those in established destinations. Scholars continue to use Singer’s (2004) gateway typology even as it is modified. This research uses certain categories to observe those gateways and exposes some trends. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize the migration patterns—traditional and new—to meet the needs of the residents of this nation, regardless of legal status.

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