Free Essay on How Media Coverage Has Affected Public Perception of Hispanic Immigrants

The growing population of immigrants in the United States has drawn the great attention of the media, who have made the issue popular and even more significant among Americans in the last year (Berenson & Tessa 2). However, the focus on the issue by the media has been directed to particular ethnic groups, specifically the Hispanics, and has provided coverage on the stand of the issue with those opposing. In this paper, I intend to research on how media coverage of sentiments of some specific great people that has affected the public opinion or perception of immigrants. This discussion seeks to focus on public figures like Donald Trump and Ann Coulter who have recently seemed to be increasing their popularity out of the statements they make concerning immigration. The recent trend on this issue has led me to realize an unearthed problem. Donald Trump and Ann Coulters declarations concerning this issue have raised racial suspicions and tensions among the American natives by motivating hate and animosity towards immigrants.

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In the analysis of this matter, one can argue from two perspectives. First, one question that needs to be answered is whether these anti-migrant feelings were rooted in the American society or is it something the media raised and came as a realization to the Americans. The fact that United States as a country that has been built and founded by immigrants makes one question the motives behind the sudden disregards and defamation of immigrants (Burscher, Bjorn, Joost Spanje & Claes 2). I would like to create an analysis of the above research question to address this contentious issue affecting the American society. First and foremost, the Hispanic migration has been vilified by conservatives that immigrants come to be criminals, grab job opportunities, and leach the systems and many other claims.

Being a native of the US with immigrant parents, I think it is quite vital for me to come out and speak for the Hispanic immigrants and bring to light any kind of generalizations and misconceptions with any grounds that have been made by individuals such as Donald Trump and Coulter. The two people have misused the power of the media to speak uninformed and careless utterances and make people believe in every word they say. Consequently, this has portrayed the strength of the Americans ignorance and biasness concerning the issue of immigrants.

For instance, Daniel McGraw, the author of the article Is Trump right to alienate Hispanics, gives an analysis of how effective Donalds Trumps strategy is about alienating Hispanic vote in the upcoming elections. The author says that Trumps attacks on immigrants have shown the greatest challenge among the Republican party-the need to create a balance between the short-term wining tactics and with the long-term strategy to build a national coalition that is sustainable. The author makes use of the republic commentary and statistical information to support the investigation. He uses good details in support of his argument. However, the information proves to be quite weak and offers no citations to validate it. What Mr. McGraw claims is that no matter how large the Hispanic demographic is, it wont have a lasting impact on the coming election. I choose to disagree on this, due to the fact that, 82% of the Hispanic population have had a negative view on Donald Trump without counting other demographics (McGraw 3). However, I agree that currently or in future the Hispanic society will have a continuous growth. It is of no doubt that this will create a lasting impact not only on the presidential race of Donald, but also on the entire republican party for being a host to such controversial figure that is against a group that is anticipated to hold majority of the countrys politicians by 2050.

Tessa Berenson the author of Time Magazine gives a report on the increasing violence trend at rallies of Donald Trump in her work with the title Protesters at Donald Trump Rallies Face Increasing Violence. There is an increasing growth of violent acts against protestors who attend Trumps rally. Some media groups give coverage of the events but some keep from broadcasting for fear of being associated with the Republican Party. Mr. Berenson reports that the audience targeted by this article would be the readers of the Time magazine or the followers of Mr. trumps campaign whether they support him or not. This article performs a good job for identifying the main problem which is the growing violence rate and points out Trumps tactics in an effort to appeal to his audience. However, this source could make the job better by providing a more clear perspective on the treatment of these news in other news outlets. I chose to use this renown source to connect the divisive language nature of Trump and how it is an incite against the peaceful protestors. The source reveals on how Trumphs actions have demonized Hispanic immigrants and how their reaction towards his attitude has changed the public perception.

In the article 'The State of Media Coverage of Immigration, Ann Coulter has continuously fueled divisiveness across the country. Her utterances in the public correlate the Hispanic culture with crime and make a quick generalization of a culture that gives an opposite representation. A number of utterances have been evaluated by political analysts and found that Mrs. Coulter has used Latino to indirectly demonize and misconstrue the truth about Hispanic people and their culture.

The source has done a great job of identifying the main arguments of Ann Coulter at the same time bringing to light the impacts of her careless and inciting words. This source is used as an indication of how Coulter and Trumps arguments on the Hispanic immigrants have changed the public opinion of the public concerning the Hispanic immigrants. The two political figures have propagated divisiveness and hatred culture in the American society which views Hispanic immigrants as being outcasts and people who do not deserve any right to be in their mother country.

According to Eleni Janiss research on ant-immigration media coverage, she provides an analysis of how trends on how different media types have reported news that have made use of some terminologies related to immigrants. Furthermore, she is able to identify the various terminologies used and how they correlate with the message conveyed by the media on whether it is positive or negative. For instance, the term illegal aliens is commonly used by the conservative media outlets than undocumented immigrants. The author tries to build her argument based on these trends and gives a conclusion that this biased selection of terms is being favored by the conservatives since it pushes their stand indirectly on the issue of immigration. The studies have tried to analyze the different news outlets giving well-supported evidence on how the media has contributed to the public perception about the issue of immigration. They also provide clear explanations of a number of political framings and how leaders like Trump and Coulter have influenced the public shift in support for the immigration reforms policy, thus, affecting the entire movement.

In my opinion, the studies have created some sense of bias in a few parts that have no great interference. There are many sources that relate to these studies that try to shed light on how media framings have influenced the public opinion about Hispanic immigrants. Finally, it can be argued that there is an obvious relationship between the public perception on the immigration issues and how the media has molded these issues in order to fit their agenda.

In summary, anti-immigration proponents like Donald Trump and Ann Coulter have made a tremendous influence on how the public view Hispanic immigrants. This is through their demeaning, inciting, declaratory and spiteful words as covered by different media. The media coverage of these public figures that spearhead the anti-immigration movement has fueled racial tensions by throwing accusations to the Hispanic immigrants as propagating crime, enhancing insecurity and also vilifying the culture. Different studies have shown that there exist racial tensions among the Hispanic and American demographics and give a clear picture on how the media is reporting on the issues regarding the same. However, more research needs to be conducted to determine whether the issue is motivated by a racist ideology or the American society has deemed the Hispanic immigrants to be a threat to it.

Works Cited

Berenson, Tessa. 'Protesters at Donald Trump Rallies Face Increasing Violence'. TIME.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

Burscher, Bjorn, Joost van Spanje, , and Claes H. de Vreese. "Owning The Issues Of Crime And Immigration: The Relation Between Immigration And Crime News And Anti-Immigrant Voting In 11 Countries." Electoral Studies 38. (2015): 59-69. ScienceDirect. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

Byas, Steve. "Ann Bids Bye-Bye to America." New American (08856540) 31.17 (2015): 29-30. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.

Janis, Eleni. 'The State Of Media Coverage Of Immigration 2012-2013 | The Opportunity Agenda'. Opportunityagenda.org. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

McGraw, Daniel. 'Is Trump Right to Alienate Hispanics?'. POLITICO Magazine. N.p., 2015. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.