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  • Essay / The Representation of Illegal Immigrants in Fox News Videos: Problem Framing and Moral Panics

    In this essay, I explain how the media frames crime and illegal immigrants using three selected readings, then I use them to understand how this framing takes place. in two Fox News clips on the caravan of illegal immigrants coming from Central America. I argue that the media generally portrays illegal immigrants in a fear-mongering light and is designed to perpetuate the belief that these illegal immigrants are scary and a threat to American society, rather than people who sincerely want to seek help and help. 'asylum. In this way, the media effectively portrays victims of poverty and war in other countries as enemies of the United States, preying on the deeply ingrained prejudices that news consumers have about these illegal immigrants. , most often on the basis of the color of their skin. First, it is important to recognize the way crime is presented in the media. As Altheide (1997) explains (cited in Steeves & Milford, 2015), crime is sensationalized and hyper-targeted because news agencies and popular media producers all want to entertain – and what's more naturally constructed for entertainment as the tales of macabre crimes make their way. in the collective imagination and plants highly visual and emotional seeds among spectators? This is precisely why media reporting on crime falls within what he calls a problematic frame that creates a narrative that is not only easy to understand but also highly marketable (Steeves & Milford, 2015). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The problem framework highlights out-of-the-ordinary and “bad” stories that have a negative impact on many people , calling for a solution that is expected to resolve the problem in the future (Steeves and Milford, 2015). Narratives about illegal immigrants fall into problematic frameworks, as demonstrated by the way they are constantly brought up as a problem that the United States must get rid of, as a people that the United States must prevent from "ransacking" their borders. However, problem frames are problematic because they present solutions that do not necessarily constitute the appropriate reforms needed to prevent the crime from recurring in the future. In an example provided by Steeves and Milford (2015), the solution proposed by the media in The Response to the Columbine High School Shooting was to blame violent video games as the root cause of shooter violence, which the The government then followed up to "fix" the problem by discussing youth consumption of violent media and implementing legislation for content warnings and rating labels on media content. This only compounds the problem because, instead of identifying the true root cause of violence, they scapegoat violent video games and also misdirect and misinform people about the relevant issues of crime (Steeves and Milford, 2015). It oversimplifies the criminal issue and encourages slandering someone as quickly as possible, without careful and thorough examination of the facts (Steeves and Milford, 2015). It also reinforces the boundaries of what can and cannot be discussed about the criminal event (Steeves and Milford, 2015). For example, after the Columbine incident, the discussion focused on violent video games, but not onyouth mental health and on providing better services to young people in crisis, which were much more pressing issues and likely the real root causes of violence (Steeves & Milford, 2015). We can use this analogy with illegal immigrants. One of the root causes of crime in the United States, as news sources and politicians constantly tell us, is the out-of-control immigration problem. In a Fox News video, a former ICE agent explains how illegal immigrants are diverting U.S. Border Patrol resources to their cause, leaving the U.S. border vulnerable to drug cartels and others likely to infiltrate ("Secretary Therefore, he holds these illegal immigrants responsible for draining American resources and helping criminals enter the United States. He also repeatedly emphasizes that these illegal immigrants are unknown and that some of them are definitely criminals, which corrupts the others: "Some of them actually come from abroad, probably from the Middle East or besides… We don't know who all this is. in this group... The groups are infiltrated by cartel members... We don't know who is entering; there is no way to control them” (“DHS Secretary,” 2018, 00:03:03-00:03:15”). By introducing the situation in the Middle East, which has its own set of negative connotations and racist prejudices, this ICE agent makes a series of accusations which are only assumptions, but which are now presented by the media as facts. The solution, as the media and politicians always tell us, is to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the United States, by tightening immigration controls and repeatedly demonizing these illegal immigrants until people are starting to believe in these policies and reforms. In doing so, narratives that illegal immigrants are simply asylum-seeking refugees are repeatedly squashed, and the true root causes of crime in the United States, which are not exacerbated by illegal immigrants, are covered up and ignored. This is why problem framing is so harmful: because it leads to moral panics. As Cohen (1972/1980) puts it, moral panic occurs when a “condition, episode, person, or group of people emerges and is defined as a threat to the values ​​and interests of society” (p. 9, cited by Hall et al., 1978, cited by Steeves & Milford, 2015, p. 32). Moral panics are fear-based and cling to stereotypes people have about certain races and genders, among other group identities, to cement certain criminal perceptions about them (Steeves & Milford, 2015, p. 32) . Milford, 2015). Moral panics amplify social tensions and exaggerate crises by preying on historical biases against minority groups, such as people of color and, in the case of this article, Central American caravan migrants crossing the state border -United States and Mexico (Steeves and Milford, 2015). That was the focus of this former ICE agent, citing the Middle East as part of the illegal immigrant threat, and other instances where illegal immigrants are vilified, blamed for the exacerbation of problems in the United States like poverty and crime which, in fact, were already present and are only being exaggerated by the media. As Longazel (2012) argues, moral panic is racial hoarding. Media representation of illegal immigrants is based on ideas of racial stratification which, as Longazel writes.