Migration narratives in Northern Triangle, Mexican and US media from 1999 to 2019
| Published date | 01 August 2023 |
| Author | Robert S. Hinck,Robert Utterback,Sara R. Kitsch,Sarah Wenzel |
| Date | 01 August 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13110 |
1Air University, Leadership Institute, Maxwell
Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama, USA
2Department of Mathematics and Computer
Science, Monmouth College, Monmouth,
Illinois, USA
3US Coast Guard Academy, New London,
Connecticut, USA
Correspondence
Robert S. Hinck, Air University, Leadership
Institute, Maxwell Air Force Base,
Montgomery, Alabama 36112, USA.
Email: robert.hinck@au.af.edu
Funding information
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Abstract
This study conceptualizes the mediated discussions of
migration in Central America as narratives, arguing for the
need to examine the broader contours of policy-related
migration reporting across time. Using machine learning
and text mining analyses, combined with qualitative narra-
tive analysis, the study examines 53,441 news articles from
17 US, Mexican and Northern Triangle media outlets from
1999 to 2019, tracing and critiquing the shifts in coverage.
Findings suggest that all three media systems generally align
in their depiction of the scene, key agents and acts regard-
ing migration; however, US narratives increasingly diverge
from Northern Triangle and Mexican narratives regarding
the purpose and instruments by which migration occurs,
with US value claims narrowing over time emphasizing
border security. This narrative trajectory within US media
ignores migrants' determination and underlining rationales
for migration, pushing them to take increasingly dangerous
means to migrate to the USA and exacerbating the situation
for all parties.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Migration narratives in Northern Triangle, Mexican
and US media from 1999 to 2019
Robert S. Hinck1 | Robert Utterback2 | Sara R. Kitsch1 |
Sarah Wenzel3
DOI: 10.1111/imig.13110
Received: 4 May 2022 Revised: 22 September 2022 Accepted: 7 December 2022
INTRODUCTION
While Central American migration has been on the rise for decades, in October 2018, reports of an ‘invasion’ of
migrant caravans travelling to the US border dominated headlines as President Trump and his conservative allies
sought to animate voters ahead of the 2018 US midterm election. Unleashing a wave of anti-immigrant Tweets, Trump
falsely claimed these caravans comprised of ‘stone cold criminals’, ‘MS-13’ gang members and ‘Middle Easterners’
320
© 2022 International Organization for Migration.
Int Migr. 2023;61:320–336.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
MIGRATION NARRATIVES IN NORTHERN TRIANGLE,
MEXICAN AND US MEDIA FROM 1999 TO 2019321
posing a threat to US security, stability and identity (Enns & Schuldt, 2018; Lind, 2018). As political pundits noted,
when Trump needed to change the media narrative regarding his administration's domestic initiatives, fears of mass
migration coincidently reemerged (Kahn & Hesson, 2020; Marcotte, 2020).
The storyline of migrant caravans and its use to support draconian deportation, detention and family separa-
tion policies—in addition to resuscitating support for Trump's border wall—highlights the impact of media narratives
in mobilizing political support and crafting government policy. Indeed, past research suggests narratives play key
roles in policymaking more broadly (Crow & Lawlor, 2016), and migration policy specifically (Slaven & Boswell, 2019;
Steinhilper & Gruijters, 2018), by shaping how audiences make sense of issues, thereby implicating public support,
with media coverage providing factual data upon which immigration policy is deliberated (Benson & Wood, 2015;
Thorbjørnsrud, 2015). Unfortunately, studies also show that deliberation about and coverage of immigration suffers
from a divide between factual data and public opinion (Harris & Gruenewald, 2020), specifically with linkages of immi-
grants to crime (Gonzales & Raphael, 2017; Jones-Correa & de Graauw, 2013), as well as broader concerns regarding
negative media framing of migrants more generally, often to their detriment (Farris & Mohamed, 2018; Innes, 2010).
Whereas some research has pointed to how media frames coalesce into stereotyped visions of migrants
(Greussing & Boomgaarden, 2017), the predominate perspective drawing upon news frames places such discussions
in short-term, tactical descriptions of events driven by elites. Indeed, critics argue that coverage of immigrants ignores
important systemic and structural factors vital for a deeper understanding of immigration policy (Benson, 2013;
Suro, 2011) with empirical research exploring how news media describe immigration and how such coverage has
shifted over time remaining underdeveloped (Harris & Gruenewald, 2020).
Furthermore, studies largely focus attention within a host nation's national media ecology, highlighting only one
dimension of a multidimensional problem contained within a national context (Cooley et al., 2020; Palau-Sampio, 2019).
As in the case of migration at the US southern border, the causes for these migratory flows are transnational in nature
and require cross-analysis of how different nations come to explain why and how it occurs and what solutions nations
and their publics should pursue.
Thus, we argue that studies employing framing analyses to media portrayals of migration overly focus on its
present or immediate concerns, thereby contributing to public misunderstanding of the larger trends and plotlines
inhibiting effective policymaking. To address this issue, we offer a narrative approach to reorient studies on migration
coverage within a comparative perspective by utilizing machine learning and text mining analyses combined with
qualitative narrative analysis to examine how US, Northern Triangle (NT) and Mexican media narratively make sense
and report upon migration over the past 20 years.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The predominate perspective of research examining media portrayals of migrants draws upon news framing. Accord-
ingly, news frames influence public opinion by suggesting how audiences should come to think about as issue by selec-
tively highlighting or emphasizing certain elements over others to promote a particular interpretation, evaluation and/or
solution (Entman, 1993). Moreover, framing studies show human interest stories provoking political responses by
placing a human face on migration to attract attention and evoke public empathy (Figenschou & Thorbjørnsrud, 2015).
Although this approach has unveiled a variety of frames applied to migrants during specific moments of crisis and
public salience, critics maintain that both generic framing and issue-specific framing analyses pose limitations, with
issue-specific framing analysis lacking generalizability beyond the particular case or issue studied (Vliegenthart & van
Zoonen, 2011) and generic approaches offering limited insight into actual media coverage (Chong & Druckman, 2007;
Matthes, 2009). More recent critiques highlight additional constraints regarding the temporal nature of frames. As
Coticchia (2016) argues, frames are tactical in nature, providing snapshots of events to serve short-term purposes of
elites. Likewise, Miskimmon et al. (2014) argue that frames, as analytical units, lack sequential and causal features. In this
sense, research taking a framing perspective on immigration may contribute to short-term analyses, resulting in cover-
age ignoring important systemic and structural factors necessary for deeper understanding (Benson, 2013; Suro, 2011).
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