Media On Immigration
Essay by 24 • March 28, 2011 • 1,071 Words (5 Pages) • 1,462 Views
How do the different U.S. mainstream media such as newspapers and other types of news like television networks portray recent debates about illegal immigration? There will be a main focus on the New York Times representing the U.S., being one of the top prestigious papers of this nation, and the trusted channel CNN. With the variety of sources now established, we can now compare and point out its differences as well as similarities, and analyze the point of views of the people involved. As we compare these two sources, I will not only observe the article’s facts and interviews, but also, the way they portray immigrants and officials on the chosen images. We will also see distinguish the real facts from the ones that framed as facts by pundits. We only want to focus on articles dealing with the immigration laws, and who and how it affects people. HR4437 is the law that has caused chaos throughout the whole nation, especially in heavily Latino populated cities. HR4437 states the following things: Better protection at the U.S. Mexico border which is being funded by military funds. Rise of penalties to undocumented immigrants and criminalize assistance. Some of these precious demands were considered a bit harsh and unreasonable, so a guest-worker program was introduces that can eventually build a path to legalization.
My primary U.S. sources for news are the NY times and CNN. Since the HR4437 issue arose, the NY Times has posted a front page article about this issue every single day. As a reader, this says to me that it sees the importance of the issue and knows that its readers want to read about it, so it puts out what the people want. It is a great paper because of it, but I will compare it to other sources to check its credibility. CNN is also known for its great reporting, but there have been some cases where it been biased in the way they present the news or portray immigrants. Other that here in the U.S., sources are very scarce, especially those from countries which aren’t as developed as the number one superpower of the world. It seems lie most of the information one can find on the immigration laws lies here in the U.S. This can mean that either foreign media is weak in producing new or that it is just simply difficult for the information to reach them, since its taking place here in the U.S.
As a reader, one has doubts about trusting a particular source. One has to investigate the background of that source to decide whether it can be considered a pundit. Pundits sometimes introduce ignorant arguments that are decorated by their sophistication and ability to hide their lack of authoritative knowledge” to the viewers and readers by making these arguments seem legitimate. People can easily be tricked, but an investigation like mine, demonstrates how important it is to find two or more sources in which case you can sometimes point out a pundit, “…these pundits while their voices are often the loudest, they are not necessarily the wisest.”
Unemployment, over-population, and crime are issues that come into play when discussing the compelling exodus that undocumented immigrants face. Not only politicians like but his followers believe only citizens should be granted natural rights in this country. They believe the undocumented are the major cause of unemployment because they are taking the jobs that belong to legal citizens. Will those citizens be willing to work in the fields with little or no benefits at minimum or less than minimum wage? That’s a question that will forever be until immigrants are actually booted out. The crackdown on immigrants continues because they cause over-population which essentially leads to other problems
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