Examining the effects of news coverage linking undocumented immigrants with criminality: Policy and punitive implications

Figueroa-Caballero, Andrea; Mastro, Dana

doi:10.1080/03637751.2018.1505049

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…First, we demonstrate that both Democrats and Republicans overestimate migrant criminality, suggesting that overestimating criminality is not a partisan issue but rather an issue that affects all Americans. This may stem from media portrayals; for example, the media often uses dehumanizing language to describe migrants (Cisneros, 2008;Esses et al, 2008Esses et al, , 2013 and often perpetuates the stereotype that migrants are linked to criminality (Figueroa-Caballero, & Mastro, 2019). Interestingly, our results also suggest that while these negative portrayals are prevalent in both liberal and conservative media outlets (e.g., Fernandez & Jordan, 2019;Lankford et al, 2019;Singman, 2019), the impact they have on Democrats, who tend to be exposed to and trust liberal media outlets (e.g., Pennycook & Rand, 2019), is likely to be more consequential on subsequent attitudes and policy support.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empathy, Dehumanization, and Misperceptions: A Media Intervention Humanizes Migrants and Increases Empathy for Their Plight but Only if Misinformation About Migrants Is Also Corrected

Moore‐Berg

Hameiri

Bruneau

2021

Social Psychological and Personality Science

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Anti-migrant policies at the U.S. southern border have resulted in the separation and long-term internment of thousands of migrant children and the deaths of many migrants. What leads people to support such harsh policies? Here we examine the role of two prominent psychological factors—empathy and dehumanization. In Studies 1 and 2, we find that empathy and dehumanization are strong, independent predictors of anti-migrant policy support and are associated with factually false negative beliefs about migrants. In Study 3, we interrogated the relationship between empathy/dehumanization, erroneous beliefs, and anti-migrant policy support with two interventions: a media intervention targeting empathy and dehumanization and an intervention that corrects erroneous beliefs. Both interventions were ineffective separately but reduced anti-migrant policy support when presented together. These results suggest a synergistic relationship between psychological processes and erroneous beliefs that together drive harsh anti-migrant policy support.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empathy, Dehumanization, and Misperceptions: A Media Intervention Humanizes Migrants and Increases Empathy for Their Plight but Only if Misinformation About Migrants Is Also Corrected

Moore‐Berg

Hameiri

Bruneau

2021

Social Psychological and Personality Science

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“…This tendency on the part of media to frame immigration negatively is not just limited to the United States but has also been found in studies of European media outlets (Eberl et al 2018). The framing of immigration by media and elites has in turn been shown to influence public opinion, with those exposed to negative frames more likely to favor restrictionist policies, express anti-immigrant attitudes, or support right-wing parties (Boomgaarden, and Vliegenthart 2007; Brader, Valentino, and Suhay 2008; Burscher, van Spanje and de Vreese 2015; Cargile, Merolla, and Pantoja 2014; Figueroa-Caballero, and Mastro 2019; Gil de Zuniga, Correa, and Valenzuela 2012; Gonzalez O’Brien 2018; Haynes, Merrolla, and Ramakrishnan 2016; Masuoka, and Junn 2013; Valentino, Brader, and Jardina 2013). While cultural, criminal, and economic threat frames have been widely studied, less attention has been paid to the health threat frame, which in the past played a significant role in discussion of immigration and pushes for restriction (Minna Stern 1999).…”

Section: Immigration and Threat Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pandemic Politics: Immigration, Framing, and Covid-19

Reedy

O’Brien

Hurst

2023

J. Race Ethnicity Politics

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The covid-19 pandemic has revived a longstanding, and understudied, trope in American politics: the association of immigrants with disease. There has been a great deal of scholarship on the economic, cultural, and criminal threat frames attached to immigrant groups in media coverage, but little to date has specifically examined how national and local sources have framed covid-19 in the context of immigrant communities. In this paper we analyze the prevalence of two different framings of the pandemic in national and local online news outlets over the first year of the pandemic: immigration as a public health threat to the nation, and covid-19 as a threat to immigrant communities within the nation. We find significant differences between national and local coverage, with the former more likely to frame immigration as a covid-19 threat, while local news outlets were more likely to discuss the threat the virus posed to already marginalized immigrant communities.

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“…Media bias against minoritized or marginalized groups in news coverage has been extensively documented by communication scholars (e.g., Figueroa-Caballero & Mastro, 2019). For example, the media tends to overrepresent Black Americans as criminals (Dixon & Linz, 2000; Gilliam & Iyengar, 2000).…”

Section: Recognition Of Anti-muslim Media Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Islamophobia: An assessment of psychological mechanisms that underlie anti-Islamophobia media interventions

Moore‐Berg

Hameiri

Bruneau

2022

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

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Western countries have witnessed increased hostility towards Muslims among individuals, and structurally in the ways that the media covers stories related to Islam/Muslims and in policies that infringe on the rights of Muslim communities. In response, practitioners have created media interventions that aim to reduce Islamophobia. However, it is unclear what causal effects these interventions have on reducing Islamophobia. Here, we test the effects of 11 media interventions developed by practitioners with an intervention tournament among U.S. samples. In Study 1, we identified three videos that most effectively reduced Islamophobia both immediately after watching and 1 month later. In Studies 2–4, we examined the psychological mechanisms of these successful videos and found an indirect effect of the interventions on reduced support for anti-Muslim policies through recognition of media bias against Muslims. This research highlights that drawing attention to structural biases, including biased media coverage of Muslims, is one potential strategy for ameliorating Islamophobia.

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Examining the effects of news coverage linking undocumented immigrants with criminality: Policy and punitive implications

Cited by 14 publications

References 45 publications

Empathy, Dehumanization, and Misperceptions: A Media Intervention Humanizes Migrants and Increases Empathy for Their Plight but Only if Misinformation About Migrants Is Also Corrected

Empathy, Dehumanization, and Misperceptions: A Media Intervention Humanizes Migrants and Increases Empathy for Their Plight but Only if Misinformation About Migrants Is Also Corrected

Pandemic Politics: Immigration, Framing, and Covid-19

Reducing Islamophobia: An assessment of psychological mechanisms that underlie anti-Islamophobia media interventions

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