Informace o publikaci
The Politics of Selectivity: Newspaper Coverage of Refugees in Canada and the United States Before and After Paris
| Autoři | |
|---|---|
| Rok publikování | 2016 |
| Druh | Konferenční abstrakty |
| Fakulta / Pracoviště MU | |
| Citace | |
| Popis | My research centers on newspaper coverage of refugees entering (or potentially entering) the United States and Canada during the period six weeks prior and six weeks following the Paris attacks on November 13, 2015. Much of the scholarship on media coverage of refugees (and migrants overall) has utilized the theoretical lens of framing. I build upon this legacy by embracing an explicitly cultural sociological perspective, in which the meaning-making process is at the center of the inquiry. While some of my content analysis involves quantitative measurement of the themes and the voices within the 382 newspaper articles in my sample, the core of the analysis entails a deep, interpretive reading of the data, seeking to provide a reconstruction of the pure cultural text. Unsurprisingly, in the case of all four newspapers in the sample – The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail – there is conflict concerning refugees coming into the country, among politicians as well as the public. At the same time, there are a considerable number of stories with human-interest frames, featuring the voices of refugees and painting them in a positive light. Attribution of responsibility represents the third major frame, with a focus on how thoroughly (or not) refugees are being vetted by governmental authorities. Based on the qualitative reading of the data, one of the primary themes that has thus far emerged is the “politics of selectivity,” or the ways in which those being permitted to enter the country are un/deserving. The significance of this study lies in exploring how U.S. and Canadian news outlets frame an important global issue for their audiences, from publics to political elites. In these two countries, which could be doing much more in terms of hosting their “fair share” of refugees, the agenda-setting role of mass media is more important than ever. |
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