The Gray Lady is running an article on immigrants today that contrasts starkly with most media reporting of the issue, and offers us a chance to see what well-framed media coverage of the immigration debate might actually look like.
Immigrant Entrepreneurs Shape a New Economy
The article focuses on the challenges that many immigrant entrepreneurs face - competition from other immigrants, byzantine city regulations, language barriers, and lack of access to connections and infrastructure that help small businesses grow - yet the message is very much one of the positive impact that immigrants have on our cities:
“Immigrants have been the entrepreneurial spark plugs of cities from
New York to Los Angeles,” said Jonathan Bowles, the director of the
Center for an Urban Future, a private, nonprofit research organization
that has studied the dynamics of immigrant businesses that turned
decaying neighborhoods into vibrant commercial hubs in recent decades.
“These are precious and important economic generators for New York
City, and there’s a risk that we might lose them over the next decade.”
In this story, immigrants are the drivers and revivers of urban economies. They are net positives for society as a whole.
To be sure, there are faults with the framing in this article. By focusing on these successful immigrants who have bootstrapped themselves to success - despite many barriers - it reinforces the idea of the immigrant "striver," and promotes a conservative frame of individual responsibility ("If these immigrants can succeed, it must mean that those who don't aren't really trying to help themselves").
Never the less, it is a piece that highlights the value that immigrants bring to our society, and frames them in a positive light. A good piece to think about as we work towards moving public opinion on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform.
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