Media Analysis: California Public Discourse on Immigration (2009)

For much of this decade, immigration has been an important topic on the public agenda. Nowhere is that more true than in California. The state is home to 9.9 million immigrants, its governor is an immigrant, and it is a border state on the front lines of the debate over immigration reform. State and local policies concerning immigrants are hotly debated across the state, and the raucous debate over an anti-immigrant initiative in 1996, is widely perceived to have influenced the electoral landscape in lasting ways.

For those who hope to reframe the debate and influence policy on immigration, media coverage, public opinion, and the relationship between them must be key elements in any strategy. Understanding the values and perspectives that Californians bring to this debate, and the narratives and spokespeople elevated by the media are crucial to engaging persuadable public audiences as well as policymakers.

It is in this context that The Opportunity Agenda undertook this new research on media coverage and public opinion in California. We analyzed immigration coverage by eight major newspapers across the state, and reviewed responses to questions in all available statewide polls, including one of voters in the western region overall that touched on immigration.

The media content analysis explored key elements of coverage in California:

• Dominant frames and narratives in the coverage of immigrants and immigration topics.
• Categories of spokespeople who are frequently quoted, and their message. We specifically examined the visibility of immigrant rights groups in the media, who and how often they are quoted.
• Terminology used to describe or define the issue.
• Topics that are frequently covered, and topics critical to the debate that are ignored.
• Volume and content of immigration coverage in the publications examined in the scan.
• Reporters who cover the issue.
• Openings for immigrant rights advocates to convey their message, and effectively frame the public debate to reflect public opinion and our nation’s values.
• Openings for the immigration core narrative developed by The Opportunity Agenda and immigration reform advocates: We need workable solutions that uphold our nation’s values and move us forward together.

The analysis of Californians’ public opinion reviewed the following topics:

• Immigrants’ impact on the state’s economy, and immigrants’ own economic attitudes toward public services, social benefits, and their own finances.
• Policy reform and how best to deal with the issue of undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S.
• The impact of immigration on the state’s population growth.

The politics of immigration, and expectations from government officials to confront the issue.

• Immigrants’ commitment to America, and their sentiments for becoming or considering becoming U.S. citizens.

What emerged from the combined research is a nuanced snapshot of immigrants and immigration in California’s public discourse that should inform the work of advocates, policymakers, and others concerned with the integration of immigrants into U.S. society. The analysis reveals both challenges and opportunities. While news coverage highlights the flaws in the current national immigration system, there is little discourse about systemic causes or positive solutions. And while Californians hold a generally favorable opinion of immigrants and see immigration as a net benefit to the state, many worry about the strains of population growth within the sate, which they see as driven largely by immigration.

It is our hope that, with this knowledge in hand, leaders in the state can begin to tell a new story to Californians, a story about workable solutions that uphold our nation’s values and move us forward together.