Fox hypes immigration before midterms, then forgets "crisis"
A new study shows that Fox News hyped a so-called
immigration “crisis” before the 2022 midterms, then significantly reduced its
coverage of immigration after the midterm elections. The results confirm Fox’s
long-established pattern of fear-mongering before elections.
Using a Google news search for foxnews.com, the study
compared Fox immigration reporting and commentary on Nov. 1-2 (before the Nov.
8 midterms) to reporting Nov. 22-23. The total number of hits for “immigration”
(found in both opinion shows and news programs) on Nov. 1-2 before the midterms
was 1,600. After, it dropped 30% to 1,120 on Nov. 22-23. Fox stories and
commentary featured the words “immigration and drugs” 283 times before the
midterms, and only 10 times afterwards. Other noteworthy results: “immigration
crisis” had 315 hits before and 240 after; and “illegal immigrants” had 226
hits before and 135 after. The only finding that showed essentially no change
was the search for “open borders” (689 before and 686 after). See the accompanying
chart (light color=before midterms, dark color=after) for details.
Headlines from foxnews.com from stories produced Nov. 1
and 2, before the midterms, illustrate Fox’s political agenda. These include
“California border officers seize more than 2 tons of drugs…”; “Arizona
detectives seize rainbow fentanyl, firearms, other drugs during major bust”;
and “Blake Masters torched Dem senate opponent (saying that) drug cartels would
vote for Mark Kelly.” One story that checks all the Fox fear-mongering boxes
was, “Tim Ryan (Democrat) pledged to support taxpayer funded reassignment
surgery for illegal immigrants.”
Immigration coverage after the election dropped off
significantly, as the study notes. Fox’s stories after the election seem less
fear-oriented and take on an angrier, more partisan tone, attacking Democrats
for their alleged “open border” policies. The headlines from Nov. 22-23 include
“(Republican) Texas Rep. Gonzales blasts Myorkas (Biden homeland security
secretary) for border chaos in his district”; “Coalition of states push to keep
Trump-era rule barring migrants to prevent spread of COVID”; and “Biden admin
torched by Republicans for preposterous border policies…” To be fair, there
were a few neutral reports such as “Border needs bipartisan solution now…”and
“Mexican authorities urge U.S. to tweak travel alerts warning.”
These off year midterms reflected partisan conservative
media’s propensity to gin up the fear about immigration. In 2018 before the
midterms, the bogeyman was a migrant caravan that was supposedly ready to crash
the gates at the southern border. CNN reported that the caravan was mentioned
on Fox 733 times in the seven days preceding the election, and only 126 times
in the seven days after (through Nov. 15, 2018). (
https://tinyurl.com/ycek87o6)
Fox’s pre-election fear mongering isn’t confined to
immigration. A study by the liberal news watchdog Media Matters came up with
predictable results when they examined Fox News’ crime coverage before and
after the 2022 midterms. “Fox News significantly decreased its volume of
violent crime coverage in the week of the midterms, down 63% from the week
prior. The network averaged 141 weekday violent crime segments per week from
Labor Day through the Friday before the election; in the week of the midterms,
Fox aired 71 weekday violent crime segments — a decrease of 50% compared to the
prior average. (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/foxs-coverage-violent-crime-has-dropped-after-midterms)
A look at the before and after statistics clearly
demonstrates that Fox’s narratives on crime and immigration are engineered to
politically manipulate a malleable public. Fox’s sensationalism, xenophobia,
and fear mongering stir the conservative base, and scare moderates into
believing that crime and immigration are much worse than they actually are.
Of course, this is the antithesis of peace journalism,
which rejects partisanship and seeks balance that accurately reflects reality.
Before the congressional and presidential elections in
2024, don’t be surprised to see a surge in the number of stories about
immigration, crime, LGBTQ rights, and other conservative red-meat issues on Fox
News.
