The Media and Race in the Trump Era: An Analysis of Two Racially Different Newsrooms’ Coverage of BLM and DACA

Abstract

Journalists play a part in the public’s perception of issues through priming, framing, and agenda setting media effects (McCombs, 2014; Power et al., 1996; Quinsaat, 2014), because they serve as a conduit of information. Professional norms dictate how journalists do their newswork; however, implicit biases and the media’s systematic structure can influence common journalistic practices, which can further stereotype marginalized populations (Entman & Rojecki, 2000). This study examines how two structurally different newsrooms covered the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). By sampling content from the Tampa Bay Times, a predominantly White newsroom, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a more diverse newsroom, a textual analysis of articles written nine months before Donald Trump was elected president to the end of his presidency ascertained differences in word choice, frames, sourcing, and other factors in coverage of BLM and DACA. This study found that the ethnicity of journalists likely influences coverage of Black people and Hispanic/Latino immigrants, that coverage of DACA was more sympathetic, ethical framing grew for BLM stories in the wake of extrajudicial killings of Black and brown individuals in 2020, and that specialized reporting leads to better representation of these two issues.

Keywords:

• BLM
• DACA
• framing
• media
• race

Notes

1 The Black Lives Matter movement started in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who was on trial for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012 (Black Lives Matter, n.d.). To garner attention for the movement, BLM first employed the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on Twitter on July 13, 2013. It went viral in 2014 after the deaths of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice (Anderson, 2016). Police brutality and acquittals of police officers continued in 2014 and beyond, most notably in 2016 after the police shootings of Alton Sterling in New Orleans and Philando Castille in Minnesota. During the same year of Sterling’s shooting, Trump said he believed that in some instances BLM was behind the killings of police officers (Diamond, 2016). In other instances, Trump continued to frame BLM and its supporters as a threat (Diamond, 2016). In 2017, a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia turned violent when white nationalists clashed with counter-protestors. The event turned violent when a man drove his car into a crowd, killing one woman and injuring 19 others. Trump issued a statement on Twitter saying that “hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides” were to blame rather than singling out the white nationalists who staged the rally (McLaughlin, 2017).

2 The Obama Administration started the program in 2012 to protect from deportation those immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission who were brought to the country illegally as minors. However, USCIS stopped accepting new applications for DACA in 2017 when Trump announced that he would begin phasing out the program (Valverde, 2018). Under the program, immigrants who were approved received a Social Security number, a work permit, and were allowed to apply for a driver’s license (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, n.d.). Requirements for the program included entering the U.S. before turning 16, not being older than 31 as of June 15, 2012, and residing in the U.S. continuously since June 15, 2007 (USCIS, n.d.). In addition, applicants had to be degree-seeking or have graduated and could not have been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more misdemeanors (USCIS, n.d.). The permit was renewable after a two-year period, but was reduced to one year during the Trump administration. A lot was happening in the courts as well. A federal judge ordered that the government keep DACA on the same terms and conditions that were in effect before Trump’s announcement (Valverde, 2018). The Trump administration appealed, but the Supreme Court later declined to take up the appeal, meaning DACA would remain in place until and if the Supreme Court took up the case (Valverde, 2018). Finally, on April 22, 2018, a federal judge ordered the government to continue with DACA on the basis that the decision to end the program was “virtually unexplained” and “unlawful” (Sacchetti, 2018). The ruling was seen as a tough blow to the Trump administration (Sacchetti, 2018). However, on July 16, 2021, a federal judge appointed by George W. Bush ruled the program unlawful, and while the Department of Homeland Security can continue accepting applications, it cannot approve them (Nieto del Rio & Jordan, 2021). In addition, because nearly 650,000 people are currently enrolled in the program, the ruling would be temporarily stayed for their cases. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal nearly two months after U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen said the DACA program was an “improper end-run around the legislative process” (Wiessner, 2021). The case now goes to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

3 Journalists should only use the term “illegal” to refer to an action, such as illegal immigration, not people, such as illegal immigrant. Instead of using the terms alien, an illegal, illegals, or undocumented, journalists can use variations such as a person “living in,” “entering a country illegally,” or “without legal permission”. The term “undocumented” is also problematic because it does not precisely refer to the lack of required documents for legal residence. Furthermore, the term “DACA” should be used sparingly because it conveys temporary protection from deportation and not legal status. In addition, DACA should be described as an administrative program and not an executive action. Also, DREAMer or Dreamer should not be used to describe DACA recipients since it refers to the Dream Act, which offered similar protections as DACA, but was never actually approved in Congress (AP Stylebook, 2017). Finally, in 2020 the AP Stylebook was updated to capitalize the word “Black” when used in the context of race and culture (Bauder, 2020). These AP rules provided guidance in the analyses of articles written about DACA and BLM in the Times and the AJC.