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Fear & Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News
"Number one, the illegal aliens shouldn't be here. And number two, the culture from which they come is a lot more violent than the USA."
-- The O'Reilly Factor, January 15, 2007
There are many problems facing the United States today: a faltering economy, a health-care crisis, and the continuing war in Iraq, to name a few. But viewers of some of the most prominent cable news programs are presented a different reality in which one issue stands above all others: illegal immigration.
Media Matters Action Network undertook this study in order to document how immigration is discussed and debated on cable news. When it comes to immigration, cable news overflows not just with vitriolic rhetoric, but also with a series of myths that feed viewers' resentment and fears, fostering hostility toward immigrants.
We focus our analysis on a trio of cable commentators: Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly, and Glenn Beck. While hosts on other cable programs regularly discuss illegal immigration (particularly on Fox News, where it is a frequent topic on Hannity & Colmes and Special Report with Brit Hume), these three are the most notable for a number of reasons. On their eponymous programs, Dobbs, O'Reilly, and Beck serve up a steady diet of fear, anger, and resentment on the topic of illegal immigration. (More Stuff...)
I find it strange that illegal immigrants are on the receiving end of hatred while Americans who exploit their labor aren't even considered. Isn't that something? The greatest benefactors of illegal immigration have yet to be taken to task. Stupidity must be bliss too.
Feel free to contact these jokers directly and help stop the madness:
FOX News Channel
Comments@foxnews.com
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Phone: 1-888-369-4762
CNN
One CNN Center, Box 105366,
Atlanta, GA 30303-5366
Phone: 404-827-1500
Fax: 404-827-1906
6 comments:
I saw this yesterday over on http://www.wecanstopthehate.org and definitely considered writing about it myself.
The thing that kills me about this immigration debate B.S. is exactly what you pointed out in yor last paragraph: They always go after the immigrants, and almost never go after the people profitting off of their work.
Those @ssholes may as well say "You can work in or factories, or on our construction lot...but we don't want to see you in our communities"
I think the only people who have valid complaints about the illegal immigration industrial complex are underskilled American laborers. They're the ones who are passed over cuz greedy employers exploit migrant workers out of greed.
The fat-pocketed idiots like Pat Buchanan and the rest of his ilk have no business complaining. There's no consistency in complaining about how we should preserve and strengthen Americanness while owning a Benz. What part of the game is that?
one word sister - ratings they dont care bout nothing else
Torrance,
Yeah. Pretty much. It's just scary how their viewers take them seriously.
@ Anoymiss, well-said.
"I find it strange that illegal immigrants are on the receiving end of hatred while Americans who exploit their labor aren't even considered. Isn't that something? The greatest benefactors of illegal immigration have yet to be taken to task. Stupidity must be bliss too."
Extremely well put!
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