IMMIGRANTS, HISPANICS, LATINOS: THE DIFFERENCES
For this study, one of the questions we asked ourselves was: Is there a difference in the way that Spanish-language media represent people, depending whether they use the Spanish term(s) for “Hispanics/Hispanic,” “Latinos/Latino/Latinas/Latina” or “immigrants” to refer to their origin?
Of the three terms, “immigrants” and “Latinos/Latino/Latinas/Latina” are used with the same frequency in the publications of the media outlets studied: five out of 100 articles published in the three years of the study contain some of these words. In the case of “Hispanics/Hispanic,” they appear in three out of every hundred articles.
But, like general immigration coverage, the average monthly percentage of articles using the word “immigrants” went from 7% in 2017 to 4% in 2019. In the case of “Latinos/Latino/Latinas/Latina,” that number decreased 28% between 2017 and 2019.
Regarding “Hispanics/Hispanic,” the average monthly percentage of stories in which these terms appear decreased 36% over the same period.
In the context of the United States, the terms “Hispanic,” “Latino” or “Latinx” are pan-ethnic social identifiers to describe people of Latin American origin who live in the country. According to the PEW Research Center, the Census Bureau uses the term “Hispanic” more frequently, while the center itself uses both terms interchangeably. For 2019, the Census Bureau estimated that 60 million people of Hispanic origin live in the United States. About 41 million people speak Spanish at home.
Although there is debate about who are called Hispanics and who are Latinos – in some cases people with roots in Spanish-speaking countries, including Spain, are considered Hispanic and people from Latin America, including Brazil, as Latinos – the Spanish-language media uses the words “Latinos” or “Latinas” more than “Hispanic” or “Hispanics.”
However, the representation of each term in Spanish-language news pieces is different. Stories from the Spanish-language media outlets studied that mention “immigrants” associate them primarily with their status as undocumented persons. This is clear from an analysis of the most commonly used phrases in these articles.
In total, 36,714 stories containing the word “immigrants” were discovered, 5.5% of all material published in the first three years of the Trump administration.
When looking at the two-word phrases that appear most frequently in these articles, the most frequent is “undocumented immigrants,” which appears 2,476 times per 10,000 stories. This is followed by “Donald Trump,” with a frequency of 1,453 times per 10,000 stories. Among the 10 phrases that appear most frequently in articles that mention immigrants, six are directly related to their persecution by authorities and follow the narrative that President Trump has promoted on migration as a matter of “national security.”
The image of immigrants: undocumented people
Of the 20 most common phrases in news stories that mention the word “immigrants” in Spanish-language media, most are related to their undocumented status and their persecution by the Trump administration.
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
The image of immigrants: undocumented people
Of the 20 most common phrases in news stories that mention the word “immigrants” in Spanish-language media, most are related to their undocumented status and their persecution by the Trump administration.
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
In articles that mention the word “immigrants” (in Spanish) it is easier to find the phrases “detained immigrants” (402) and “illegal immigrants” (277 times) than “legal immigrants” (186), “authorized immigrants” (84) or “immigrant workers” (146). Even the phrases “criminal immigrants” (106) and “criminal record” (two different phrasings in Spanish – 79 and 60 hits, respectively) appear more frequently than phrases such as “immigrant students” (58) or “working immigrants” (48 times per every 10,000 items).
The significant weight of undocumented status in journalistic coverage of immigrants may not be intentional on the part of the media. It may well be a response to the actions of the Trump administration and the narrative promoted by the White House portraying the phenomenon of immigration with negative overtones. Future discussion may analyze the editorial decisions that influence coverage of this and other public interest topics.
HISPANIC, A WORD WITH A MORE POSITIVE CONNOTATION
In the case of “Hispanos” or “Hispanas” (Spanish for Hispanic males and females), their representation by the Spanish-language media is more positive, with greater empowerment and active participation in American society, as reflected in the phrases most commonly found in pieces that contain these words.
The following are among the 10 most common two-word phrases in the articles studied: “United Hispanics,” “Hispanic voters” and “Hispanic students.”
Among the 1,000 most frequent phrases in stories about Hispanics, there are no words such as “criminals,” “priors” (referring to criminal history), “rapists” or “fear,” which are found in articles that contain the word “immigrants.” But we can find the Spanish words for “businessmen,” “voters” and “electors,” noting the absence of the phrases that appear most frequently in stories that mention immigrants.
When speaking of Hispanics, a more positive portrait is presented
“United”, “voters”, “students” and “workers”: the 20 most common phrases in articles with the word “Hispanic” depict a community further removed from detention centers.
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
When speaking of Hispanics, a more positive portrait is presented
“United”, “voters”, “students” and “workers”: the 20 most common phrases in articles with the word “Hispanic” depict a community further removed from detention centers.
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
Nonetheless, some of the most commonly used phrases in articles that mention Hispanics suggest that the conversation about race plays a central role in these types of stories. The two-word phrase that appears most frequently in such articles is “Hispanic whites” (283 times per 10,000 stories).
In addition to “Hispanic whites,” the top 20 phrases include: “Hispanic blacks” (153), “African American Hispanics” (126), and “Hispanic African Americans” (19).
LATINOS, A DEFINITION WITH GREATER POWER
The same is the case with articles that mention “Latinos” or “Latinas.” The most common phrases in these stories present a group of people with greater power. “Latino voters” is the phrase that appears most frequently, with 336 citations for every 10,000 stories. Among the 15 most commonly used two-word phrases are “Latina women,” “Latino students,” “United Latinos,” “Latino artists” and “Latino leaders,” expressions that denote greater empowerment and recognition in society.
“Latino officials” (109), “Latino businessmen” (94) or “Latino stars” (68) are phrases that appear more often than “farm workers” (10) or “poor Latinos.”
Latinos, a word with more power
“Voters,” “Artists,” “Leaders” and “The Grammys” are some of the words the Hispanic media most commonly uses when mentioning the words “Latino/Latina.”
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
Latinos, a word with more power
“Voters,” “Artists,” “Leaders” and “The Grammys” are some of the words the Hispanic media most commonly uses when mentioning the words “Latino/Latina.”
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
However, a more detailed analysis of the 1,000 most common phrases in articles that contain the words “Latinos” or “Latinas” suggests that the media outlets studied have an androcentric view when they refer to terms related to power and recognition, which is to say, males rather than females are primarily highlighted. Here are some examples (phrases per 10,000 stories):
Male power appears more frequently
Some of the most common phrases related to power and recognition suggest that the Hispanic media outlets studied use androcentric language or give greater consideration to men‘s experience over that of women.
Analysis of the 1,000 most frequent bigrams in articles that mention “Latino/Latina” | Source: MediaCloud/CCM
Male power appears more frequently
Some of the most common phrases related to power and recognition suggest that the Hispanic media outlets studied use androcentric language or give greater consideration to men‘s experience over that of women.
Analysis of the 1,000 most frequent bigrams in articles that mention “Latino/Latina” | Source: MediaCloud/CCM
LATINX, THE NEW WORD THAT STILL GENERATES CONFUSION
The group of Spanish-language media outlets we studied use the term “Latinx” much less than “Hispanic” or “Latino.” Media Cloud only captured 189 stories published between January 20, 2017 and January 20, 2020 that contained this word.
However, the number of stories where the term appears tripled since 2017, going from 25 to 76 in 2018, with a slight decrease in 2019 (72). In the first weeks of 2020 the term appeared in 16 stories.
Of the 41 media outlets studied, only 18 used “Latinx” during the period analyzed. La Raza (31) and La Prensa de Florida (26), from the Impremedia group, are the places where the term appeared the most, followed by the defunct Hoy Chicago (21), La Opinión (20) and El Diario de NY, (19 ), the latter two also belonging to Impremedia. The remaining 72 articles that contain that word are distributed among 13 media outlets.
We took on the task of reviewing each of the 189 stories that contain the word “Latinx” to analyze its use by these media outlets in detail. We were unable to review one story because its link was lost. As for the 188 stories that we were able to review in detail, we reached the following conclusions:
- In 40.7% of the cases, the word “Latinx” appears as part of a statement from some source or person that is mentioned in the article.
- In 34.9% of the cases, it is the journalists or writers of the articles who use the word to refer to Latinos.
- In 23.8% of the articles the word “Latinx” is used to refer to the name of an organization or event. For example: “The seventh Trans-Latinx march,” “The Feminist Latinx Performance” or “The Chicago Latinx Book Fair.”
We also analyzed the context in which this term, which identifies the Latino population in the United States, was used. The majority of articles (34.3%) address the activism of various causes in some way, including those of the LGBT population, feminist issues, immigration and equal pay. 22.7% of the stories report on entertainment and show business issues, 12.1% are articles that mention the arts, and 11.5% address Latino identity from different angles. Politics (10.5%) and miscellaneous issues (7.9%) round out the list.
Latinx, a term mostly associated with activism
Of 189 stories where this new word that identifies Latinos appears, the majority address issues of activism from various causes: feminism, equal pay, inclusion in the Latino community, HIV and LGBT causes.
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
Latinx, a term mostly associated with activism
Of 189 stories where this new word that identifies Latinos appears, the majority address issues of activism from various causes: feminism, equal pay, inclusion in the Latino community, HIV and LGBT causes.
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
It is important to note that 23.8% of the stories that contain this term were written in English by bilingual media outlets – out of the list of 41 analyzed media outlets, six have a bilingual component. In Spanish-language journalism, the use of Latinx is more limited: it only appeared in 156 stories over three years.
As far as who uses the term “Latinx,” either in opinion articles or as quotes in different stories, we found 48 people, including journalists, artists, activists, political figures, workers from different NGO’s, academic researchers and Latinx youth.
Univision journalist Jorge Ramos, and Denea Joseph, a young black undocumented woman from Belize, DACA recipient and immigrant rights activist, are the ones who most used the term “Latinx” in the stories we analyzed. Joseph is quoted in five media outlets between 2017 and 2018. In the case of Ramos, these are mainly opinion articles that the journalist wrote for Univision and El Nuevo Herald, as well as reports in La Prensa de Florida and La Raza, which cite his statements.
Based on the content of the articles, it seems that there is not total acceptance of the term – which seeks egalitarian language to refer to people of Latin American heritage – or consensus on who “Latinx” people are. Although Jorge Ramos himself considers himself and all Latinos in the country to be a part of this group, writing, “We Latinx are an essential part of the United States,” an article by a colleague of his at Univision identifies this group as “Latino young adults,” between 18 and 35 years old. On Telemundo they are trying to bring the news to what they call the “Latinx Generation: the mobile, multiracial and multicultural millennials of the United States.” In some cases the term is used as a third option to define Latinos. But at the same time, an article published by Al Día Dallas points out that “Latinx” is “definitely not used by adult working-class immigrants” and does not consider the term functional because it opens “too many linguistic floodgates.” The debate is ongoing.
Latinos is the most frequently used term
We compared the use of the words that refer to people or groups with Latin American roots. Latinos/Latinas is the term that is used the most. Latinx is far behind, but its use is increasing.
Latinos/Latinas, Hispanics (male/female), Latinx
The number of stories where the term Latinx appears tripled between 2017 and 2019.
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
Latinos is the most frequently used term
We compared the use of the words that refer to people or groups with Latin American roots. Latinos/Latinas is the term that is used the most. Latinx is far behind, but its use is increasing.
Latinos/Latinas, Hispanics (male/female), Latinx
The number of stories where the term Latinx appears tripled between 2017 and 2019.
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
“ILLEGALS,” A DEROGATORY TERM STILL USED IN IMMIGRATION COVERAGE
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights considers the use of the term “illegal” in reference to undocumented immigrants to be dehumanizing, given that it criminalizes people and undermines social cohesion. The European Parliament has also called for the term to no longer be used, with “irregular” or “undocumented” immigrant replacing it. In October 2019, the New York City Commission on Human Rights banned the use of the term when it is used to “degrade, humiliate or harass a person.”
And since 2013, the Associated Press news agency stopped using the terms “illegal immigrant” or “illegal” in order to avoid labeling people. The use of the term “illegal” is only accepted by the agency to describe irregular immigration as a phenomenon or action, and not people without papers.
Based on these points and the fact that the Center for Community Media reports that many Hispanic journalists also follow these guidelines strictly, we decided to explore whether the Spanish-language media that are the subject of this analysis continue to use the term “illegal” to describe undocumented people.
The answer is yes. In total, we reviewed 920 news items published between January 20, 2017 and January 20, 2020 that contained the terms “illegal immigrants” or “illegal immigrant.” In most cases (57%), the media reproduce these terms in quotation marks, citing the statements of a public figure, be it President Donald Trump, government officials, politicians or other sources mentioned in the articles.
However, we found 358 newspaper articles in which the media outlets are the ones that use the words “illegals” or “illegal” to describe immigrants without papers. Additionally, we found 35 opinion articles – including editorials from these media outlets themselves – that use the same terms to refer to undocumented persons.
In total, 26 analyzed media outlets published journalistic pieces in which they call irregular immigrants “illegal.” La Opinión and the Miami Herald top that list with 39 articles each. They are followed by La Raza, El Diario de NY and La Prensa de Florida – all forming part of the same network – with 36, 35 and 31 articles respectively.
National media outlets such as Univision and Telemundo are also included in that list, with 21 and 14 articles respectively. Although the percentage of stories in which journalists describe undocumented immigrants as “illegal” is low compared to the total number of articles they produce, the fact remains that the term is still used in some Hispanic newsrooms in the United States.
The term “illegal immigrants” is still in use by some journalists
In most cases, this derogatory term appears in quotation marks, in statements by politicians and other people. But, in a third of the articles analyzed, it is the media themselves that use it to talk about undocumented persons. These are the cases that we discovered, listed by media outlet.
Source: MediaCloud/CCM
Some examples of what we found:
“Trump always maintained that he had never had illegal immigrants on his payroll” …
Telemundo News, April 9, 2019
“As the authorities more efficiently process and remove illegal immigrants ‘who are not eligible and who do not qualify'” …
Univision Noticias, November 4, 2019
“The Coast Guard ended the search for three illegal immigrants this Wednesday” …
El Nuevo Día, November 11, 2019
“Most of the illegal immigrants who come to the United States do so from Central America” …
El Tiempo Latino, December 20, 2019
“But it also detected a risk of maladjustment in the children of illegal immigrants with a low level of education” …
El Nuevo Herald, June 2, 2019
“New Jersey would thus join 12 other states and the District of Columbia in extending driving privileges to illegal immigrants.”
La Opinión, November 28, 2018
“The House of Representatives has been reluctant to finance a project that, it says, would not even serve to stop the entry of illegal immigrants into the country” …
Hoy Los Ángeles, May 21, 2019
“It should be remembered that California is home to approximately 2.3 million illegal immigrants” …
Mundo Hispánico, January 2, 2018
As we mentioned before, the study also discovered 35 opinion articles, including 13 in which the director of the media outlet, the newsroom or the editorial board used the term “illegal” to refer to undocumented persons. One of these articles, published by the newspaper La Raza on July 31, 2017, even condemns the use of this word, which they describe as inaccurate, recognizing that “activists and members of the immigrant community in the United States maintain that it is a racial insult in addition to being dehumanizing.” In the editorial note, La Raza singles out President Trump and some conservative media for calling the undocumented “illegals.”
“For several years now, the main U.S. news agencies stopped using this pejorative term (…) Unfortunately we see how the term ‘illegal immigrant’ is being used again in the battle over immigration in the United States,” wrote the newspaper.
Nonetheless, La Raza has published at least 28 journalistic stories after that article in which its own journalists refer to undocumented people as “illegals.”
When analyzing the total numbers in the first three years of the Trump administration, we see that Saturday, January 20, 2018, is the day in which the analyzed media outlets published the highest percentage (2.39%) of news items that contained the term “illegal immigrants,” either used directly by that media outlet or quoting another source. Hours earlier, on Friday the 19th, the government was officially shut down after the failure of negotiations in the Senate on immigration, mainly because the Democrats were seeking a measure to protect thousands of beneficiaries of the DACA program from deportation.
That same day, Trump posted a video in which he linked immigration to criminality and accused the Democrats of being “accomplices” to the crimes committed by “illegal immigrants.” That is the only day over the analyzed time period that the percentage of news with that term exceeded 2%.
However, when making an annual comparison, we find that the use of the term “illegal immigrants” in general, even in quoting statements by sources and public figures, decreased during 2019. The figure went from 2.1% (2017) to 1.5% in 2019. One wonders if the Hispanic media are now more aware that the term “illegal” is considered degrading and are trying to avoid it.