Media Effects Theories & Conclusion

Conclusion (Truth vs. Truthiness) and Media Effects Theories:

With this issue there are two very strong sides, one opposing illegal immigration because they didn’t get into America the correct way and therefore are undocumented, taking jobs and skipping out on taxes. On the other side the idea is that the immigrants are taking jobs that Americans don’t want and are hardly affecting the economy at all. The cartoonists depicted the unaffectiveness of all the different immigration policies correctly, if America isn’t on a united front with a standard immigration policy, there isn’t going to be any real action taken. On the other hand, they also correctly portray the immigrants taking jobs that Americans don’t want, but in this economy, actually need. Overall we decided that the cartoonists did a good job of reporting TRUTH, not truthiness.

Agenda Setting-

Gate Keeping- Certain news papers use the same cartoonist’s drawings because they have the same views on the issues. The editors of the papers decide which side of the immigration debate that they want to be on depending on the views of their readers, and select the different cartoons accordingly. Their close the gate to any news or political cartoon that would suggest against their reader’s views.

All of the cartoonists did a really good job of expressing truth in their cartoons. This issue is a tricky one because there are so many gray areas on both sides.

Framing- all of these political cartoons are framing undocumented workers or immigration policies in some way. About three quarters of our cartoons framed the US policies in a negative way. These policies are unsuccessful because each state has such a different need for them depending on location and current illegal immigrant population. It is hard for anyone to keep track of the law because there are so many of them and they all differ to a great extent. In one cartoon, Arizona laws are being framed as ugly and harsh where an nasty, unkempt man, representing Arizona, has beaten a Mexican man pinata to a pulpit. In another cartoon, the Mexican man has just been squashed by Lady Liberty, who is the symbol of the freedoms that Americans enjoy. The statue looks at the immigrant with extreme distaste, just as many American citizens do. It asks the question: “Do our current immigration policies match with the principles of freedom and liberty that our country was based on?” and just as quickly it answer is “No.” At the same time it reminds the viewer that all Americans are immigrants to this land, what makes the Mexican immigrants any different? In other cartoons the immigrants are being framed in a negative way. They are being framed as sneaky and untrustworthy as they break into a UN building/an uncontrollable mob. In another cartoon the immigrants are framed as dangerous and violent as a couple read a newspaper whose title page read "Border Patrol Agent Shot and Killed".

Cultivation- We repeatedly see in the news all of the harm that undocumented workers do, the crime, the large sum of money they are costing, the jobs they are taking. In the cartoons we see cultivation. The immigration policies are all over the place, there is no set standard thus they are ineffective, we see that Arizona's laws are harsh. The cartoons also try to teach us that we have the wrong kind of attitude towards immigrants.