Refugees or Invaders?: The Construction and Consequences of Fake News About Central American Refugees
Biographical Sketch
Robin Andersen is Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University. She is the author of six books, dozens of book chapters and journal articles, and also writes media analysis and criticism for a variety of publications. Her co-edited Routledge Companion to Media and Humanitarian Action was published in late 2017, and she is now editing a Routledge Focus Book Series on the topic for the press. She also recently published, HBO’s Treme and the Stories of the Storm: From New Orleans as Disaster Myth to Groundbreaking Television, with Lexington Books. Her 2006 book A Century of Media: A Century of War won the 2007 Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award, from the Honor Society of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. She is a Project Censored Judge, and her article for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting was recognized as a Top Ten Story for 2018.
Type of Presentation
Individual presentation
Brief Description of Presentation
After detailing the ways in which stories about the Central American Refugees were distorted, making false claims about who the refugees were, why they fled their home counties, and why they would attempt to enter the United States, the article places the fake news content within the context of the 2018 midterm elections, and the violent consequences of the false stories. In social media posts, Robert Bowers, the man accused of killing 11 people worshiping in their synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, repeatedly referred to the migrants as "invaders," the same term often repeated on media.
Abstract of Proposal
This paper articulates the ways in which stories about a group of Central American Refugees traveling together from Central America though Mexico were distorted, political messages. The Trump White House called the Central American migrants "invaders," and made unsubstantiated claims about the group as it traveled to the US border. In addition to using the highly charged term invaders, false "facts" included assertions that gang members, criminals, and Middle Eastern terrorists were traveling with the refugee caravan. The language of invasion was repeated in news reporting, especially on Fox New outlets, and social media among others. The stories and false claims about who the refugees were, why they fled their home countries, and why they would attempt to enter the United States, are identified as fake news. Such fake stories were deliberately constructed using divisive, politicized content designed to rally certain constituencies and compelled them to act, by voting. The article places the fake news content within the context of the 2018 midterm elections, tying the stories to the violent consequences of the killing of 11 people and wounding more. Robert Bowers, the man accused of killing 11 people worshiping in their synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, repeatedly referred to the migrants as "invaders," the same term often repeated on media. The paper analyses the ways in which such fake news deliberately includes visceral content that plays to the politics of hate and fear. It also traces the ways in which fake news is disseminated on certain social media platforms without being challenged by alternative points of view. These properties help identify the parameters of hate speech, and in doing so, also help us understand how the power of such speech can compel certain people to act on these messages. The paper seeks to connect how such speech has led to fear of the "other," and how violence is being encouraged within the context of current political discourse.
Location
Session 3B (Summit, Double Tree)
Start Date
2-22-2019 3:00 PM
End Date
2-22-2019 4:30 PM
Recommended Citation
Andersen, Robin Dr, "Refugees or Invaders?: The Construction and Consequences of Fake News About Central American Refugees" (2019). International Critical Media Literacy Conference. 19.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/criticalmedialiteracy/2019/2019/19
Refugees or Invaders?: The Construction and Consequences of Fake News About Central American Refugees
Session 3B (Summit, Double Tree)
This paper articulates the ways in which stories about a group of Central American Refugees traveling together from Central America though Mexico were distorted, political messages. The Trump White House called the Central American migrants "invaders," and made unsubstantiated claims about the group as it traveled to the US border. In addition to using the highly charged term invaders, false "facts" included assertions that gang members, criminals, and Middle Eastern terrorists were traveling with the refugee caravan. The language of invasion was repeated in news reporting, especially on Fox New outlets, and social media among others. The stories and false claims about who the refugees were, why they fled their home countries, and why they would attempt to enter the United States, are identified as fake news. Such fake stories were deliberately constructed using divisive, politicized content designed to rally certain constituencies and compelled them to act, by voting. The article places the fake news content within the context of the 2018 midterm elections, tying the stories to the violent consequences of the killing of 11 people and wounding more. Robert Bowers, the man accused of killing 11 people worshiping in their synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, repeatedly referred to the migrants as "invaders," the same term often repeated on media. The paper analyses the ways in which such fake news deliberately includes visceral content that plays to the politics of hate and fear. It also traces the ways in which fake news is disseminated on certain social media platforms without being challenged by alternative points of view. These properties help identify the parameters of hate speech, and in doing so, also help us understand how the power of such speech can compel certain people to act on these messages. The paper seeks to connect how such speech has led to fear of the "other," and how violence is being encouraged within the context of current political discourse.
