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AWA: Academic Writing at Auckland

About this paper

Title: Investigating Media's Effect on Youth Attitudes Towards Immigrants and Immigration Issues

Proposal:

Proposals focus on the planning stage of problem solving. They define a problem, generate possible solutions, and identify and justify recommended solution(s). They include Problem-solution texts, Policy reports, Marketing proposals, and Research proposals.

Copyright: Eleanor Dwyer

Level:

Third year

Description: Create a detailed and structured plan of your research project

Warning: This paper cannot be copied and used in your own assignment; this is plagiarism. Copied sections will be identified by Turnitin and penalties will apply. Please refer to the University's Academic Integrity resource and policies on Academic Integrity and Copyright.

Investigating Media's Effect on Youth Attitudes Towards Immigrants and Immigration Issues

Introduction

The purpose of this research project is to understand whether mass media has an impact on the opinions youths express toward immigrants and immigration. This project will attempt to understand how negative representation of immigrants in the news may result in prejudiced behaviour. Research has shown the potentially devastating effect racist or bias media can have on the general public. This paper will attempt to understand if this is true for youths in Whangarei or whether they do not feel influenced by the stories expressed in the media. Because of Whangarei’s cultural diversity youths interactions with immigrants from a young age may reject some of the internalised or inforced prejudice that media can create, due to their own experiences. This research aims to understand the relationship between mass media and the opinions held by youths. This paper will focus its research in New Zealand, more specifically, Whangarei to understand what types of news and media youths are exposed to and how these may affect the attitudes they hold towards immigrants and immigration issue

Literature Review

There has been much literature produced on the topic of immigrants and the attitudes and opinions about them. Many authors have also discussed the role that media can play on creating racial tensions and advancing fear around these issues. While the concept of immigration and migration is not new, with advancements in technology and travel, moving from one place to another has never been easier. Modern technologies allows for large scale immigration. The United Nations released an annual International migration report for the year ending December 2017. They estimated a total of 258 million people living in a country other than their country of birth. This is an increase of 49% since the year 2000, primarily due to improvements in travel and global communications (United Nations, 2017).

Countries once considered ethnically homogenous, now boast a conglomerate of cultures and races. New Zealand was once one of the most culturally homogenous societies of European settlement (Ward, Masgoret, 2008). However, New Zealand is now considered ‘superdiverse’, a country which houses residents and long term visitors of varying cultures, races and identities (Spoonley, Butcher, 2009). International migration has reached record highs, and every day exposure to peoples’ of different ethnicities is increasing. Furthermore, access to news, media and information has never been higher, with technology becoming increasingly accessible. However, this exposure does not inherently lead to more accepting and welcoming attitudes towards different cultures. Ward et al, (2008) claims that a sense of threat and competition towards migrants is commonly produced from fears of scarce resources, particularly in relation to economic assets, employment opportunities and concerning differences in cultural norms, values and beliefs. This perceived threat may be stemmed from personal views and the environment in which people are surrounded.

However, this sense of threat and insecurity may also be encouraged or potentially instigated by the mass media's perceptions of immigrants. (Spoonley, Butcher, 2009). Boomgaarden, Vilegenthart, (2006) claim that news media, when selecting stories, tend to lean towards those issues which are known to appeal to the public and current national and global issues. This argument is supported by evidence presented by Spoonely et al, (2009) who argue that the media have a role in articulating racist frameworks and stereotypes about immigrants, while escalating public concern over particular issues to create a heightened sense of crisis. With global issues, such as the syrian refugee crisis, mass media reporting has in some cases worsened public attitudes by showing images which are known to be shocking or disturbing. (Boomgaarden et al, 2006). Media outlets have full control over the narratives and representations of immigrants trying to seek asylum and these types of narratives have been known to lead to an emphasis that immigrants will be a burden on welfare and public services (Dustmann, Preston, 2007).

However over the last 40 years there has been a shift in the types of coverage and attention that immigration stories have received, particularly in the United States. Coverage has shifted from job and economy related issues, to a focus on racism, threats to civil order and national identity (Benson, 2013). Mainstream media has been criticised for producing eurocentric views of western countries and creating narratives which align immigration with illegal activity, terrorism and government failure (Mierina, Koroleva, 2015). The systemic racialisation of migrant issues is still highly prevalent in the mass media, yet the use of ‘discursive deracialisation’ has changed the language that is used in reporting (Spoonley et al, 2009). Racist arguments are reproduced with more articulated language, and avoids the overt use of racial descriptions and evaluations, to allow for prejudice without being identified as such. This type of reporting has also resulted in an intense focus on immigrant groups which are obviously ethnically and visually more distant from the majority population (Dustmann et al, 2007). Media bias is not a new concept but it is a topic which is hard to measure. Biased media can have an understated effect on the general public. Conservative or nationalist news outlets can have a significant impact on the public’s opinions, particularly for non rational voters and those subject to persuasion (DellaVigna, Kaplan, 2007). The media also plays a role in whether certain political parties receive enough media exposure, to raise prominence of their issues and can lead to the success of far right or anti-immigration parties. Parties which have strong anti-immigration policies can reiterate patriotic views in the eye of the reader and contribute to more fear surrounding national security and economic resources (Mierina et al, 2015)

While there is much information and research on attitudes to immigration, not much emphasis is focussed on youths opinions. However, Mierina et al, (2015) explain that data suggests that media, instead of educating youths and rejecting prejudice, further worsens youth attitudes to minorities and migrants, as youths are more susceptible to influence. Young people are also less likely to think critically about what they are reading and tend to take information at face value (Boomgaarden et al, 2006). Young people who watch different media channels frequently are likely to hold xenophobic, exclusionist and negative views towards minorities (Mierina et al, 2015).

However, New Zealand research shows that cultural inclusiveness and diversity within the classroom is associated with intercultural friendships and positive attitudes towards immigrants. These types of interactions are known to diminish a sense of threat surrounding foreigners, while negative media reports and anti-immigration policies work in contrast to this inclusionist agenda (Ward et al,. 2008). Ward et al, (2008) go on to explain that other ritualised and common encounters with immigrants in their everyday lives in stores, restaurants, or work environments are factors which can lead to positive attitudes towards immigrants, particularly in youths.

With the rise of technology and internet access, it cannot be denied that social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are becoming increasing popular forms of news sharing outlets and have become a part of online journalism and news consumption (Kumpel, Karnowski, Keyling, 2015). Many newspapers globally use social media as an additional way to distribute content. The NZHerald, Newshub and 1News, three of New Zealand’s top news outlets all have facebook and twitter sharing accounts which make access to news extremely easy for social media users. News content spreads fast on these platforms and with features such as ‘trending stories’ on Twitter, the chance of coming across news stories is easier than ever. Research suggests that social media news consumers are generally younger and use these sites as their main and sometimes only source of current affairs (Kumpel et al, 2015). While the increased access and viewing of news stories can be perceived as a positive thing, it can be hard to distinguish factually correct information from those which may be incorrect or potentially bias. Despite the superdiversity and everyday immigrant encounters in which many people now experience, this type of news sharing may lead to a future of continued racial tensions among youths.

Research Questions

The questions that this research project attempts to understand about youths and their attitudes towards immigrants and the issues that surround the topic.

Does mass media create prejudice against immigrants/ immigration in youths?
Do youths in Whangarei believe that multiculturalism is a benefit to New Zealand society?
Do interactions with immigrants in school environments dispel negative representations of immigration issues presented in the media?
Does information sharing through social media change the nature of news stories or increase youths exposure to current affairs?
Is it important for youths to understand the complex immigration issues presented in the media?
What is the general attitude held by Whangarei youths toward immigrants?

Contextual analysis

While attempting to understand the complex relationship between the mass media and youth attitudes to immigrants, context is critical. The basis for this research will be taking place in Whangarei, a city located on the south eastern part of the Northland region of New Zealand. The Whangarei district has an area of 2,8522 km, and the centre city is approximately 160 km from Auckland city.

Whangarei is New Zealand’s 8th most populated territorial authority. According to the New Zealand 2013 census data, Whangarei had a total population of 83,700 people, making up 1.9% of the national population, which was estimated at 4,442,100 permanent residents. The Whangarei district has shown an exponential increase in permanent residents since the 1966 census.

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The Whangarei District Council states that of June 30, 2016 Whangarei’s population was estimated at 87,700 residents, a 2.1% increase since the 2013 census data by Statistics New Zealand. This increase in residents is also attributed to migration from within New Zealand and from international arrivals. The region had a increase in the amount of people leaving the area between the 2006 and 2013 censuses resulting in a net loss of 2,763 people for the 7 year period. However the district has seen an increase in migration to the area since 2013. In 2016, Whangarei district had arrivals of 1,200 migrants and immigrants, and a departure of 700, resulting in a net increase of 500 migrants, the highest increase the region has seen in 25 years. The Whangarei Council claims that the districts migration increase was in the top 25 of New Zealand's 83 territorial authorities.

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Whangarei has a mixed group of ethnicities, however this is still significantly lower than the national percentages.

New Zealand in total has seen a rise in immigration in recent years. Stats New Zealand showed that data reflected a net gain of 70,100 permanent and long term residents from foreign countries, in the year ending January 2018. Immigration to New Zealand reached a record high in July 2017, an estimated 72,400 people arriving. With New Zealand and Whangarei reaching migration highs in recent years, the discussion around youth immigration attitudes and opinions is particularly relevant. Whangarei district has a particularly high population of youths. The district cohorts, 0-14 years make up 22% of the population, compared to 20.5% for New Zealand as a whole. While cohorts 15-45 makeup 33.3%, significantly fewer than the national average of 39.7%. Internal migration data shows that of the people moving to Whangarei, 27% of overseas arrivals were aged 0-24 years, while 33% of those moving from places within New Zealand, were aged 0-24 years.

Most of New Zealand’s media outlets have been owned and operated by large overseas parent companies such as Murdoch and Fairfax for majority of New zealand’s media history. However, in 2017 there was a shift in media ownership patterns, with independently owned media platforms exceeding the amount of Crown and publicly owned companies (Myllylahti, 2017). This may change the types of reporting found in New Zealand media. Yet, NZME (New Zealand Media and Entertainment) owns many of New Zealand’s most consumed media outlets such as the NZherald and Newstalk. According NZME, approximately 3.3 million New zealanders (82%) watch or engage with NZME owned companies (NZME, 2017).

Research Design

This research is aimed at understanding the attitudes held by youths in whangarei. Because of this, the field work undertaken will include the interviewing of Whangarei school children. The information collected by interviewing the informants will be supported by relevant secondary information such statistics and literature on the topic. As this project is looking at the opinions and attitudes by the students, a field observation will not be a constructive form of obtaining data. However, this project intends to use semi-structured interviews to directly ask the interviewees on their personal opinions. The semi-structured interviews will have set, qualitative questions that aim to answer the research questions, whilst still leaving room for new or extra questions depending on the student and or their answers to make sure as much information as possible is collected (Flowerdew, Martin, 2005). The questions will be easily adjustable to suit the interviewee to ensure they are clear and easy to understand for every student. Example questions:

Do you watch, read or listen to any form of news media? yes/ no
If yes, what type of news platform do you use most?
If you have any form of social media such as Facebook or Twitter, do you follow any news accounts or come across news stories on your timelines?
If yes, what types of news articles do you see?
Have you encountered any stories on immigrants or immigration issues?
Have these news stories included information that could be considered offensive to peoples’ of different ethnicities? How so?
Do you agree with news stories which may present immigration as a negative issue? why?
Are stories on immigration written in a way that you understand?
Do you consider Whangarei/ New Zealand to be a multicultural country?
Do you believe New Zealand should encourage immigration? And that diversity is a positive thing for our society? Please explain why if
Do you believe having friends of different cultures is important? why/why not

Along with one on one interviews, creating highly structured questionnaires will give an opportunity to get a general overview from a large sample group such as an entire classroom. This approach is less confrontational and may lead to more truthful answers without the fear of judgement from the interviewer. While there is less room for detailed answers, this approach may be more suitable for youths, particularly ones who are intimidated by the idea of answering questions verbally. This type of questionnaire will be formatted with a matrix of answers which range from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘Strongly agree’ to get a better understanding of their knowledge, without a personal interview The questions asked in the interviews and questionnaires will be related to the students individual relationship with the mass media and their types of interactions with immigration issues and will provide an understanding of the social geographies.

Example questions:

New Zealand is a diverse country