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31 Law & Psychol. Rev. 167 (2007)
The Role of News Media in Shaping and Transforming the Public Perception of Mexican Immigration and the Laws Involved

handle is hein.journals/lpsyr31 and id is 171 raw text is: THE ROLE OF NEWS MEDIA IN SHAPING AND TRANSFORMING THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF MEXICAN IMMIGRATION AND THE LAWS INVOLVED I. INTRODUCTION The news media is a powerful tool because it provides the public with crucial information; but more importantly, the manner in which news pieces are presented can determine how viewers form their opinions about different public issues.1 The way the public perceives the contentious is- sue of Mexican immigration is important because their opinion about im- migration influences policy-makers' decisions about those laws. Thus, the way the news media presents Mexican immigrants and immigration policy may ultimately steer the direction of law. Research shows that some main factors that influence American public support, or non-support, of immigration policies include conceptions of American identity, education, income, partisanship, ideology, economic perceptions and ethnicity.2 Moreover, immigration programs are the cen- ter of policies that exhibit racial and ideological preferences the Constitu- tion prohibits articulating in other realms of law.3 This Note discusses how the media portrayal of immigrants and U.S. immigration policies affect public opinion about immigration, which in turn influences the formation of those laws. Part II provides the history of U.S. immigration policies to contextualize current laws. Part III analyzes the psychological methods by which the media is able to subconsciously persuade its viewing audiences; methods that depend upon the manner in which the media communicates to the audience and the audience's predis- position. II. BACKGROUND OF IMMIGRATION LAW Immigration law has taken many turns throughout the years, mainly in two areas: how immigrants are allowed into the country and, once permit- ted, what benefits immigrants will receive.4 In the early 1990s, California enacted Proposition 187 denying illegal aliens' access to social services, 1. ELIOT ARONSON, THE SOCIAL ANIMAL 59-61 (8th ed., Worth Publishers 1995) (1972). 2. Deborah J. Schildkraut, American Identity and Attitudes Toward Official-English Policies, 24 POL. PSYCHOL. 469, 470 (2003). 3. Susan Burkhardt, The Contours of Conformity: Behavioral Decision Theory and the Pitfalls of the 2002 Reforms of Immigration Procedures, 19 GEO. IMMIGR. L.J. 35, 37 (2004). 4. Id. at 37.

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