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SOCIAL PERCEPTION AND MEDIA DISCOURSE IN IMMIGRATION IN SPAIN
Authors: Pedro Garrido Rodríguez
Number of views: 378
Knowledge of migration and its implications requires a thorough analysis and rationality
in addressing their multiple variables and their many interrelationships. In the field of
migration, the journalistic discourse has made too many simplifications that have somehow disrupted
and distorted the reality of the phenomenon. Racism is generally associated with highly
polarized political or ideological positions and middle-low social classes, who continue to defend
the stale traditional European biological racism. However, authors such as Van Dijk have introduced
another form of racism, which they call “discursive racism”, which is based on the discursive
practices of the elite, be they private individuals or institutions, and is legitimized by the
leadership or credibility of their promoters. This discourse is transmitted multiple avenues such
as parliamentary debates, news releases, bureaucratic documents, the language used by the authorities
or even textbooks in schools and universities. Some of its traits are: positive self-representation
and negative presentation of the other, exhaustively denying racism or at least mitigating
it, controlled discourses of minorities, which are practically in the hands of white elites and
emphasizing the negative aspects and paying attention to the problems and needs of immigrants.
In order to decipher the different view points shown in the media coverage of immigration, we
performed an analysis of the press using the methodology of discourse analysis, referring to the
classic works of Foucault, Bardin, and of contemporary scholars such as M. Stubbs, J. Lozano, Van
Dijk, etc. We observed the presence of two ambivalent points of view. One is more suspicious or
unwilling to accept immigration and its various implications, socioeconomic and cultural and
the other shows a more proactive, tolerant and favorable attitude towards immigration. In this
research, thorough analysis of El Mundo and El Pais (representative of Spanish opinions) was
conducted. Among them, we became aware of the presence of an assertive discourse, which is
generated and transmitted by “them” for the outgroup, which is generally perceived as a destabilizing
and uncomfortable point of view that is often diminished or limited through the medias
broadcastings. The discourse is occasionally used hyperbolically to exalt the attitudes ingroup
solidarity, but ignoring or reducing the impact of the contents found within the discourse endorsed by the involved parties. It is commonplace to find an attenuated or exculpatory treatment
of hate speech. It is also common to hear arguments that may justify certain behaviors, as well as
the identification of these positions and behaviors with a minority.