Immigration, on the Southern border of the United States.
The situation on the southern border of the United States of America has been a regular item on the news-cycle for many years, oftentimes becoming the leading talking-point for the presidential nominees and taking centre-stage in the debates that follow.
The topic of immigration is challenging for many people, and in recent years has contributed to a fevered discussion within the political arena on how this issue should be addressed-Fuelled by an increasingly divided public opinion.
This is why, for many Americans, having access to a fact-based free-press has become an important talking-point, and one that has been the subject of increased scrutiny during the Trump-Presidency.
For my assignment this week, I shall be comparing the nuance and tone in which three very different news-outlets are reporting the events that are taking place on the border with Mexico, and how through the use of semiotics and symbolism these outlets infuse the information with their own political-beliefs and ideology.
NHK: News Hong-Kong is the leading news organisation in Asia-covering all aspects of daily-life in Asian countries and events taking place on the international stage.
In their coverage of the situation on the Mexico border, NHK apply an objective point of view and present the findings using a clean aesthetic that aims to avoid tainting the information with imagery that could be interpreted as bias, or misleading. It is through the absence of overt use of semiotics and symbolism, that they are able to present a seemingly neutral report, giving greater significance to the few words that are present, therein.
BBC: The BBC have produced a very thorough report that covers a multitude of issues pertaining to the key talking-point, and have done so through the use of graphs, video-content, photography and first-hand sources.
In providing the reader with such a comprehensive report, the BBC have presented a multi-faceted document that seeks to inform, with an emphasis on fact-based information.
It is in the presentation of the imagery and the pull-lines, that we can best observe the use of semiotics. By implementing signs that are rooted in emotionally-charged imagery the report appeals to our humanity, in an effort to encourage us to further engage with the subject.
Fox News: The right-leaning network can often be found advocating the views of the far-right and their preferred conservative, political figures. In the process, distorting the facts to better accommodate their own agenda and promoting the views of their financial-backers.
Here we can see that bias against immigration evidenced in the use of wording and sub-text presenting a headline that evokes a sense of danger. This is designed to create anti-immigration sentiment, within the minds of their viewers. Fox News, engage the use of semiotics to give meaning to their interpretation of the facts, and through the use of wording, photography and video they present the viewer with a myriad of signs that are underpinned by a pre-conceived sub-text, all of which aspires to align their viewers with the agenda being advocated by the network.
References:
Fox News., (2019). CBP says agents arrest convicted sex offender, seize 8.5 pounds of heroin at San Diego border [online]. Fox News. [Viewed 14 August 2019]. Available from: https://www.foxnews.com/us/cbp-agents-arrest-convicted-sex-offender-seize-8-5-pounds-of-heroin-in-eventual-weekend-at-border
BBC., (2019). Is there a crisis on the US-Mexico border? [online]. BBC. [Viewed 12 August 2019]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-44319094
NHK., (2019). Trump rules to further restrict legal immigration[online]. NHK. [Viewed 12 August 2019]. Available from: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190813_06/
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