Northern triangle and Mexican news media perspectives on the migration crisis: strategic narrative and the identification of good action

ABSTRACT

The goal of this study was to determine Northern Triangle (NT) migrants’ motivations for traveling to the US by examining regional media narratives describing how these political communities make sense of migration’s causes, solutions, and payoffs. Understanding these motivations is pivotal for crafting effective policy, especially given that mass migration from NT countries to the US continues to rise, with increasing numbers of families and unaccompanied children risking the journey despite higher levels of family unit apprehensions by CBP. The specific research questions this study answer concern first, how NT and Mexican media narratives on migration confront violence, institutional failures of state systems, and discuss incentives for migration (See Tables 2–4 for descriptive breakdown). Second, the study examines the larger context of how migration is made sense of in NT and Mexican media, including how US policy is viewed, through analysis of its discussions of migration routes, characterizations of migrants, the consequences of migration for the NT, Mexico, and the US, and identifies moral depictions of what good action may be in the form of policy. This research was funded by the Department of Homeland Security through the Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency at Arizona State University: G10002513.

KEYWORDS:

• Migration
• narrative Analysis
• Northern Triangle
• media Analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. El Periodico (8/8/2018). Se reportan 195 jovenes muertos por casos de violencia.

2. El Periodico (8/12/2018). Hechos criminales provocaron la muerte de 195 jóvenes este año.

3. El Periodico (8/24/2018). El empobrecimiento es primera causa de la migración.

4. Diario Co Latino (12/3/2018). Iglesia pide aprobacion de presupesto este ano.

5. El Universal (7/29/2018). Pide politicas publicas en favor de migrantes.

6. El Universal (10/22/2018). Mexico debe cumplir acuerdos internacionales de migracion.

7. Mileni (9/1/2018). Refugiados: crisis humanitarian.

8. Proceso Digital (1/26/2019). Coordinan acciones para fortalecer asistencia humanitarian y proteccion a migrantes.

9. El Faro (11/22/2018). Excavadores ciudadanos: ‘Ningún candidato es congruente entre lo que promete y lo que hace su partido’.

10. La Tribuna (12/10/2018). Mexico humaniara trato para los mas de 500.000 centroamericanos en transito.

11. Proceso Digital (2/5/2019). Hondurenos cambian ‘sueno americano’ por visa humanitarian en Mexico.

12. Proceso Digital (1/17/2019). Primeros migrantes de nueva caravana inician solicitud para entrar a México.

13. El Universal (12/10/2018) Migrantes, entre esperar la visa o regresarse a su pais.

14. Crónica de hoy (4/6/2019) Migrantes desestiman advertencies de Trump.

15. Proceso Digital (11/25/2018). Menores retornados reciben atención de Dinaf.

16. La Tribuna (1/11/2019). Director de migracion de Mexico: Expectativa de migrantes hacia EEUU no es real.

17. Milenio (10/18/2018). Navarrete rechaza presiones de EU por caravana migrante.

18. Proceso Digital (1/23/2019). Triangulo Norte y Mexico trabajan metas a corto plazo del Plan de Desarrollo Intergral.

19. El Universal (10/29/2018) Acciones de Trump crean desesperanza: Carlos Jimenez Macias.

20. Milenio (10/13/2018) AMLO y Trump juntos por Centroamerica.

21. El Universal (10/22/2018). Pide AMLO a Velasco cuidar paso de centroamericanos.

22. Milenio (9/7/2018). Relacion commercial entre paises debe incluir politica migraoria.

23. El Universal (7/29/2018). Pide Arquidiocesis crear politicas publicas en favor de los migrantes.

24. El Universal (10/22/2018). Mexico debe cumplir acuerdos internacionales de migracion.

25. Cronica de Hoy (3/18/2019). Goberancion sera garante de derechos humans: Encinas.

26. La Tribuna (12/10/2018). Mexico humaniara trato para los mas de 500.000 centroamericanos en transito.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Skye Cooley

Dr. Skye Cooley (Ph.D., University of Alabama) is an assistant professor in the School of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University. He is a co-founder of the MESA group, specializing in conducting open-source content analysis of foreign media and narrative analysis. http://mesagroup.okstate.edu/

Robert Hinck

Robert Hinck (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Monmouth College. He is a co-founder of the MESA group. His research centers on global media, strategic narratives, organizational rhetoric, and conflict/negotiation.

Ethan Sample

Ethan Sample is a research assistant for the MESA group and undergraduate student at Oklahoma State University. He will begin his master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University in the Global Security Studies program starting in the fall of 2020.