Visions of Migration: News Images and the Production of Knowledge on the U.S. Southern Border

• Published in: Journalism & communication monographs Vol. 26; no. 3; pp. 176 - 247
• Main Author: Scott, Alex
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.09.2024
• Subjects: 媒体社会学; الإعلامي; медиа социология; semiótica; الصحافة; المرئية; семиотика; новостные изображения; sémiotique; миграция; Inmigración; إنتاج; pratique du journalisme; 符号学; visual journalism production; news images; imágenes de noticias; photojournalisme; production journalistique visuelle; визуальное журналистское производство; sociologie des médias; التصوير; иммиграция; 新闻摄影; الهجرة; журналистская практика; photojournalism; الاجتماع; journalism practice; الإخبارية; 视觉新闻制作; media sociology; migración; фотожурналистика; الصحفية; السيميائية; fotoperiodismo; 新闻实践; sociología de los medios; images d’actualité; immigration; علم; الصور; الممارسة; الصحفي; 新闻图像; migration; producción de periodismo visual; 移民; práctica periodística; semiotics
• ISSN: 1522-6379; 2161-4342
• DOI: 10.1177/15226379241261809

This monograph investigates the visual construction of migration on the U.S. southern border by the U.S. news industry. This study employs a quantitative (N = 1,050) and qualitative (N = 21) social semiotic analysis to illuminate the pervasive patterns of visual representation by three news agencies: The Associated Press, Getty Images, and Reuters. The analysis reveals levels of symbolic annihilation, social separation, and asymmetrical power dynamics that contribute to the symbolic othering of migrants. In-depth interviews with 21 photojournalists and field observation of an additional five photojournalists on the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas were conducted to analyze the factors that influence the production of images. Photojournalists are subject to myriad physical, social, and ideological influences from politicians, law enforcement, news organizations, non-governmental organizations, drug cartels, and border residents that constrain the depiction of migration. These complex conditions of production are marked by a scarcity of time, money, and autonomy that ultimately result in conventionalized imagery. The findings suggest that more comprehensive, nuanced, and humanizing accounts of migration can occur when external entities do not intercede in the interaction between photographers and migrants. Unconventional imagery, however, is no guarantee of empathetic reception from audiences who are steeped in hegemonic migration discourses produced by institutions that profoundly profit from a perpetual migration “crisis.”