The Agenda Setting Theory essentially states that news media can influence what we think is important, but typically filters information so that only a partial picture is provided and therefore does not necessarily represent reality. What the news media considers important tends to lead viewers to believe the same things being represented are important, and it can be critical to pay attention to what information media outlets include to understand what it is they want you to think is important and why. Throughout the period of the 2016 election and the current presidency, considerable attention was given to the issue of immigration in the United States by both left-leaning and right-leaning news media, in which both tended to report in ways that supported their own views of the topic.
For a conservative source, I will focus on Fox news as it is the number one station for conservative viewers. When reporting on immigration in the U.S, Fox News has a reputation for focusing on negative attributes of immigrants and immigration, particularly Latinx immigrants. Trump made the claim that “When Mexico sends its people… they’re sending people with lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with [them]. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists”. While reporting on this statement in an opinion piece, Fox New’s Sean Hannity claims that it is “time to end the illegal immigration crisis” and that Trump’s statement was “grimly prophetic”. In the article, there is a focus on violent incidents to serve as evidence for these claims, which includes the assault of a 14-year-old girl by two immigrants while on school grounds. Such rhetoric and examples are used to sway public opinion about immigration in the U.S, which connects to Lei Guo’s description of agenda-setting as “…the collective symbolic representation of the world presented in the news significantly correlates with the collective picture of the world in the public’s mind” (Guo, Lei. Agenda Setting: Individual Level Effects Versus Aggregate Level Effects, pg. 26). With its style of reporting, Fox News paints a more violent picture of the U.S with the presence of immigrants, and as they mention this topic frequently on their platform much in the same manner, viewers view immigration as an important topic because Fox News depicts it to be a grave issue.
On the other hand, more liberal platforms such as The Washington Post depict the issue of immigration in a more sympathetic light. In an opinion piece by the editorial board, The Washington Post views immigrants not as hostile newcomers, but as “…people seeking refuge from tyranny and a pathway to success through hard work”. This news media source tends to focus on the benefits of immigration, such as how immigrants can contribute to the labor force and stimulate the economy. In the same way that Fox News does, The Washington Post determines what information it wants to include when reporting on current events to help push the platform’s agenda, which is not necessarily an accurate representation of reality.