Representations of (Im)migrants in Chilean Local Press Headlines: a Case Study of El Austral Temuco

Abstract

Nowadays immigration has been deemed an important societal issue in Chile. One of the ways to legitimize ideology in a society is through the media (van Dijk, 2012); therefore, media representation of immigrants may lead to the formation of social stereotypes and ultimately to their different treatment in a host country. This paper aims to analyze the ways in which the media portrays immigrants in Chile. To accomplish this goal, we examine a corpus of newspaper headlines published in El Austral Temuco during 2015–2018, applying a methodology which combines CDA and media framing analysis. The results of the analysis show a strong context difference in the terms use by the media, mainly, between a foreigner, an immigrant, and the national: the first one is represented as a professional, and the last two are portrayed as passive social actors. Thus, the conclusion is that the immigrants in the South of Chile are presented by the media to foreground the Government actions, and little emphasis is done to their contribution to the Chilean society.