Bienvenido a Miami y Más: Immigration Frames in English and Spanish Newspapers During the 2012 Florida Republican Primary A.J. “Alex” Avila PhD Candidate School of Journalism

Is Catering to Latino Voters a Joke?

Florida 2000 Election

Florida’s Changing Latino Demographics – 1980 –Political Exodus from Cuba 1980 – present –Economic Exodus Politics dominated by early political exodus with a strong, anti-Castro, right wing slant

Florida’s Changing Latino Demographics Florida had 2.2% of all mainland Puerto Ricans 2000 Florida had 14.4% of all mainland Puerto Ricans In 2003, Orlando became the 4 th largest Puerto Rican city in the mainland (NY, Philadelphia, Chicago)

Florida’s Fluid Latino Vote This new makeup of Florida’s Latino population was hard to predict politically By 2012, the Cuban vote in Florida no longer defined the overall Hispanic vote

Florida Presidential Primary Florida GOP moves its primary to Jan. 31 from March 6. During the primary season, Florida is the fifth state after Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. South Carolina the first state with a major African-American voting population. Florida the first state with a major Latino voting population.

Issues Politically, S. Florida Cuban Americans leaned Republican –Age Gap Cuban Exiles Native Americans Central Florida Puerto Ricans leaned Democrat Newspaper’s tend to reflect the local mainstream Ethnic papers reflect more alternative or minority views.

Why a Framing Study? Words Matter! –Who says what, how? Illegal or Undocumented? Framing helps to understand the power dynamics behind who is shaping the media

Research Questions RQ1: What are the identifiable immigration issue frames commonly used in news media? RQ2: How do English-language news media use issue frames when discussing immigration? RQ3: How do Spanish-language news media use issue frames when discussing immigration?

Immigration Frames Found

t-Test English Newspaper Frames There was a significant difference in the scores for Miami Herald (M=15, SD=9.9) and Orlando Sentinel (M=5, SD=4.6); t(16)=2.7443, p= – With a significance level under the threshold (p<0.05) we reject the Null Hypothesis.

t-Test Spanish Newspaper Frames There was a significant difference in the scores for El Heraldo (M=12.2, SD= 10.8) and El Sentinel (M=3.7, SD=4.2); t(16)=2.224, p= – The low number of samples in Spanish Orlando, however, makes the reliability of this parametric test questionable.

t-Test English v. Spanish Miami There was not a statistically significant difference in the scores for the Miami Herald (M=15, SD= 9.9) and El Heraldo de Miami (M=12.2, SD=10.8); t(16)=2.1199, p= – There were differences but not statistically significant ones at of 0.05 threshold.

t-Test English v. Spanish Orlando There was not a statistically significant difference in the results for the sister publications in Orlando. The e Orlando Sentinel (M=5, SD= 4.6) and El Sentinel de Orlando (M=3.7, SD=4.2); t(16)=0.6468, p= – Small sample of Orlando Spanish articles may have skewed parametric calculations. – You don’t need a parametric test to see something is going on here.

What does this mean? Obviously, different communities frame issues differently. How the same news organization frames different Language communities remains a question.

A.J. “Alex” Avila PhD Candidate School of Journalism