Activity 3.3 Evaluating various forms and means of information for political persuasion.

Immigrants above wait for entry into the U.S via Ellis Island. Ellis Island operated as the main point of entry for millions of immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Pictured in a USA Today article, immigrants above rally in Washington D.C. during a 2013 rally in support of new legislation for immigration reform.

The two images above paint two very different views of immigration. One shows a group of seemingly well-dressed and calm-mannered people posing for a picture while they wait in a line. The second image shows a much more boisterous crowd that is obviously gathering for some purpose. Both images show the same thing, immigration. What if you were asked to show immigration negatively, would you choose the first or second photo? What if you were asked you to show immigration positively, which photo would you choose this time? The selection of content says much about what political agenda a media form has. In this activity, you will be evaluating (judging or calculating the quality, importance, amount or value) interest groups, corporations, think tanks, media and public opinion for validity, accuracy, ideology, emotional appeals, bias and prejudice. If needed, refer to the Unit 3 Glossary to refresh what these concepts mean. Complete the steps below and, when complete, upload your finished product.

Step 1.

To start your evaluation, you are going to be evaluating the role played by interest groups and think tanks regarding the contemporary immigration debate. Many of these groups are considered political action committees as well. Whichever name they go by, interest group, think tank or political action committee, the organization exists to accomplish something regarding immigration.

To begin, read the following article from the website Open Secrets. The article is a little dated as it was from 2010, but it explains some of the politics behind the current immigration debate. This is great background information for the activities below.

Using the list of immigration interest groups found on Project Vote Smart, choose up to 4 interest groups and read about the role the group plays in the immigration debate by following the link to their website. You may want to read an article or two from their website to understand the groups views on immigration. Clicking on the interest group name will bring you to a link to their website. After reading create a separate document and evaluate the interest groups by giving each group a letter grade of either A, B, C, D, or F based on the following: validity, accuracy, ideology, emotional appeals, bias and prejudice. Each interest group will only receive one letter grade. An A would mean they are completely valid, accurate, non-ideological, lacking emotional appeals (more objective than subjective), unbiased, unprejudiced. An F would mean the exact opposite of course. B, C, D, somewhere in the middle. The interest groups you evaluate are most likely going to score B’s, C’s, & D’s, as it is somewhat in their nature to be biased.

While interest groups are supposed to be somewhat biased, think tanks pride themselves on being non-partisan, fact-based and unbiased. You are going to evaluate the Immigration Policy Center and the Center for Immigration Studies using the same criteria and same letter grade scale as explained above. Assess a letter grade to each based on how well they represent the immigration facts to the viewers of their content.

Please provide a short statement that explains the reasons for the letter grade assessed to each interest group and think tank. Keep the document as you will add material from steps 2 & 3 below.

Step 2.

In 2009, the Migration Policy Institute created a policy paper on media, public opinion and political rhetoric for the Transatlantic Council on Migration. Click on the link to view the webpage, download the report, and ultimately read the 6-page report. In the report, five key points are explained as being crucial to public policy on immigration:

1. Language should be straightforward, unambiguous and honest.
2. Rhetoric should acknowledge genuine public concerns.
3. Politicians should appeal to values and emotion, not just recite statistics.
4. Leaders need to be proactive, not reactive.
5. Understand ambivalence.

Apply what you read in the policy paper when you visit the Fox News and MSNBC immigration pages and read up to 2 articles on each site. The articles you choose on Fox should have companion articles on MSNBC, please choose immigration news that is similar in scope. Give Fox News and MSNBC a grade as you did the interest groups and think tanks in Step 1. Again, write a statement explaining your reasons behind your grade. Relate how you think the particular news organization is shaping the immigration debate by what they cover on their news websites. Are they providing valid, accurate, non-ideological, non-emotional, unbiased and unprejudiced objective news? Remember, news media is supposed to be the way Americans get facts. We should expect our news media to be far more objective than the interest groups evaluated in Step 1.

Step 3.

Next, visit the Gallup page on immigration. Gallup is an often-cited polling center that conducts public polling. Using the polls shown on Gallup, determine how public opinion is trending in regards to the immigration debate? Imagine you are an advisor to a political leader of national importance and write a policy briefing advising your Congressperson to either support or oppose the proposed immigration reforms of the Obama Administration. Your policy briefing should be 1-2 paragraphs in length.

Step 4.

Revisit Open Secrets and re-read the article on immigration from 2010. This time, pay particular attention to the information on corporations contained in the article. Next, read the article from CNN on the role corporations are playing in immigration reform. Choose one of the corporations discussed, research the immigration reform spending they have done (on your own) and write a short paragraph summarizing their role in the formation of public immigration policy formation. In your evaluation, you may consider the role outside of simple money spent. For example, is Facebook making it easier for groups advocating for immigration reform to organize? If so, explain the value of this.

Step 5.

Upload your completed Steps 1, 2, 3 & 4 document when complete.