Abstract

The current immigration debate is frequently characterized by a negative tone in news, which can fuel public disapproval. Previous research demonstrates that news framing regarding immigration can arouse, for example, negative attitudes among the public. However, these studies often take the three protagonists of this debate (asylum seekers, refugees, immigrants) together. This study aims to fill the gap by exploring the extent to which the strength of the news framing effect on anti-immigration attitudes is assisted by the explicit categorization of these actor terms. A survey experiment with fictional news stories was conducted among Flemish citizens (n = 1591). The framing (negative, victim, positive) and the type of actors (asylum seekers, refugees, immigrants) were manipulated. The results indicate that the effect of framing on anti-immigration attitudes seems conditional on the actor term used in the news article, even though the found effect was small. Anti-immigration attitudes were highest when a negative frame was combined with the term immigrant and lowest when a positive frame was combined with the term asylum seeker. Combining the actor term with victim framing does not yield a significant effect. However, overall, framing exerted significantly stronger effects than actor terminology. The findings indicate that words in terms of framing and actor type matter in the immigration debate.

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