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Winning and losing in North Carolina – Cultural citizenship struggles and lessons for Latino newspapers

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Abstract

From 1990 to 2004, North Carolina's Latino population increased more than 400 per cent, from approximately 76,726 to 600,913 inhabitants. Government reports, advocacy groups, academics and mainstream media have focused on what these changes mean for communities in North Carolina and other areas of the Southeast experiencing similar growth. These discourse analyses of the changes to driver's license rules, and of the Mt. Olive boycott on behalf of migrant farmworkers, sheds light on the complexity of how Latino issues are represented in North Carolina's mainstream and Latino newspapers and ultimately address questions of cultural citizenship. Discursive approaches go beyond a study of mere language, to examine the consequences of language: the power differentials, identities and subjectivities. The results show how societal forces work to marginalize groups, yet the marginalized groups do have opportunities to counter the hegemonic discourses and practices. The conclusion discusses the implications for Latino media producers and provides strategies for future struggles.

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Notes

  1. I use the term Latino, rather than immigrant, because experts estimate that 41 per cent of North Carolina's Latino population are US citizens and roughly 45 per cent are undocumented residents, with the others being visa holders (Kasarda and Johnson, 2006, iii). It is unclear what percentage are new immigrant arrivals versus immigrants who are relocating from another place in the United States. The two events under study, however, affected only certain segments of the state's Latinos. I call them “Latino issues” because they were newsworthy for the Latino press, but specify throughout the article exactly who was impacted in each case.

  2. Community newspapers are commonly defined as dailies or weeklies with circulation size under 50,000 (Lauterer, 2006).

  3. It offers visitors six more pages of Hispanic newspapers if they log in: www.echomedia.com/targetcat.asp?TargetType=HispanicNP, accessed 11 May 2009.

  4. Discourses can be considered the “ways of referring to or constructing knowledge about a particular topic or practice: a cluster or formation of ideas, images, and practices, which provide ways of talking about, forms of knowledge and conduct associated with, a particular topic, social activity or institutional site in society” (Hall, 1997, 6).

  5. abcas3.accessabc.com/ecirc/newssearchus.asp, accessed 12 May 2009. Figures updated as of 31 March 2009.

  6. Issues before 2000 were not available.

  7. NCGA is a broker between North Carolina farmers and the federal government, and is the official employer of the workers. Farmers join the association and the NCGA requests and arranges the H-2A visas through the federal government and places the workers on member farms.

  8. “Relevance” was one of the coding variables, with coders rating how much the story was really about the topic, completely=100 per cent, very much=80 per cent, kind of=60 per cent, part of it=40 per cent, not really=<20 per cent.

  9. The news stories usually used the term immigrant to refer to the group that would be impacted by this new rule and that was creating the crowded conditions at the DMV offices.

  10. Translations from Spanish to English were made by the author.

  11. FAIR officials were quoted at length in two of the three N&O stories analyzed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC

    Lisa M Paulin

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  1. Lisa M Paulin
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Appendix

Appendix

Bell's (1998) questions to guide discourse analysis of news stories.

  • Does the headline or lead reflect the event that occupies most of the story?

  • How many events are covered and which are prominent?

  • What information is attributed and to whom?

  • What claims do the sources have to authority?

  • Who is quoted directly versus indirectly?

  • Which parts are not attributed? Why may that be?

  • Where is attribution unclear? What are the repercussions of this?

  • How are actors referred to?

  • Why are these actors in the news (are they elites or not)?

  • Is the story personalized?

  • Which actors were not included? Why might that be?

  • What background is provided?

  • What ideological frames are behind the story?

  • Does the reporter editorialize about events; provide context, or expectations of how the situation will develop?

  • What linkages are expressed or implied?

  • Where are there ambiguities, gaps or confusion in the events, actors, sources and editorializing?

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Paulin, L. Winning and losing in North Carolina – Cultural citizenship struggles and lessons for Latino newspapers. Lat Stud 9, 198–218 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2011.22

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