How American Media Represent Chinese Immigrants in Different Historical Periods - Essay Example

How American media represent Chinese immigrants in different historical periods The paper shall use dis analysis toconduct an empirical research on how Chinese immigrants are presented in American media in different historical periods. The paper shall conduct a textual analysis of the media in their presentation of Chinese immigrants. The media is often the voice of the people and it has a great influence to the people. The paper shall follow Faircloughs assumptions in depth, to define the discourse analysis. Additionally, the paper shall examine how the Medias language about the Chinese immigrants may have contributed to a negative notion about immigrants amongst Americans. The paper shall discuss the rhetorical devices, which resonates amongst the Americans. It will help the paper develop ideological and presentation components of American media, thereby revealing the presentation of Chinese immigrants (Fairclough, 1989). The paper shall follow Fairclough’s assumptions in critical analysis. The most important assumption is that “ideologies originate from texts (Fairclough, 1995, p. 50).” The paper shall discuss three texts to reveal the media strategies. 1. Introduction The media is an important tool that puts certain political, economic and social happenings into the limelight. During the process, language contributes significantly. Language influences any political, social, and economic action. The paper analyses three texts in discourse of the media while portraying the Chinese immigrants. Due to enormous domestic and global effect of the media portraying the Chinese immigrants, it is important to decipher ideological characteristics typical for the American media enshrined in their messages about the Chinese immigrants. The aims at examining in depth the various strategies the media used is to describe the Chinese immigrants as well as covert the ideologies of the same. The paper shall follow Fairclough’s assumptions in critical analysis. The most important assumption is that “ideologies originate from texts (Fairclough, 1995, p. 50).” The paper shall discuss three texts to reveal the media strategies. The media depends on two concepts, that is, globalization and imagination for people to understand its representation. With representation, the media will explain the trends in globalization and help people understand it. Discourse analysis will reveal the unspoken aspects of human behavior that the media depicted towards the Chinese immigrants. The media will help define the social relations between the media and the Chinese immigrants according to Fairclough. Such role places the media as an influential tool in America. Additionally, discourse analysis will be very helpful in the revealing variety of alternative social subjects that the media could portray. The paper studies the discourse of media representation of the Chinese immigrants into the American land. Given the enormous relationship between the Chinese people and the American people, the paper shall identify ideological traits that influence this representation. 2. Methodology The study, textual analysis of the US media was the most significant method. The most important element as to why it was important to choose this method is that it shows in depth the connections and causes that is hidden. The analysis will determine the way the media portrayed these Chinese immigrants. The goal of this methodology is to help the users of this paper to understand how to use language and enact identities and activities. The advantage of this method is that it would determine how often the media highlighted about these Chinese immigrants (Morris, 2004) argues that the textual analysis involves describing, interpreting and evaluating the components of a message that is written. It is determining what the author is meaning. Additionally, the analysis will expound how texts define culture. The study will use study units to attribute meanings to the entire research. Such cases will demand the researcher to interpret the whole text and to avoid any quantitative analysis. The study shall involve reading selected media journals; taking note on where the authors referred to the Chinese immigrants. The methodology will help to discuss how shape identities, activities and relationships discourse. Its sampling consists of those situated in one or more of the discourses of interest. Furthermore, it is easy to collect observations because the study observes participants in their natural environment. It ensures the results are efficient. The ethical issue in this methodology comes with lack of informed consent. It will be hard to keep the confidentiality of the participants of this research. It was hard for the researcher to distinguish between private and public information. The method did not consider the vulnerable members of the society. Such case involves people like amputees of world wars, patients of HIV, etc. Some information could rekindle memories that would cause harm to the respondents. Additionally, there was the issue of intellectual property rights. 3. Theoretical underpinnings 3.1 Discourse analysis The paper shall consider deeply critical discourse analysis. It is important to create a non-homogeneous model of study. With this model, the paper will effectively contribute in the sharing perspective of conducting a discourse analysis. Media is a social tool in this study. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has an aim in perceiving language use as an everyday social practice. It will assist in describing in depth the portrayal of Chinese by American media. CDA would provide a complex analysis. It will try to create a dependency situation between textual structures that the American media used. In addition, it will create a connection between the textual structures and their respective functions in a given community, for example giving information about Chinese immigrants. The challenge with CDA comes when there is a lack of a direct connection between text structures and their respective social functions. The power relations of different media houses always face this challenge (Jaworski & Coupland, 2000). CDA would be of importance to this research because it will show hidden connections and causes. The connections may be that of American media and Chinese media. Furthermore, it will greatly assist in the intervention. Example of an intervention is the provision of resources to the ones affected by change, for this case, the Chinese immigrants. By exposing the hidden connection, the study would still be safe because there are no evidence which the individuals involved in this research will use against the study (Widdowson, 1995). The study shall rely on information from three texts. CDA is just a research tactic for the study. The paper has an aim in conducting the study but does not want to give direction of ideas present in the analysis. CDA will assist this paper to identify the various methods of constructing texts, especially by the media while portraying the Chinese immigrants. It would further assist in expressing perspectives of the media in a covert manner. In addition, CDA would be advantageous because it will ensure a delicate expression of perspectives. It would protect the perspective from direct challenges that the Chinese immigrants could pose. CDA will take this paper through some levels of discourse. It would help identify the social factors that cause the different representation of the Chinese immigrants, by the American media. In addition, it would assist in identifying how the social factors affect interpretation of the research question. CDA will then assist in identifying an emergence of the different representation of the Chinese. Lastly, CDA will join the results of the other two levels (Batstone, 1995). 4. Outline for the representation of Chinese by American media 4.1 The paper shall analyze three texts. The first textual analysis will be of the Medias discourse regarding blanket condemnation of immigrants. The paper has adequate methods of unpacking the discourse of blanket condemnation. It wants to give both the advantages and disadvantages of this discourse to the American people. Blanket condemnation wants to uphold the native culture of America and prevent the country from the negative effect of other cultures. The discourse wants the American people to abide by their traditional principles. It will be successful if the paper shall use what is to be an American by describing what is to be a non-American. It is evident to be an American; a person has to fit on a wider American community. It is not advisable for an American to abide by a separate culture. The discourse of blanket condemnation tries to list the characteristics of a good American citizen. The person has to be law abiding, does not participate in terrorism, respects the decisions of leaders, etc. The discourse will be disadvantageous towards the non-Americans. The paper shall discuss in depth the way the media is trying to protect its American people from the Chinese immigrants. The media brought into open the blanket condemnation discourse since the increased number of terrorism activities across the world. In addition, after the 9/11 attacks in America, the then president of America, Bush, tried to differentiate "us" (peaceful thoughts) from "them"(barbaric). With Bushs sentiments, the media wanted the people to know all immigrants may be harmful to America, Chinese included. The presided wanted the Americans to choose the best foreign allies. He wanted to bring the real American enemies into the attention of the citizens (Dawson, 2013). In Bushs view, "they" are very dangerous to the Americans. "They" may come in the form of tourists, immigrants, students, etc. The discourse of this paper conflates with these categories of form of people entering the US. Most media commentators who use this discourse advocate for the removal of these "they". The media portray the Chinese immigrants as threats that may interfere with the developments of America. Sun reported, "...Crime is a challenge in America today. The foreign immigrants, especially the Chinese youths are influencing the spread of criminal activities. Most of them involve themselves in robbery and mugging. The challenge is very serious and affects the citizens of this country. It would be hard to tackle this challenge, as it would take a long time. The government has the quality leadership to tackle the problem... (Sun, 2005 p 70)" The media is giving an adamant approach towards the presence of Chinese in America. It only gives a temporal deixis in the form of the word "today." It means the media wants to give the people hope of the government tackling the issue. Majority of the media does not want to acknowledge the presence of legal immigrants from China. The media still portray them as possible terrorists and illegal immigrants. In addition, they see the Chinese as possible criminals who ought to rot in jail. The media promotes blanket condemnation discourse. It is from the media that the American people have viewed "they" as possible criminals. Moreover, the media has caused confusion in the public because they do not understand which type of immigrant is fit to stay in the society. It has left a belief in the public that "they" would forever never fit the society (Fairclough, 1995). The commentators of the media have much influence. They can convince the majority of Americans to either reject or accept the Chinese into their land. Fairclough in his study said that the media discourse is normally the source of cultural power and hegemony (Fairclough, 1995). The media furthermore could ensure the Americans live peacefully with the Chinese because they have a role in creating a community (Dunn & Mahtani, 2001). The above textual analysis has disadvantages. It involves intuitive terms. The terms are not often trustable because they originate from mental objects such as beliefs and judgments. It will not provide an efficient analysis from the text, and they are just "belief systems" 4.2 The second text will analyze the Medias discourse regarding its ideologies The media appreciated the role of Chinese in improving Americans heritage"...fellow Americans, every American should work towards improving the heritage of the country. By improving the heritage, our country shall move forward towards the development. The country should accommodate the Chinese immigrants even if they come with different religious view. Americans we are strong because we respect the wills of each religion, whether Muslim, Hindu... (Carlson, 2012 p 14)" The media in the above context wants to appreciate the influence of Chinese immigrants on the religious systems of America. It is obvious that Christianity is a religion for most Americans, but the media wants the people to appreciate the presence of other religious organizations. The media embraces Chinese influence as a positive thing. It is a sign that the media is shifting from traditional ideology, which is common in the US. Furthermore, it shows a shift of ideology from a conservative perception that has taken root in the US. The media advocates for diversity in religion (Luo, 2005). Furthermore, the paper shall highlight the first line of the statement. It shows a shift from the past media presentations. The evidence is the presence of "fellow Americans." The multitude statement shows the current media tries to involve all the Americans. The past media was divided, especially because of lack of unity and modernization. The current media is more inclusive and wanted the people to see the reality of accommodating the Chinese. In addition, the media currently is more citizen-centered. It wants to show an attitude that affects the whole America. In addition, the statement shows how the current media portrays citizenry as an element that concerns the whole America. It shows how the American society respects their history and wants to uphold it. The past media was exclusive and concentrated on rivalry between ancestors, for example, the American civil war. The current media advocates for strong citizenry. In addition, the article portrayed the Chinese as good people. They have the ability to bring an institutional reform into the American religious system. The media acknowledges the good hearts of the Chinese, but it does not highlight the content of their good heart. There is no evidence to prove such. There is the preponderance of the pronoun "our" It shows how the media wanted to spread the message of unity at any time of national peril. The limitation of this textual analysis is that the ideologies are often "false". They just represent a specific partisan. Such case would result to an inefficient analysis. It is evident ideologies serve the "truth" of a certain group, in this case the American media. Therefore, the analysis is less relevant and inefficient. The advantage of this textual analysis is that it took this paper through some levels of discourse. It helped identify the social factors that cause the different representation of the Chinese immigrants, by the American media. In addition, it assisted in identifying how the social factors affect interpretation of the research question. Lastly, it assisted in identifying an emergence of the different representation of the Chinese. 4.3 Third textual analysis of Chinese portrayal The media referred to Chinese immigrants success in building the American economy. Furthermore, some Chinese immigrants participated in various wars such as the American civil and World war, which brought heroics to the country. The media portrayed the Chinese immigrants as heroes. McCabe stated "... Most people still think the Chinese are bad people. They hope for the government to chase them out of America. Most people ask themselves if the Chinese could play the same role as the Native Americans in developing the country. They further ask themselves if the Chinese have adequate potential to help bring national unity. The bible says, we must love our brothers at all times. We as Americans hope we can allow the Chinese immigrants into our country because they can play the same role other Native Americans... (McCabe, 2012 p 1)" The media has evidently proved the pragmatism omnipresent when describing the Chinese immigrants. The media is trying to deviate from accepted dichotomies. It is trying to focus on the consequences of these dichotomies. The media lacks a common ground when it comes to inherent ideology because it does not give a stand on the presence of Chinese immigrants in America. Most media commentators want the government to assist in deciding the fate of the Chinese immigrants. The media demonstrates pragmatism. Furthermore, the media when portraying the Chinese immigrants frequently relied on biblical language. It is common with the power discourse. The discourse often relies on biblical references. The biblical language is the main constitution of American public speaking. The study focused more on the media that was more non-traditional. Furthermore, the study relied on information from liberal media. There are many effects of using the scripture as a reference. The other religious organizations in the country such as the Muslims, the Hindu, and the pagans will feel abandoned. The advantage is that, the media quoted from a love chapter. The love chapter mainly came from Paul when he was uniting the church during the old times. The media chose to use this reference in order to pass the message of love to the American people. It wanted the people of America to use the idea of love to fight racial segregation, improve diversity of ideologies which would assist the country concur harsh crises, example, the economic crisis (Carlson, 2012). The limitation of this textual analysis is that the expressions of the media appear vague and confused. Approaches from the media are contradictory. Additionally, from an ethno methodological perspective, the evidence of the approaches is too abstract and general. Experts may term the media approach to the Chinese as "taken-for-granted." The analysis has an advantage because it created a dependency situation between textual structures that the American media used. In addition, it created a connection between the textual structures and their respective functions in a given community, for example, giving information about Chinese immigrants. 5. Conclusion The paper analyses in depth the ideological components present in various media when they are portraying the Chinese immigrants. Fairclough stated that the ideology could invest in language. He said that ideologies could form a great part of different structures and events. The paper was clear in using the concept, which defines meanings as a product of interpretation. It had highlighted the interpretations of the media when they portrayed the Chinese. The paper has successfully identified the ideological standpoint of various media. Furthermore, the paper has put the present media portrayal of Chinese immigrants into diachronic perspectives of past Medias. The following are the conclusions: (1) The analysis has shown the ideological components of the American media messages while portraying the Chinese immigrants. The summary of the Medias’ ideologies are pragmatism, inclusiveness, citizen centered, ethnic diversity, unity, blanket condemnation, and acceptance of religion. S (2) The media applied various linguistic features to portray the Chinese immigrants. Examples of the linguistic features are use of vocabularies, use of connecting values for example connectors, use of grammatical structures such as rhetorical questions and modalities. (3) The explanatory stage of the three texts highlighted the relationships between transitory social events or the interactions and the most durable social structures which oscillate around these events. For example, the social structures that shape the events are the media commentators. The development of the media language puts the media commentators in the higher position in social structures. (4) The results of media portrayal of Chinese immigrants have clearly shown the media’s choice of Biblical reference. It was a means of the media strengthening the notion of unity and love. It wanted to unite the various members of American diverse society, Chinese immigrants included. 6. References Batstone, R. (1995). Grammar in Discourse: Attitude and Deniability. Principle & Practice in Applied Linguistics, 2(5), 197-213. Carlson, B. (2012). Why Chinese immigrants choose America. Global post, 4(2), 1-15. Dawson, K. C. (2013). Chinese immigration to US still rising. China Daily, III(4), 5. Dunn, K. M. (2001). Media representations of ethnic minorities. Progress in Planning, 5(2), . 63–72. Elen, J. (2001). ‘Letters to the editor; e-rights. London. Fairclough, N. (1995). Media Discourse. New York: Edward Arnold. Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and Power. London: Longman. Fairclough, N. (1995). . Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Longman. Fowler, R. (1966). On Critical Linguistics. London: Routhledge. Jaworski, A. &. Coupland ,N(2000). The Discourse Reader. London: Routledge. Luo, L. (2005). The History of Chinese Immigration to the U.S. KCC Alterna-TV News, I(1), 1. McCabe, K. (2012). Chinese Immigrants in the United States. Migration information source, 1(2), 15. Morris, J. (2004). Textual Analysis in Journalism. . Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Orgad, S. (2012). Media representation and the global imagination: a framework. In S. Orgad, Media Representation and the Global Imagination (pp. 15-51). London: Polity. Rawls, J. (1993). Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press. Rodan, J. M. (2007). Discursive Australia : Refugees, Australianness, and the Australian Public Sphere , Continuum. Journal of Media & Cultural Studies,, III(4), 347-360. Rowe, M. (2013). Policing Beyond Macpherson. Dallas: Routledge. Ryfe, D. (2001). ‘From media audience to media public: a study of letters written in reaction to FDR’s fireside chats. Media, Culture & Society, 1(1), 767–781. Schultz, J. (1994). ‘Media convergence and the fourth estate. Not Just Another Business: Journalists,Citizens and the Media, 2(4), . 15–33. Sun, W. (2005). ‘Media and the Chinese diaspora: community, consumption, and transnational imagination. Journal of Chinese Overseas, III(12), . 65–86. Widdowson, H. G. (1995). Discourse Analysis:a Critical View. In Language and Literature 4,, 4(2), 152-172. 7. Appendix The study analyzed three texts. The first analysis was textual analysis of the Medias discourse regarding blanket condemnation of immigrants. The discourse tried to relate the past media perception of the Chinese people with the current media. The discourse wants to uphold the native culture of America and prevent the country from the negative effect of other cultures. The discourse wants the American people to abide by their traditional principles. The analysis further goes in explaining the Perception that George Bush put on the American people regarding immigrants. Sun reported, "...Crime is a challenge in America today. The foreign immigrants, especially the Chinese youths are influencing the spread of criminal activities. Most of them involve themselves in robbery and mugging. The challenge is very serious and affects the citizens of this country. It would be hard to tackle this challenge, as it would take a long time. The government has the quality leadership to tackle the problem...” Sun, W. (2005). ‘Media and the Chinese diaspora: community, consumption, and transnational imagination. Journal of Chinese Overseas, III(12), . 65–86. The second text will analyze the Medias discourse regarding its ideologies. The paper shall analyze the ideological aspect of the media. It will try to link the representation discourse with the social processes. In addition, it will assist to convert the various ideologies, which the various commentators have brought. The paper shall rely on a diachronic method, to compare the various presentations of the media of the Chinese period, in different histories. "...every American should work towards improving the heritage of the country. By improving the heritage, our country shall move forward towards the development. The country should accommodate the Chinese immigrants even if they come with different religious view (Carlson, 2012). Americans we are strong because we respect the wills of each religion, whether Muslim, Hindu...” Carlson, B. (2012). Why Chinese immigrants choose America. Global post, 4(2), 1-15. The third textual analysis will cover the medias discourse regarding their general approach towards Chinese immigrants. The media is giving an adamant approach towards the presence of Chinese in America. It only gives a temporal deixis in the form of the word "today." It means the media wants to give the people hope of the government tackling the issue. Few media relied on excerpts from grand narratives in the American literature. It helped in defining in depth the presence of Chinese immigrants in America. By referring to the grand narratives, the media will bond well with the discourse that this paper is using. "... Most people still think the Chinese are bad people. They hope for the government to chase them out of America. Most people ask themselves if the Chinese could play the same role as the Native Americans in developing the country. They further ask themselves if the Chinese have adequate potential to help bring national unity. We as Americans hope we can allow the Chinese immigrants into our country because they can play the same role other Native Americans...” McCabe, K. (2012). Chinese Immigrants in the United States. Migration information source, 1(2), 15. Read More