Once again, as has been previously documented here, FoxNews.com and Fox News Latino have different ways of telling the same story. Where FoxNews.com uses the words “illegal immigrants” on Fox News Latino, they show up as “undocumented immigrants.” Plus, FoxNews.com made a point of describing those “illegal immigrants” recently released by ICE with language that made them sound distinctly more dangerous.
The recent headlines on FoxNews.com and on Fox News Latino were, essentially, about the same news: ICE’s release of immigrants due to “budgetary reasons.” But there were some significant differences in attitude. Here's FoxNews.com:
and here's Fox News Latino:
The lede paragraphs contain much of the same text but with some significant differences in attitude. FoxNews.com begins its article with the following:
“The top US immigation enforcement official acknowledged Thursday that the Obama administration has in fact released thousands of illegal immigrants from local jails over the past month despite prior claims that the release was only in the hundreds.”
Compare that to Fox Latino:
“The Obama administration admitted Thursday that it had released more than 2,000 undocumented immigrants from immigration jails due to budget concerns during three weeks in February. The announcement comes after weeks of denials from government officials and intense criticism from Republican lawmakers.”
One might assume Fox thinks its Latino viewers don’t like being called “illegal” and one could conclude that based on Fox Latino’s own poll which found that 46% find the offensive. But Fox only seems to care about that on its Latino site.
But wait, there’s more.
FoxNews.com’s third paragraph reads as follows:
For the first time, (ICE enforcement director John Morton) explained the kinds of detainees that were sprung from local jails—he said they included detainees held on theft charges, financial criminals and drunken drivers.
But that news is not reported until the 10th paragraph in the Fox News Latino report - and it’s phrased quite differently:
Morton said that although the most serious offender category can include people convicted of aggravated felonies, many of those released were facing financial crimes. Those released include immigrants who had faced multiple drunken driving offenses, misdemeanor crimes and traffic offenses, Morton said.
Apparently, Fox figures its Latino readers will never check out how they’re portrayed elsewhere in Foxdom.
Especially if they step into a bar where there’s sure to be a red-faced tousle-haired drunk complaining loudly against the spics/dagos/wops who are “taking our jobs” and “running wild” in the streets.
I don’t think people are wont to leave their brains behind when crossing the border but an awful lot of people born on this side seem to have lost theirs while growing up. Fox Latino is starting to look a lot like FNC may be shooting itself in the foot.