Popular Media Vastly Overstates Criminality Among Immigrant Men Concludes Define American Study
/
Popular Media Vastly Overstates Criminality Among Immigrant Men Concludes Define American Study
Define American is an immigration nonprofit founded by Pulitzer-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas with the goal of examining how immigrants and immigration is portrayed in popular culture. The organization has released Immigrants and Immigration: A Guide for Entertainment Professionals as a 19-page brief that examines current key issues in immigration law including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the U visa for victims of violent crimes.
“Immigration is the most controversial yet least understood issue in America today. That’s why it’s crucial for Define American to publish a resource for members of the entertainment industry to better understand immigration and more accurately portray immigrants,” says Elizabeth Grizzle Voorhees, who joined Define American as its inaugural entertainment media director last summer. “These tools are written specifically for creative professionals, and we hope they will lead to increased representation and more humanized storytelling in television and film.”
Define American has also released a scorecard on the state of immigration representation on television, taken from The Opportunity Agenda’s study of 40 popular broadcast, cable and streaming shows that aired between April 2014 and June 2016.
