April 2024 Right-Wing Media Report

April Summary:

During the April tracking period, there were 3,412 negative immigration mentions across right-wing media outlets (-27% from March) to an estimated audience of 12,877,181,403 people (-31% from March) worth an estimated $411,735,265 in publicity (-41% from March). 

By comparison, there were 3,695 negative immigration mentions across right-wing media outlets in April 2023, which indicates anti-immigrant rhetoric has remained consistent in the right-wing media ecosystem. Although mentions decreased by 8% (3,412) year-over-year, 49% more people saw negative mentions in April 2024 (12,877,181,403) than during the same period last year (8,622,884,258), which shows the importance of immigration as an election issue in 2024. The publicity value also increased by large margins (+66%) from an estimated $247,516,068 in 2023 to $411,735,265 in April 2024. 

Several major stories dominated the largest spike in immigration mentions during the month of April (April 1st-3rd), including: 

• The decision by a federal judge in Boston to allow migrants transported from TX to Martha’s Vineyard to sue the transportation company (Fox 35 Orlando, report – 56 clips)
• Denver communications liaison caught on tape urging migrants to leave Colorado for New York, Chicago, or Miami.  (Fox News, report – 5 clips) 
• TX judge released migrants who broke through razor wire fence to enter US (Hannity)

Mid-April spikes focused on:

• Impeachment of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (NewsMax)
• Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds deputizes local law enforcement to arrest and deport migrants (report – 52 clips)
• Dismissal of Mayorkas impeachment (OAN, report – 18 mentions)
• Undocumented migrants voting (Charlie Kirk)