August 2024 Right-Wing Media Report

August Summary:

During the August tracking period, there were 4,178 negative immigration mentions across right-wing media outlets (+22% from July) to an estimated audience of 14,958,386,723 people (-12% from July) worth an estimated $482,305,587 in publicity (+17% from July).

Mainstream media: 

During the August tracking period, there were 4,701 negative immigration mentions across mainstream media outlets (-7% from July) to an estimated audience of 17,189,923,870 people (+2% from July), worth an estimated $210,082,688 in publicity (+3% from July). 

After Harris announced Waltz as her running mate on the 6th, right-wing sites began describing him as standing for “open borders” and attempting to discredit his record: 

• Fox News – Uplifts GOP reactions to Walz. 

• Fox News – Claims Walz backed “sanctuary policies” and represents a “win for open borders.”
• Newsmax – Cites Mike Johonson’s statement on Walz: “… supports sanctuary cities, and wants to give driver’s licenses to the millions of illegal aliens [Harris] has allowed into our country.”

Sites continued to label Harris as “border czar” and pushed lies about her record and noncitizen voting:

• Fox News 
• Newsmax 
• Washington Examiner

During the DNC, right-wing sites amplified their anti-immigrant sentiment and GOP voices: 

• Fox News – Highlights Trump’s visit to the AZ border and uplifts his claims about crime and a border invasion.
• Greg Abbott – Claims that Harris “facilitated border crime.” 
• Fox News – “Windy City rocked by violence even with migrant gangs on good behavior”
• Fox News – Discusses a pro-Trump group launching a $500k campaign called “#say their names,” that will target battleground states with ads about murders supposedly committed by undocumented immigrants. 

Right-wing sites continued to make false claims of high border crossings and amplified Trump supporters in border states. Sites also discussed crimes they claim were committed by immigrants: 

• Fox News – “They’re playing the numbers game on illegal border crossings”
• Fox News – “Against open borders: Border town residents pick between Trump and Harris on immigration”
• Fox News – “El Paso on high alert as dangerous Venezuelan gang described as ‘MS-13 on steroids’ surges into US”