July-Aug 2022 Right Wing Media Report

July Summary

During the July 1-31 tracking period, there were 3,743 negative immigration mentions across right-wing media outlets to an estimated audience of over 59 million people and over 180,000 Twitter mentions. There were three significant spikes in mentions in July.

• On July 6th, there was a spike because the Texas counties of Kinney, Goliad, Terrell, Jeff Davis, Edwards, Presidio, and the City of Uvalde declared an “invasion” and urged Governor Greg Abbott to release a similar declaration.
• The second peak in media mentions was on July 18th, following Fox News and Newsmax reports that Democratic members of Washington D.C.’s city council sent a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser regarding the influx of migrants. The letter requests assistance from the federal government to handle the approximately 100 people arriving daily. Since April, more than 150 buses from Texas and Arizona have brought almost 6,000 migrants to D.C.
• The final spike occurred on July 29th after Fox News, Newsmax, and Newsweek, among other outlets, announced that “more than 500,000 immigrant getaways” may have been released into the United States since the beginning of 2022. Republicans took this to Twitter to push their “invasion” narrative.

• The top performing Facebook post was a Fox News article about an executive order signed by Governor Greg Abbott that allows Texas law enforcement to return undocumented immigrants apprehended in the state back to the U.S. border. This post garnered over 25,000 emoticons and almost 1,000 shares.

August Summary

During the August 1-31 tracking period, there were 2,881 negative immigration mentions across right-wing media outlets to an estimated audience of over 59 million people and over 180,000 Twitter mentions. There were three major spikes and one minor peak in media mentions in August.

• The first peak in media mentions was on August 5th, following reports from Newsmax and Breitbart that the first bus of migrants arrived in New York City, a Sanctuary City.
• The second spike occurred on August 20th because of a Breitbart article claiming that “nearly 5 million immigrants have crossed our border” since Biden took office. This stat stemmed from a FAIR report analysis on border crossing during the Biden Administration.
• The third spike was on August 23rd after reports from conservative and mainstream media outlets that New York City received an influx of over 4,000 migrants because of Texas Governor Greg Abbot’s bussing stunt. Notably, there are critiques over the burden on New York City’s public school system and that migrants are being housed in hotels since shelters are full.
• On August 30th, Newsmax and Fox News reported that Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said under oath that President Biden’s border policies are fueling “the unprecedented surge at the border.” This added fuel to the “Biden border crisis” narrative on Twitter.

• The top Facebook post was a Fox News video about Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’s remarks that President Biden built a wall around his vacation home while “migrants flood the southern border.” This post garnered 32,000 emoticons and over 5,000 shares.