November 2023 Right-Wing Media Report

November Summary:

During the November tracking period, there were 3,492 negative immigration mentions across right-wing media outlets to an estimated audience of over 13,125,163,856 people (including new and repeat views) worth an estimated $378,278,857 in publicity. There were 73,033 mentions on Twitter to an audience of 1,009,151,102 people.

The majority of overall negative immigration mentions in November centered around the narrative immigrants pose a threat to America and terrorists are crossing through the “wide open” southern border. There were several articles centered around immigrants in sanctuary cities, with recently arrived people being framed as threatening and straining resources like housing and food. There were also multiple articles focused on the anti-immigrant policies and ambitions of republican politicians, such as Greg Abbott and Donald Trump. 

• The largest spike of November was on the 22nd, with right wing sites circulating anti-immigrant narratives regarding those recently arrived and the southern border. A podcast by Dan Bongino reached an audience of over 38 million listeners where he framed recently arrived immigrants as depleting resources and food in NYC. A Fox News segment pushed the narrative “Trump was right all along about people crossing the border,” describing immigrants as a threat to national security. 
• The second largest spike occurred on the 29th, with sites in the right-wing ecosystem discussing immigrants in sanctuary cities. A Fox News article highlighted Greg Abbott’s plans to continue bussing migrants out of Texas. Several articles framed immigrants as draining resources and threatening New York and Chicago.
• The third largest spike happened on 9th, with right-wing sites focused on the national security threat they claim immigrants pose. A podcast on the Ben Shapiro Show reached 38.9 million listeners, pushing the narrative that the southern border is open and praised Israel’s border policies. Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo was featured on Fox News describing the “enormous risk of terror plot from wide open border.”

Smaller spikes occurred throughout the month as right-wing media continued to push narratives about the border and frame immigrants as dangerous and threatening national security:

• A spike occurred on the 2nd, with sites suggesting a “caravan” was heading towards the southern border. There were several articles discussing alleged crimes committed by immigrants, with sites continuing to push the narrative of terrorists crossing the border.
• Another spike occurred on the 15th, with several articles focused on Trump’s immigration agenda and conservative lawmaker’s push for increased border security. A Breitbart article framed immigrants as taking billions of dollars from taxpayers and “imposing huge costs to ordinary Americans.”