The immigration in Canarian press photography

Abstract

In a newspaper, the way press photography contributes to discourse construction is as relevant as the text appearing next to the images. An study of the pictures about immigration in four of the most important newspapers on the Canary Islands show that media agenda focuses exclusively on some aspects of the immigration phenomenon, representing a deformed reality. Few differences among mastheads appear, associating immigration almost exclusively with the arrival of the kind of boats used by the immigrants (cayucos and pateras) from the neighbouring continent. Consequently, immigrants are always portrayed as Subsaharan or Moroccan, giving priority to an homogenizing portrait and to the group, instead of looking at the individuals and their differences. While associating Africans with an image of weakness, lack of initiative and subordination, as well as crime, other much more numerous groups, such as Latin Americans, are ignored in these pictures.