Migrants leave Italian town

The two articles that I compared were the outbreak of violence over the migrant workers in Italy. The two sources that I drew the arguements were from CNN and FOX News.

The first thing that I noticed while looking at the article obtained by CNN titled "Migrants leave Italian town amid violence" is the picture. There is a picture of a clean up process, with gravel sprawled everywhere. The article then depicts the threat that thte Italian community had on the Africans, stating that if they did not leave, they would be killed. After reading much of the quotes and discriptions, it is apparent that CNN's main focus is the poorly treated migrants, and how the migrants did not provoke this violence. It gives an example of how an African man was shot, and the policeman did nothing, stating that it was the Red Cross's job to help the man. The article also describes the police's tactics for the violence--using tear gas and arresting the people. It the goes on to speak about the exploitation of the migrant workings and the working conditions they were forced into. CNN also focused on the idea that, even the new locations that the migrants traveled to, they were still not entirely safe from the violence. With most of the quotes being on the violence towards the migrants, it really showed how the migrants were clearly the victims of a situation that they did not provoke.


On the other hand, FOX News's portrayal of this story is radically different. Not only is the story much shorter, but there is no image like there is with CNN. By no visual, it either shows how the story lacks importance, or that the only images of the violence are not parallel with FOX's framing of the story. FOX News does not use as descriptive language. FOX News also claims that "Despite the migrants having forced open the gate, the Interior Ministry said in a statement that the migrants are free to leave the center, so police did not intervene." In this article the violence is less extreme than in CNN, and there are not as many quotes and characteristics to the scene as there is with the CNN article. It seems as though FOX News chose not to frame this story as delicately as CNN. A major factor that seperates the two articles is the fact that FOX News uses the term "illegal immigrants" and CNN uses the term "migrants". FOX News takes a different standpoint, stating that the residents do not what their country to be associated with illigal immigration, and that it should be restored to a tourist destination. FOX News also describes portrays the migrants responsible for this violence, and they also state that "The conservative government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi has been cracking down on immigration, which many Italians link to crime." Once again, this alludes to the idea that the migrants are not of any importance and that they provoked the violent actions against them, when CNN just about completely disagrees with this idea.