ABSTRACT
The sanctuary movement has recently become an important social movement in the era of Trump’s administration. While this movement has become a united front for many in opposition to the president’s anti-immigration policies, it also is one of the most controversial political issues. This recent rise in support and resistance of this movement has also been accompanied by the recent increase in its media coverage. Various national and local news institutions have participated in writing/publishing stories or articles about this phenomenon. This research paper seeks to define the existing relationship between social movements and their press coverage by scrutinizing the sanctuary movement in depth. This paper will highlight the problems in the coverage of this political issue. It also seeks to identify how press coverage and conversations on social media platforms shape public opinion in situations like this and how people figure out their stance.
Sanctuary policies have become an important political issue in America ever since Trump ran for the presidency. The country is in a state of perpetual turmoil, with many against the idea of anti-immigration policies and many others supporting it. For this paper, I researched the history of the sanctuary movement and the issues that have been there ever since it started relating to undocumented immigrants. Setting up a historical foundation to lay on it is easier to understand the movement as a whole and the news President's administration motives. It also provides a base from where the main points in press coverage arise.
For the media coverage that was done, I searched up reports on content analysis of countless articles published in newspapers on this particular movement. With data and references from different blog posts, I highlighted the problems that are consuming the mainstream media nowadays - specifically in the case of covering anything related to Trump.