Venezuelan mass migration in Colombia: Study of newsframing in reference cybermedia

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an investigation on the media coverage of the recent and intense Venezuelan migration to Colombia as the leading receiving country. The objective of the study is to analyze the process to construct the informative agenda and the predominant media frames (news framing) during the last years by two Colombian newspapers of reference in their digital version. The methodological design is based on a content analysis of the texts, which is systematized employing NVivo 12 software. To this end, a tool was built for the study of the texts, resources, and photographs, and verified by a panel of international experts, who were consulted in two phases. The sampling is based on the constructed week technique. One hundred thirty-eight information contents are collected from the two cybermedia, systematized with the NCapture application, and categorized according to the analysis instrument approved by experts. Results are presented on the informational quality of the collected contents, on the predominant informational themes and frames, and the photographs used. Of the contents examined, 73.2% are original, 40.6% cite only one source, and the primary source is an official spokesperson. A negative assessment of immigration was identified as predominant. The predominant frames focus on aspects such as procedures and attention to migrants, political statements, and irregular administrative status. Of the contents collected, 98.9% are accompanied by photographs with a predominantly negative representation of the situation or protagonist of the image.