Borders, Politics, and Bounded Sympathy: How U.S. Television News Constructs Refugees, 1980–2016.

This article analyzes how U.S. television news media have used and portrayed the category "refugee" in public discourse from 1980 to 2016, based on a content analysis of 356 news segments across five major networks. It finds that, unlike the often negative framing of "immigrants," refugees are generally depicted with sympathy, especially when coverage focuses on migrants in distant locations. However, this sympathy diminishes for refugees portrayed as heading to or settled in the United States, where media coverage is more likely to emphasize threat or resentment. The study also reveals that U.S. political and foreign policy interests influence which groups are labeled as refugees and how they are characterized, with notable underrepresentation of Central and South American forced migrants who meet international refugee definitions but are rarely labeled as such in media coverage. These findings highlight the role of national borders and political context in shaping media classifications and public perceptions of refugees.