More Misinformation from the Media:
A new ad campaign that was rolled out Thursday at a number of heavily trafficked BART stations is being dubbed as “disgusting” and “thinly-veiled anti-immigrant” by passengers and critics. The signs, first reported by Buzzfeed, are directed at American tech workers, and claim that Bay Area tech companies believe they are “expensive, underserving, and expendable,” and as a result, hire non-U.S. workers.
An organization called Progressives for Immigration Reform paid $80,000 for the campaign to run through mid-April, according to BART spokesperson Alicia Trost. The Southern Poverty Law Center has previously characterized the group as “anti-immigrant.”
But despite the dozens of posters installed around the transit system, [BART spokesperson Alicia Trost] flatly states . . . that BART “does not endorse these ads,” but can’t remove them due to the First Amendment. . . . Kevin Lynn, the executive director for Progressives for Immigration Reform said the point of the campaign is to “make immigration work for the citizens as a whole. . . . BART riders don’t seem to agree with Lynn’s position. – Controversial ‘Immigration Reform’ group buys Inflammatory BART Ads, but BART can’t remove them, SFGATE, Alyssa Pereire, 3/16/18. [Link]
Fact Check: A key principle of journalists’ ethics is that opinions and viewpoints should be expressed on the editorial page of a newspaper, while news story reporters should strive for an impartial presentation of facts. This news story totally fails to meet that standard. The ad in question simply states: U.S. Tech Workers! Your companies think you are expensive, underserving and expendable. Congress, fix H-1B law so companies must seek and hire U.S. workers.”
From the start of the story, the writer wants readers to know that people think the ad is “disgusting” and “anti-immigrant.” The title maintains that the group behind the ad is “controversial” and that the ad is “inflammatory.” Someone not so partial might note that the ad simply calls for the law to be followed, namely that qualified American workers are entitled to be hired before companies are allowed to import foreign workers.
If the ad is anti-anyone it’s against greedy American employers who think the wages they have to pay fellow citizens are “expensive” and prefer to hire less expensive foreign workers. Citing the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) that the sponsor of the ad is “anti-immigrant” is bias in the extreme. The SPLC is a radical-left organization that seeks to vilify anyone who disagrees with mass immigration. It has no credibility.
The writer then quotes Bay Area Rapid Transit [BART] spokeswoman saying that [Bart] didn’t endorse the ads. That may not be disapproval, as the writer seems to imply, but simply a stance of neutrality.
To give at least the impression of objectivity, the writer does allow a quote from Kevin Lynn, the executive director of the sponsoring organization. He reasonably states that immigration policy should work for Americans. Immediately after allowing that quote, the writer adds that riders of Bay Area Rapid Transit [BART] don’t “seem” to agree, and quotes two of them who don’t. The writer strongly implies that these negative views represent the consensus of opinion. But how would she know that for sure? Did she do a study?
Since the coming of the Trump Administration, media bias in favor of mass immigration has grown more intense. This, however, is beneficial. As the bias becomes more obvious, it becomes easier to see through and disregard.