Portrayal of Immigrants in Italian Newspapers: The Role of Linguistic Abstraction and Valence of Terms

This contribution examines the role of linguistic abstraction and valence of terms in the portrayal of immigrants and Italians in national and local newspapers with different political leanings. Specifically, it investigates how linguistic abstraction and valence of terms vary between the two most popular Italian national outlets and between these and a highly read local newspaper. The sample consisted of 218 newspaper articles on immigration. Results showed that across newspapers, immigrants are generally described using negative terms at a higher level of abstraction than Italians, as well as with negative terms at a higher level of abstraction than positive terms. Furthermore, national newspaper articles used terms at a higher level of abstraction than those in the local newspaper when describing immigrants and Italians. This contribution offers novel insights into how linguistic intergroup discrimination is conveyed in newspapers of a country where immigration is increasingly becoming a debated topic.