Date of Award

Spring 4-23-2026

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Sociology and Anthropology

Department Chair or Program Director

Ferrell, Claudine

First Advisor

Martin, Leslie

Second Advisor

Kim, Nora

Third Advisor

Citeroni, Tracy

Major or Concentration

Sociology

Abstract

People treat mainstream media as a trustworthy source, but mainstream media has recently come into question. Mainstream media’s ability to quickly deliver accurate information has been called into doubt and there has been an increase in partisan reporting (Bennett and Livingston, 2018 as cited in Besalú and Pont-Sorribes, 2021; Besalú and Pont-Sorribes 2021). This research aims to demonstrate how the public views the mainstream media’s ability to deliver reliable information, why some participants are turning towards social media as a news source, and how people use their personal experience to verify the validity of media claims.

In semi-structured interviews, 13 university students answered questions based on their reactions to immigration news, how they perceive news that does or doesn’t align with their opinion, and how they determined what reliable sources were. Although many participants still use mainstream media as a way to receive their news, they are wary of its content due to receiving sanitized news. They noticed gaps within news reporting due to their experience with the immigrant community and were able to decipher the reports from fear mongering. Instead of relying solely on mainstream media, participants have turned to social media to get information from diverse perspectives and stay ahead of the news they may not see on mainstream media.

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