Transnational audiences and the reception of television news: A study of Mexicans in Los Angeles

Our understanding of migration has recently benefited from research focused on the media use of populations displaced by global forces. One key finding has been that on-the-move peoples engage with their countries of birth as they go about their daily lives in their places of residence. This phenomenon requires us to understand social realities as constituted by the processes of national societies, as well as by the consequences of distant human action and events. This book takes this perspective on board. By way of methodological triangulation, it yields an account of 67 residents of Mexican origin living in Los Angeles, the television news consumption of whose has led them to talk about and reflect upon their everyday existences. The latter were clearly defined by interactions with individuals and information about developments across a variety of locations throughout the US, Mexico and further afield. In many ways, this book concludes, the reception analysis of transnational audiences opens a venue in which to explore the formation of global identities, exploring an alternative paradigm to that of cultural assimilation, as maintained by the present academic establishment.