Journalism and immigration, the problems of a dialogue

Reader Albert Martín Ballesta sent me an email that raises the issue of the journalistic treatment of immigration, delicate in essence and even more so when it is linked to crime and at a moment of extremely serious tension in Ceuta and Melilla. I reproduce the part that gets to the heart of the matter and thank him for such a well-reasoned proposal for reflection.“I am making this comment following the news from ARA that a minor has been shot dead in a park in Barcelona. I see that habitually, when crimes, homicides, etc. are discussed, the nationality of the victim or the aggressors is not reported. I understand the argument often given of not wanting to stigmatize the possible condition of being a foreigner/immigrant (we are all people) and not wanting to give arguments to xenophobes and the far-right, but:- I believe this criterion corresponds to a time when immigration did not represent the current population volume;- it is not a statistical sample, obviously, but I have observed in my environment, quite diverse and with different levels of education and a rather leftist mentality, that the first thought when faced with these facts is that they are foreigners (I myself admit that it is the first thing that comes to my mind before making the intellectual effort to relativize it), therefore:- if we do not state the origin and given the lack of this data, 100% of criminal acts are attributed by default to immigration (and this is sinking in);- if we state the origin, two things can happen. One, that the % of perpetrators and victims is more evenly distributed between nationals and immigrants. The other, that the % attributable to immigration is higher than what would correspond to its demographic weight, in which case we really have a problem as a society and we cannot hide our heads in the sand. Because, indeed, we are all people, but in the second hypothesis, cultural origin with its negative consequences (Latin gangs, for example), the breeding ground that the vulnerability of most of those who arrive represents, the population increase resulting from family reunification and biological reproduction itself, and the fact that it is doubtful that they will find the work that their parents do not find, etc., lead us to a situation of social conflict in crescendo which cannot be ignored by the media (because we are surprised later by how the far-right is rising). Thus, for example - he concludes - in one of the magnificent dossiers that ARA produces, as for the piece he dedicated to immigration and crime, if it was analyzed from an optical different from the newspaper's, it was easy to deduce that, the less percentage of foreigners, the fewer crimes of all kinds there would be. As a friend told me: it is very clear that the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals, but if 2 million have come, and only 1% are, the police have a problem and society even more".The deputy director, Ignasi Aragay, gives us the newspaper's version:“On the question of whether it is necessary to identify nationality, origin, or ethnicity when referring to people who have committed crimes, the newspaper's general criterion is not to do so to avoid stigmatizing groups. An exception is only made when it is considered relevant for the understanding of the news itself: for example, if it is about a "Latin" gang or a mafia group linked to a specific nationality or geographical area.In any case, it is a debate that we have open internally because, indeed, Catalan society is today much more diverse than a few decades ago and, therefore, the identification of this diversity increasingly provides more keys to explaining relevant collective phenomena, whether in the issue of citizen security (thefts and street violence) as in other relevant realities in the fields of education, housing, the labor market, sexual abuse, mental health, etc.At the same time, we are aware that, in the context of growing polarization, both identifying and not identifying origins and identities in news with a criminal background can be easily manipulated, misinterpreted, and distorted. This is why, increasingly, we analyze it on a case-by-case basis and pay attention to how we say it (or don't say it) and the relevance we give it (for example, whether or not we include it in the headline elements)".Faced with such a sensitive issue, the most honest way for journalism to address it is by strictly following deontological codes. The Deontological Code of Journalism in Catalonia and that of the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (FAPE), updated in 2025 and 2026, respectively, determine not to mark origins, and both have elaborated annexes on the specific topic, in order to proscribe xenophobia. This aspect deserves, where appropriate, double attention, not only for the strict respect of human rights, but also to avoid playing into the hands of rising ultra-populisms that focus their discourse on curtailing the rights of immigrants.The codes, however, foresee informative exceptions with a generic origin designation, gangs or mafias defined by a locative to which both the reader and the deputy director refer; the expansion of the news about the death of the young man (July 4) that the reader cites suggests that it could be related to Latin gangs. The debate proposed by Albert Martín Ballesta, with extensive civic experience, must also be taken into account to avoid criminalizing immigration through elliptical semantics that lead to inferring that the anonymity of the origin is due to the fact that the offender is a foreigner. If we take the sadly current problem of domestic and gender violence, which is the one with the highest journalistic prevalence, we will see that, according to verified data from various statistical sources, the majority of aggressors or reported individuals are of Spanish nationality.We must contextualize that we are at a time of rethinking the definition of citizenship based on the exponential growth of immigration noted by the sender. We come from an integrating tradition — Campalans, Vicens, Candel … — which President Pujol institutionally collects and disseminates with conviction and strength, and which culminates in the theory of concentric identities promoted by President Maragall, based on the political articles of his grandfather Joan and Václav Havel. The Statute of 2006, which has an anthological preamble by Quim Nadal, where Catalonia is spoken of as a nation, opens — first sentence! — with a hymn to diversity: “Catalonia has been shaped over time by the contributions of energies from many generations, from many traditions and cultures, which have found a land of welcome here.” When immigration figures skyrocket, sociological research provides a constant re-evaluation at the intersection of integration and multiculturalism, and it is normal for origins to be mentioned in a natural, non-malicious way, as in the article of June 27 about the young promises of Barça, La Masia which can become the country by synecdoche, the “my house is your house if anyone has houses” of the great Jaume Sisa. I have verified that the editors of ARA have it very well understood and have demonstrated it extensively, with the piece on immigration and crime that cites Martín Ballesta, the rest of the 15 articles from the dossier of February 11, 2024 of immigration radiography and the numerous reports, opinion articles and other dossiers published on the matter.The Reader's Advocate takes note of the doubts, suggestions, criticisms and complaints about the newspaper's content in its digital and paper editions, and ensures that the treatment of information is in accordance with the deontological codes.To contact the Reader's Advocate you can send an email to eldefensor@ara.cat or record a message of no more than one minute to WhatsApp number 653784787. In all cases, identification with name, surnames, and DNI number is required.