ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role that the media plays in the criminalization of immigrants by examining how the issue of immigration is constructed in Italian public discourse. It summarizes the characteristics of this discourse and illustrates how immigrants to be, by nature, a dangerous class. The chapter discusses the logics that make the discourse possible and the effects that it produces, considering the interaction between its principal exponents. It also focuses on the practices of immigration controls, underlining how Fortress Europe generates meaning and produces objectivizations that both define immigration and tell us how to speak of it. The truth of the matter is that a repertoire of news items representing the immigrant as an active agent engaged in positive actions is not rare. In such cases, reports and in-depth analyses revolve around the themes of second-generation migrants, ethnic entrepreneurship, and local initiatives promoted by immigrants.
