| dc.description.abstract | In Europe, the subject of migration is heavily debated and it is stated that events with refugee boats in the Mediterranean since October 2013 and onwards, have brought more attention to the subject. The media is an important source for information about these events and the subject of European migration in general, especially for people in European countries that are not located in the Mediterranean area. Some say that Dutch media presents an one-sided picture of European migration and causes negative sentiments (BNR, 2015). This master thesis will therefore investigate Dutch media, by conducting a content analysis of newsarticles about the subject in three Dutch quality newspapers over a two year period, namely July 2013 until June 2015.
The following main research question is asked: How do Dutch quality newspapers represent the topic of migration to Europe and the situation around the southern external borders of Europe in the period July 2013 to June 2015?
The following sub-questions are asked:
1. To what extent is agenda-setting apparent in the news coverage of Dutch quality newspapers about migration to Europe?
2. To what extent is framing used in the news coverage of Dutch quality newspapers about migration to Europe?
3. How do Dutch quality newspaper report about European migration policy?
4. To what geographical scale do Dutch quality newspaper assign the responsibility for the persistent issues?
The results indicate that the three Dutch quality papers significantly increased their news coverage about the subject notably from mid-2014 and onwards, with an evidently large peak in news coverage in April 2015.
The majority of the news coverage by the three Dutch newspapers is framed (62%): Human Interest and Responsibility are the most prevalent frames (together 47%), which indicate a significant consideration for the human aspects of the subject and responsibility of certain relevant actors.
Furthermore, the article headers mainly show a neutral attitude towards the events. Newsarticles focus mainly on the stance of helping migrants in Europe and there is less focus on European aid in the region. Newsarticles also show an emphasis on (more) lenient European external border policy.
The causes for the migration issues are not primarily attributed to a (specific) scale. Secondly, the causes are attributed to (some specific) national scales, mainly Arabic countries. The solutions for the migration issues are primarily attributed to an international scale, specifically Europe.
There can be cautiously stated that, from the findings stated above, three findings, namely (1) that articles are mainly written from a Human Interest perspective, (2) that articles state that there should be offered help in Europe and (3) that articles state that European external border policy should be (more) lenient, do not seem starting points for negative sentiments about the European issue of migration in general. | |
