“Refugees are not evil and they're not good, we're just human”: Middle Eastern Refugees’ Perceptions and Experiences of Dutch Media Frames

Abstract

Extreme right-wing politicians like Geert Wilders have made the topic of asylum and migration a central concern in the present political climate in the Netherlands, framing Muslims and refugees alike as a threat to Dutch society, in line with European media frames. In turn, such frames may have harmful attitudinal and behavioral effects. Paradoxically, the present body of framing research has mostly conducted content analyses without engaging with the refugees themselves, thereby potentially reinforcing the stereotypical representations that it aims to question. Furthermore, previous framing studies have not fully examined the complex role of various identity markers like gender in shaping media frames. Therefore, this master’s thesis has explored the perspectives and lived experiences of Middle Eastern refugees living in the Dutch city of Utrecht in relation to Dutch media frames, paying particular attention to the role of gender, race, and religion. Drawing on Goffman’s frame analysis and Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality, a textual content analysis of Dutch newspapers and 15 in-depth interviews with refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and Iran support the presence of media frames. According to participants, Dutch media present refugees as a political problem and as potential criminals, referring to “refugees” in general. A mismatch between the news reports and the lived realities of participants further underlines that there are frames at play. Despite the negative effects of such media framing practices on participants’ mental health, their sense of belonging and their relationship with Dutch people, the present findings have highlighted the resilience of participants to those frames, which future framing research could delve into. Although this thesis mostly focused on more traditional media, the findings did point to the relevance of social media discourses on migration, which studies could further explore from the perspectives of refugees.