Abstract
Much has been written about the depiction of refugees in newspapers and television news, yet far less is known about how refugees are portrayed in Internet news. In this era of increasing Internet use, it is important to also study how refugees are depicted by Internet news websites. We used a quantitative coding sheet to investigate how Dutch news websites covered refugees. Our research found, first, that Dutch Internet news reports rather positively about refugees. This finding is directly linked to a conceptual decision, however, as we categorized references to victimization as positive coverage of refugees. Second, we found no significant difference between commercial and public Internet news sources in their depiction of refugees. Finally, we found a tendency towards depersonalization of refugees across all of the Dutch Internet news sources examined, which is reflected in the more frequent use of thematic over episodic frames.
Highlights
Refugees have increasingly sought asylum in the Netherlands in past years, with the number of asylum applications and requests for family reunifications peaking in the second half of 2015 (CBS, 2016)
Our first hypothesis was that Dutch Internet news emphasizes the negative aspects of refugees more than positive aspects
This study examined coverage of refugees in Dutch Internet news
Summary
Refugees have increasingly sought asylum in the Netherlands in past years, with the number of asylum applications and requests for family reunifications peaking in the second half of 2015 (CBS, 2016). In line with this development, the newsworthiness of refugees rose, with refugees seemingly especially newsworthy if they misbehave. Entering Europe under the cover of bona fide refugees (Elsevierweekblad, 2016). These kinds of reports likely incite fear and unfavourable attitudes towards refugees, which could lead to violence and racist protests against refugee resettlements in host countries. The Netherlands saw many such protests in 2015 (De Telegraaf, 2015a, 2015b; NOS, 2015a, 2015b)
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