Framing of asylum seekers in Dutch regional newspapers

Abstract

The research literature indicates five recurrent frames in news reporting: conflict, human interest, economic consequences, morality and responsibility. Our central research question is: how does news reporting on asylum seekers in four Dutch regional newspapers reflect these frames? The latter are published in places where the inhabitants' reactions to the establishing of an asylum seekers' centre in their neighbourhoods varied from positive to negative. We expect this difference in attitude to be reflected in the reporting. On the one hand we assume that wherever people adopt a more negative attitude, the regional media will emphasize the conflict and the economic consequences. On the other hand we suspect that a positive attitude on behalf of the inhabitants will lead to a more human and moralistic accent in the reporting. Notwithstanding some differences, the human interest frame is most strongly evident in all the newspapers, with the attitude of the population making very little difference.