1 DUTCH MEDIA COVERAGE in WARTIME Dutch Newspapers At
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1 DUTCH MEDIA COVERAGE IN WARTIME Dutch newspapers at war: An empirical study investigating how De Volkskrant and De Telegraaf covered the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan from 2006-2013 by drawing on theories of sourcing and framing in times of war Naomi Horstkamp University of Amsterdam 11903554 Master’s Thesis Graduate School of Communication Political Communication Penny Sheets Thibaut 31 January 2020 7938 Words 2 DUTCH MEDIA COVERAGE IN WARTIME Abstract To critically analyse the journalistic standards of Dutch newspapers during wartime, this study draws on theories of framing, sourcing and war journalism. Previous studies showed that democratic journalistic standards cannot be taken for granted in times of conflict. Therefore, this study uses quantitative content analysis to explore how De Volkskrant (n = 192) and De Telegraaf (n = 196) covered the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2013. The analysis found that Dutch newspapers tend to use positive frames more often to cover the mission. Despite that, it seems like De Volkskrant reports more balanced in terms of critically using frames, whereas De Telegraaf uses more personalisation to cover the conflict. Furthermore, this study found that newspapers used elite sources more often in their coverage, but there was no significant difference. Overall, this study gives interesting insights into the democratic role of the top two national Dutch newspapers in wartime. The analysis supports the literature on sourcing and framing as well as to the theory of indexing hypothesis and the literature on national identity’s influence on the news. Keywords: framing, sourcing, media coverage, journalism, wartime, conflict 3 DUTCH MEDIA COVERAGE IN WARTIME Dutch newspapers at war: An empirical study investigating how De Volkskrant and De Telegraaf covered the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan from 2006-2013 by drawing on theories of sourcing and framing in times of war. In December 2019, the “Afghanistan papers”, published by The Washington Post, revealed that the public has been consistently misled about an unwinnable war. Hundreds of interviews with key actors showed that U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the Afghanistan war, and the U.S. government used false information and hid evidence that the war became unwinnable (Whitlock, 2019). These papers illustrate that journalism is needed in times of war. However, fulfilling quality journalism in times of war is easier said than done. A quote from Dutch journalist Nathalie Righton, from an interview in the documentary Extreem Leven, clearly illustrates the problem war journalists are facing: An injured girl is carried outside on a stretcher. In the letters that the Dutch government has sent to the House of Representatives about the military mission in Afghanistan, the word ‘war’ did not even appear, the word ‘attack’ did not occur and the word ‘violence’ was not mentioned. Instead, the word ‘training’ appeared 140 times, the word ‘security’ occurred 64 times. For me, this has become a symbol that Defence Information Officers are saying that things are going the right direction, but this was literally not the case. I saw it happen in front of my eyes. (De Brouwer, 2013) The example raises the question of whether journalists can perform their basic principles such as fact-checking, striving for objectivity and adversarial journalism in times of war when situations are complex and dangerous. Furthermore, how can journalists maintain their professional standards when they do not receive complete information? Media coverage in times of war has been an object of research for a long time. In most Western societies it is expected from a journalist to act as a watchdog and truth speaker by 4 DUTCH MEDIA COVERAGE IN WARTIME reporting objectively, trying to inform the public in the best possible way and hereby, strive to serve the common good (Entman & Page, 1994; Taylor, 2003; Kristensen & Ørsten, 2007). Interestingly, even though scholars agree that media should be critical and independent, there is little evidence that media act this way during wartime (Bennett, 1990; DeCillia, 2018; Hallin, 1986). Their responsibility is often challenged by several factors such as the availability of sources, journalistic routines and journalists’ ethical and cultural backgrounds (Schoemaker & Reese, 1996; Nossek, 2004). This is threatening because journalism in times of conflict is more needed than ever as a war is not only a battle of weapons but also a battle of opinions (Nord & Strömbäck, 2006). Furthermore, previous studies showed that political and military sources and their frames are prominent in the media during wartime (Bennett, 1990). This is remarkable, given that the study of Nord and Strömbäck (2006) found that these sources are trying to manipulate media coverage and cover the truth. Since 2001 the Dutch military became active in the Afghan provinces of Uruzgan and Kunduz. This turned out to be the biggest contribution of Dutch soldiers since the Korean War (De Graaf & Dimitriu, 2016; Veteraneninstituut, 2014). Over time, Dutch citizens never supported the missions with an absolute majority, but the support was just a bit higher in the beginning of the mission in Uruzgan, than at the end in Kunduz (Rijksoverheid, 2014; Van Bommel, 2012; Van der Meulen & Vos, 2012). Even though the public is more than 5000 kilometres away from Afghanistan, they still have the right to get extensive information and facts which gives them the ability to make the best possible decision about the actions of the military, the society and their government (Kolodzy, 2013). As the public support stayed quite stable over time, it would be interesting to see how Dutch newspapers covered the conflict. For example, did news media report more positive about the mission? Investigating how Dutch media covered the conflict is needed as the public uses newspapers as their source of information (Cozma & Kozman, 2015). 5 DUTCH MEDIA COVERAGE IN WARTIME Research into framing and sourcing in times of war is not new, however, previous studies did not investigate how Dutch media covered the military mission in Afghanistan. By the use of a content analysis, this study tries to gain more insight about what type of frames and sources news media used to cover the military mission. Therefore, the central goal of this paper is to have a critical look at the quality of Dutch media in times of war by looking at theories of framing and sourcing. As mentioned before, previous studies showed that media do not always fulfil their democratic responsibility in times of war. So, there are good reasons to reconsider the role of Dutch news media covering the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan. This led to the following research question: How did Dutch newspapers cover the military mission in Afghanistan? Theoretical Framework Role of media in democracy One of the most discussed issues in the field of political communication is the independence of the press and their role in democracy. This is because not only does journalism needs democracy, but democracy also needs journalism (McNair, 2009). Drawing on theories of framing and sourcing in news media, this study tries to investigate how Dutch media covered the military mission in Afghanistan and if Dutch media met their democratic responsibility or not. It is important for media organizations in a democracy to act as a watchdog (Nord, 2007; Weaver & Willnat, 2012). The watchdog function suggests that media critically look over the ones in power, like the government, businesses or other influentials in society (McNair, 2009). Other important functions of media in a democracy are that they should strive to cover the best possible reflection of reality and logically inform the public. Furthermore, media should report news factually, balanced and critically (Bennett & Lawrence, & Livingston, 2008; Entman & Page, 1994; Gans, 1998; Nord & Strömbäck, 2006; 6 DUTCH MEDIA COVERAGE IN WARTIME Taylor, 2003). But scholars also recognize that true neutrality is impossible; whenever the media covers an event, they must choose a certain angle from which they tell a news story. This is called framing. The question becomes, then, to what extent certain frames are capable of conveying factual, balanced and critical information in times of war. Framing. The concept of framing has been widely discussed in the field of communication and as the concept is complex, different authors do not agree on a clear-cut definition (Cacciatore, Scheufele, & Iyengar, 2016; Entman, 1993; Lecheler & De Vreese, 2011). However, most scholars agree that by framing, media choose how to tell and construct a story and hereby give meaning to series of events and help the audience to understand issues (Brewer & Gross, 2010; De Vreese, 2005; Gamson & Modigliani, 1989; McCombs, 2013). Moreover, Entman (1993) states that media provide audiences with schemas for interpreting events: “To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communication text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation” (p.52). An important element of framing is frame-building, which refers to factors that influence news frames. This can be internal factors such as journalistic routines, for example, the personal interpretation of a journalist of what the conflict is and journalists’ endorsement with the conflict can shape how news stories are selected. But also, external factors can play a role such as frames offered by important actors, like governmental or military officials, to inform journalists about the conflict (Bennett, 1990; Brüggemann, 2014; Gans, 1979; Philo & Berry, 2004; Schoemaker & Reese, 1996). Frames are a powerful tool for journalists. It contains a process which helps the audience to make sense of the world and it offers journalists the ability to determine how the audience understands and remembers the conflict. In other words, frames determine how Dutch citizens are informed about the military mission in Afghanistan.