Framing the Refugee and Asylum Question in Luxembourg: an Interactive Approach to Framing Theory
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UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Framing the refugee and asylum question in Luxembourg: an interactive approach to framing theory Nickels, H. Publication date 2005 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Nickels, H. (2005). Framing the refugee and asylum question in Luxembourg: an interactive approach to framing theory. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:26 Sep 2021 Henri Charles Nickels Framing the Refugee and Asylum Question in Luxembourg: An Interactive Approach to Framing Theory Dissertation 2 3 Framing the Refugee and Asylum Question in Luxembourg An Interactive Approach to Framing Theory Academisch Proefschrift Ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. mr. P.F. van der Heijden ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Aula der Universiteit op 18 februari 2005, te 14.00 uur door Henri Charles Nickels geboren te Luxembourg-Ville, Luxemburg. 4 Promotor: prof. dr. K.L.K. Brants Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen 5 All things change and nothing remains at rest. Heraclitus of Ephesus 7 Acknowledgements This study was financed by a Research and Development Scholarship (BFR 99/036) of the Luxembourgian Ministry of Culture, Higher Education and Research, Section: Scientific Research and Applied Research (Ministère de la Culture, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche, section: Recherche scientifique et recherche appliquée). I would like to thank the Amsterdam School of Communications Research and the University of Amsterdam for allowing me to use their facilities during the course of the research process. I would especially like to thank prof. dr. Kees Brants for having accepted to promote and supervise this dissertation. His invaluable comments and feed- back were invariably fair and to the point. I would also like to thank prof. dr. Peter Neijens, for taking the time to comment on the first draft of this dissertation; Eleanor Brunnen, for her proofreading and editing, as well as for her support, care and understanding; Drs. Duncan Harkness and dr. Andrés Zelman, for feed-back on earlier versions of this dissertation, as well as for keeping me entertained during the course of the last five years; The members of the Ph.D. Clubs I was part of, for their intelligent input and comments. Special mentions go to drs. Tamara Witschge, dr. Claes de Vreese, and dr. Jochen Peter; My brothers, Guillaume, Jacques, and Philippe, for their assistance at various stages of the research process; All the people who helped make this project a reality, in whatever way they may have been involved; Finally, I would like to apologise to my friends and family for having focussed all my energy on completing this dissertation and neglecting them in the process. 8 Table of Contents Introduction............................................................................................................ 13 The Refugee and Asylum Question ................................................................... 14 Chapter II: Theoretical Framework ....................................................................... 21 What are Frames? ............................................................................................... 21 What are News Frames?..................................................................................... 23 What are Individual Frames?.............................................................................. 28 What are Political Frames?................................................................................. 30 A Critique of the Linearity of the Framing Process ........................................... 31 An Interactive Approach to Framing Theory..................................................... 33 Chapter III: Frame Analysis................................................................................... 37 Interactions in the Framing Process .................................................................. 38 Research Questions and Research Platforms .................................................... 39 The Political Platform......................................................................................... 40 The Media Platform............................................................................................ 44 The Public Platform ........................................................................................... 45 Research Protocol: Identifying Frames..............................................................49 Expectations .......................................................................................................52 Limitations.......................................................................................................... 54 Chapter IV: The Political Platform ........................................................................ 57 Frame analysis of Asylum Policy Discourse ...................................................... 60 Political Frames .................................................................................................. 78 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 83 Chapter V: The Media Platform............................................................................. 85 Frame Analysis of News Asylum Discourse ...................................................... 90 General Observations ......................................................................................... 91 Headline Analysis...............................................................................................94 Frame Analysis of Luxembourg News..............................................................101 News Frames .....................................................................................................115 Conclusion .........................................................................................................119 10 Chapter VI: The Public Platform ..........................................................................121 Frame Analysis of Public Asylum Discourse ................................................... 124 Individual Frames............................................................................................. 136 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 139 Chapter VII: Platform Interactions .......................................................................141 Interactions Between Political Actors and Media Actors .................................141 Inter-Platform Interactions............................................................................... 144 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 156 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 159 Framing Power ................................................................................................. 165 Framing Theory Revisited................................................................................ 170 Recommendations for Further Research ......................................................... 172 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 173 Appendices ........................................................................................................... 175 Appendix 1: Policy Documents ........................................................................ 175 Appendix 2: Political Questionnaire................................................................. 179 Appendix 3: Media Questionnaire.................................................................... 184 Appendix 4: The Focus Groups........................................................................ 188 Appendix 5: Headline Analysis – Complete Tables......................................... 189 Bibliography ......................................................................................................... 197 Samenvatting ........................................................................................................ 205 11 List of Figures Figure 1: Identifying Frames..................................................................................................................51 Figure 2: Political Frames .....................................................................................................................79