“A stronger Denmark” vs. “to welcome people seeking refuge” An analysis of Danish and Swedish newspapers’ and policy documents’ framing of “the refugee crisis” and border controls Diantha Jayananthan & Mette Kryger Pedersen Malmö University Date of examination: June 13, 2018 Media and Communication Studies: Culture, Collaborative Media, and the Creative Industries Faculty of Culture and Society, School of Arts and Communication Two-Year Master Thesis (15 Credits) Supervisor: Tina Askanius Examiner: Bo Reimer Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to understand how Danish and Swedish news media and governments framed “the refugee crisis” in the context of the Swedish implementation of border controls in 2015 and the removal of external border controls in 2017. We operationalize framing theory (Entman 1993) to understand the differences and similarities in the framing of “the refugee crisis” in Denmark and Sweden. While the main focus is media representations, policy documents are included in the study to deepen the analysis and understand the similarities and differences across migration policies. Through a quantitative content analysis of 259 newspaper articles from eight Danish and Swedish newspapers, a framing analysis of ten policy documents and a qualitative framing analysis of the overall frames in the news articles and policy documents, we identified a dialectic relation of power between media and political discourse in both countries. We found that issues defined and represented in policy documents tend to reflect the challenges that news media define and the other way around. Even though Danish and Swedish newspapers and policy documents highlight similar problems, our data indicates clear differences in migration policies, in the two countries, in terms of the framing of asylum seekers, refugees and political events in 2015. Keywords: asylum seekers, refugees, border control, bordering, migration policies, refugee crisis, framing, news media, policy documents. Table of content Lists of figures 1 1. Introduction 2 1.1 “Refugee chaos” vs. “refugee crisis” 3 1.2 The purpose and research questions 4 2. Literature review 5 2.1 Refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in media coverage 6 2.2. The refugee crisis as a term 6 2.3 The refugee crisis and media coverage 7 2.4 The relation between politics and media 9 2.5 Situating the study within migration and media research 10 3. Theoretical framework 10 3.1 Selection and salience 11 3.2 Who creates the frames? 12 3.3 Development, critique and limitations of framing theory 13 4. Methodology and empirical data 15 4.1 Research design 15 4.2 Data and sampling process 16 4.2.1 Newspaper articles from eight news outlets 16 4.2.2 Collecting newspaper articles 17 4.2.3 Collecting policy documents 19 4.3 Analytical framework 20 4.3.1 Analysing newspaper articles 20 4.3.2 Analysing policy documents 21 4.3.3 Qualitative framing analysis 22 4.4 Internal validity and ethical considerations 22 5. Understanding Danish and Swedish migration policies 24 5.1 Swedish policies: From an exceptionalist model to a civic turn 24 5.2 Danish policies: Civic selection and striving for Danish cohesion 25 6. Analysis 26 Part 1 27 6.1 Content analysis of news articles 27 6.1.1 Front-page stories 28 6.1.2 Who has a voice? 29 6.1.3 Description of people 31 6.1.4 Themes 33 6.2 Political strategies and national perspectives: a framing analysis of Danish and Swedish policy documents 37 6.2.1 The communicator 38 6.2.2 The receiver 41 6.2.3 The texts 42 6.2.4 The culture 45 6.2.5 Summary of the policy document analysis 47 Part 2 49 6.3 Qualitative framing analysis 49 6.3.1 Defining the problem 49 6.3.2 Defined causes 53 6.3.3 Moral judgement 56 6.3.4 Solutions 60 6.3.5 Summary of the qualitative framing analysis 64 7. Concluding discussion 65 7.1 Negotiation of power in media and politics 65 7.2 The exertion of power in news media and politics 68 7.3 Limitations of our study and the need for further research 70 References 72 Literature 72 Empirical data 79 Appendix 1: Coding table for newspaper articles 86 Lists of figures Figure 1: The four comparative elements of the study 16 Figure 2: Distribution of articles in newspapers in the first and second periods. 27 Figure 3: The first and second sources given a voice in the first period. 30 Figure 4: The first and second sources given a voice in the second period. 31 Figure 5: Overview of the number of Danish and Swedish news articles that include 32 specific labels in the text to describe people coming to Denmark and Sweden in the first period. Figure 6: Overview of the number of Danish and Swedish articles that include 33 specific labels in the text to describe people coming to Denmark and Sweden in the second period. Figure 7: Themes that are included in the articles and how many times they appear 34 in the sample in the first period. Figure 8: Themes that are included in the articles and how many times they appear 37 in the sample in the second period. 1 1. Introduction In 2015, increasing numbers of asylum seekers reached the Northern region of Europe and crossed the borders of Denmark and Sweden. The arrival of thousands of people received a lot of attention in both Danish and Swedish news media, and the high influx was part of a period covered as chaotic and overwhelming (Kildegaard & Domino 2015, p. 4; Klarskov & Thobo- Carlsen 2015, p. 1; Mellin 2015, p. 20). Asylum seekers in Denmark and Sweden have caused administrative challenges, strains on governmental agencies, and not least contributed to political debates about national security, cultural differences and integration (Government Offices of Sweden 2015; Ministry of Immigration and Integration 2015; Government Offices of Sweden 2016; The Government of Denmark n.d.; Ministry of Immigration and Integration n.d.). In both Denmark and Sweden, the large numbers of asylum seekers were treated as a burden creating a state of emergency. Thus, both the Danish and Swedish governments reacted with policy regulation aiming to limit the number of new entries (Government Offices of Sweden 2015; Ministry of Immigration and Integration 2015; The Government of Denmark 2016; Ministry of Justice 2017). In November 2015, the Swedish Government decided to implement temporary border controls1 (Ministry of Justice 2017). This decision became a turning point for both Swedish asylum and migration policies and Danish politics as the Swedish government’s decision was assumed to increase the number of asylum seekers in Denmark. 18 months later, in May 2017, the Swedish government decided to remove the external2 border controls while strengthening the internal3 border controls (Lönegård & Rogberg 2017, p, 7). The border controls are the central aspect of our research as we analyse how Danish and Swedish news media have framed the refugee crisis in the context of these specific points in time. More specifically, we examine a delineated part of “the refugee crisis”4 by examining representations of the Swedish government’s border controls in Danish and Swedish news media and policy 1 In this study, we use the term border controls to refer to the Swedish border controls and ID checks, as they are used to control borders. Some news media and governments perceive them as two different methods, which illustrates a way of framing border regulations. 2 External border controls refer to border controls and ID checks outside of Sweden on all public transportation entering Sweden. 3 Internal border controls refer to border controls on Swedish territory. 4 “The refugee crisis” is in quotation marks here to emphasize that we find that this is a problematic term (see 2.2. The refugee crisis as a term). In the rest of the study, we write the refugee crisis/the crisis without quotation marks. 2 documents. Our study provides insight into a specific sample of news media in a specific region and looks back at news coverage in two specific weeks, from November 12-19, 2015 – when the Swedish government implemented temporary border controls – and from May 1-8, 2017 – when the external border control was removed. We look at the framing of this delineation because frames in news texts and policy documents represent imprints of power that register the identity of actors or interests that compete to dominate the text (Entman 1993, p. 55). News media have an important role with respect to how different aspects of the European crisis are framed, portrayed and discussed in public. Moreover, local and national news media have an influence on public opinion (Entman 1993, p. 57; Berry et. al. 2015 p. 5; Stjernborg et. al. 2015, p. 22; Hellström & Hervik 2018). Thus, it is important to examine how the media portrayed the arrival of asylum seekers and refugees and framed the crisis to understand how this group of people is represented in media coverage and politics because representations of people and events affect the way people relate to the discussion of this crisis. 1.1 “Refugee chaos” vs. “refugee crisis” A source of inspiration for our study is the TV debate programme, Debatten om flygtninge: Danmark møder Sverige [The debate about refugees: Denmark meets Sweden] (2015) broadcasted on both the Danish channel, DR2, and the Swedish channel, SVT1, on September 17, 2015. In this programme Danish and Swedish actors discussed the refugee crisis and ways to handle the increasing number of asylum seekers. This debate programme clearly demonstrated fundamental differences in the political cultures of Sweden and Denmark specifically in relation to migration and asylum questions and political responsibilities for introducing newcomers.