Dutch newspapers and the nuclear arms debate The representation of nuclear weapons in Dutch newspapers and its influence on the public opinion Jill Bergenhenegouwen Radboud University Nijmegen Master: Human Geography: Conflicts, Territories and Identities Supervisor: Dr. H.W. Bomert Student number: 1024399 Date: 09-07-2021 Table of contents List of figures .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Research objective ................................................................................................................................. 5 1.2 Societal relevance .................................................................................................................................. 6 1.3 Scientific relevance ............................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2: Context .......................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Nuclear arms ......................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 History of nuclear arms .................................................................................................................. 8 2.1.2 The nuclear arms debate ............................................................................................................... 10 2.2 The public opinion on nuclear arms .................................................................................................... 12 2.2.1 Public opinion during the Cold War ............................................................................................. 12 2.2.2 Current public opinion .................................................................................................................. 13 Chapter 3: Theoretical background ............................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Framing ............................................................................................................................................... 14 3.1.1 Frame-building ............................................................................................................................. 15 3.1.2 Frame-setting ................................................................................................................................ 16 3.2 Media framing of nuclear arms ........................................................................................................... 17 3.2.1 Conflict frame .............................................................................................................................. 18 3.2.2 Human interest frame ................................................................................................................... 18 3.2.3 Responsibility frame ..................................................................................................................... 19 3.2.4 Economic consequences frame..................................................................................................... 20 3.2.5 Morality frame .............................................................................................................................. 21 3.3 Perspectives on nuclear arms .............................................................................................................. 21 3.3.1 Episodic and thematic perspectives .............................................................................................. 21 3.3.2 Pro-nuclear, anti-nuclear and neutral perspectives ....................................................................... 23 3.4 Conceptual model ................................................................................................................................ 24 Chapter 4: Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 26 4.1 Textual analysis ................................................................................................................................... 26 4.1.1 Quantitative content analysis ........................................................................................................ 26 4.1.2 Qualitative framing analysis ......................................................................................................... 27 4.2 Methodological limitations.................................................................................................................. 28 4.3 Dataset ................................................................................................................................................. 28 4.4 Operationalization ............................................................................................................................... 29 4.4.1 Frame matrices ............................................................................................................................. 29 4.4.2 Coding of the perspectives ........................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 5: Results ......................................................................................................................................... 33 1 5.1 Frames ................................................................................................................................................. 33 5.1.1 Conflict frame .............................................................................................................................. 36 5.1.2 Human interest frame ................................................................................................................... 37 5.1.3 Responsibility frame ..................................................................................................................... 39 5.1.4 Morality frame .............................................................................................................................. 40 5.2 Dutch nuclear weapon debate .............................................................................................................. 41 5.2.1 Sustainable investment ................................................................................................................. 42 5.2.2: Responsibility of the Dutch government ..................................................................................... 42 5.3 Perspectives ......................................................................................................................................... 43 5.3.1 Episodic and thematic perspectives .............................................................................................. 43 5.3.2 Pro-nuclear, anti-nuclear and informational ................................................................................. 45 Chapter 6: Conclusion and discussion ........................................................................................................... 48 6.1 Research questions .............................................................................................................................. 48 6.2 Media framing of nuclear weapons, public opinion and social movements ........................................ 49 6.2.1 Media framing of nuclear weapons and public opinion ............................................................... 49 6.2.2 Media framing of nuclear weapons and social movements .......................................................... 51 6.3 Limitations and recommendations ...................................................................................................... 51 Literature ....................................................................................................................................................... 54 Appendix I ..................................................................................................................................................... 59 Code tree 1: Event (reasoning device)....................................................................................................... 59 Code tree 2: Cause (reasoning device) ...................................................................................................... 60 Code tree 3: Context (reasoning device) ................................................................................................... 61 Code tree 4: Judgement (reasoning device)............................................................................................... 62 Code tree 5: Solution (reasoning device) .................................................................................................. 63 Code tree 6: Visuals (framing device) ....................................................................................................... 64 Code tree 7: Text elements – word choice / example / metaphor (framing device) .................................. 65 Code tree 8: Text elements – descriptions (framing devices)...................................................................