Master of Arts Thesis Euroculture University of Göttingen (Home) University of Uppsala (Host) August 2016 The Refugee Discourse in German Media An analysis of the changes provoked by the events of New Year’s Eve 2015 in Cologne Submitted by: Anika Braun-Klöpper Matrikelnummer: 21434765 Student ID Uppsala: 9752238221672325 +49 15789560922 / [email protected] Supervised by: Andreaz Wasniowski Prof. Dr. Samuel Salzborn Place, date Signature MA Programme Euroculture Declaration I, Anika Braun-Klöpper, hereby declare that this thesis, entitled “The Refugee Discourse in German Media - An analysis of the changes provoked by the events of New Year’s Eve 2015 in Cologne”, submitted as partial requirement for the MA Programme Euroculture, is my own original work and expressed in my own words. Any use made within this text of works of other authors in any form (e.g. ideas, figures, texts, tables, etc.) are properly acknowledged in the text as well as in the bibliography. I hereby also acknowledge that I was informed about the regulations pertaining to the assessment of the MA thesis Euroculture and about the general completion rules for the Master of Arts Programme Euroculture. Signed ....................................................................... Date ........................................................................ “Fear has never been a good adviser, neither in our personal lives nor in our society.” 1 Angela Merkel 1 “TIME Person of the Year 2015: Angela Merkel,” TIME.com, accessed July 23, 2016, http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/. 2 “Migrant Men and European Women,” The Economist, accessed January 31, III I Table of content I TABLE OF CONTENT ...................................................................................................................... IV II TABLE OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... V 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 2 THEMATIC BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................ 4 2.1 THE REFUGEE CRISIS AND NEW YEAR’S EVE 2015 IN COLOGNE ................................................... 4 2.2 LÜGENPRESSE .................................................................................................................................... 6 3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................................... 11 4 STATE OF THE ART ...................................................................................................................... 13 5 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................ 16 6 APPROACH – DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................ 19 7 DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................ 22 7.1 PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................ 22 7.2 MAIN ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................................. 26 7.2.1 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................ 27 7.2.2 QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................... 30 7.2.2.1 Threat of the foreign male .................................................................................................................... 31 7.2.2.2 The integration of Muslim refugees .................................................................................................. 37 7.2.2.3 Right-Wing Extremism ......................................................................................................................... 41 7.2.2.4 Fear and Insecurity .................................................................................................................................. 43 7.2.2.5 The politische Mitte ................................................................................................................................ 46 7.2.2.6 Concerned Citizens ................................................................................................................................. 47 7.2.2.7 Solutions offered ................................................................................................................................... 49 7.2.2.8 Changes provoked by Cologne ........................................................................................................... 51 7.3 RESULTS .......................................................................................................................................... 52 8. SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK ........................................................................................................ 55 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................. 57 ANNEX .................................................................................................................................................. 65 ANNEX 1: COMPLETE LIST OF ANALYSED ARTICLES FOR THE PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS .................. 65 ANNEX 2: COMPLETE LIST OF ANALYSED ARTICLES FOR THE MAIN ANALYSIS ................................ 67 IV II Table of Figures Figure 1: Topics brought into connection with NYE in articles from January 1-9 ........ 23 Figure 2: Quantitative results of the SZ .......................................................................... 28 Figure 3: Quantitative results of the FAZ ....................................................................... 28 Figure 4: Quantitative results of Der Spiegel ................................................................. 29 Figure 5: Quantitative results of FOCUS ....................................................................... 29 V 1 Introduction Since the summer of 2015, when the refugee crisis became an immediate reality for Germany, the topic of refugees has dominated the print media. The high amount of people entering Germany daily, has wide-ranging affects on the country. Repercussions could also be felt on EU-level, where the Schengen Agreement was put to a test and evermore EU-countries reintroduced border controls. In the international press, Germany became portrayed as one of the main European actors in the search for humanitarian solutions to the refugee crisis. The political engagement, especially the commitment of Chancellor Angela Merkel and the civic commitment that was shown by helpers all over the country received international attention and praise. In early January 2016 reports about sexual gang assaults on women in Cologne and other German cities became public. As the culprits were reported to be large groups of immigrant men, Germany’s handling of the refugee crisis became re-evaluated as a whole in the international news. Concerns were expressed that the country had lost control over the situation, and that it was becoming increasingly insecure. Others worried that the renewed assessment of the circumstances would be at the expense of all refugees, who might now be taken under general suspicion. In Germany, the happenings of NYE triggered a range of political decisions, such as a change in the law governing sexual offences and in the deportation proceedings of Asylum seekers. If similarly drastic changes have also occurred in the refugee discourse is to be assessed in this thesis. While the changes on the political landscape are clear, definable and recorded in writing, a possible change in the general media refugee discourse could have passed without much notice. It would be a subtle change that probably happened subconsciously rather than that it was dictated and decided on. This does not mean that it is of lesser impact. In fact, language can affect the way people feel about things and the presentation of news can influence people’s opinion about the matter. The selection of print media that will be analysed in the scope of this paper consists of mainstream, high-circulation papers and magazines. A relevant share of the German population is thus confronted with the papers’ presentation of refugees and the framing of the crisis. As Germany has a democratic political system, these people can affect the political system. The power of such a discourse design is just indirect and often disguised, which does not mean that it is neglectable. It is 1 consequently important to inspect possible alterations closely and to render them visible. The refugee discourse in the print media in particular, is of interest at this point in time. On the one hand, there is the refugee crisis that has had political consequences of significant effect. The shakiness of the Schengen Agreement and the refugee deal made between the EU and Turkey are only two examples that illustrate the implication the situation has on the intra-European relations. Furthermore, an increase in right-wing movement all over Europe and rising numbers of right-wing extremist motivated