The Dutch National Police Force: A Case Study on the Effect of Mediatised Incidents on the Dutch National Police Force

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The Dutch National Police Force

A Case Study on the Effect of Mediatised Incidents on the Dutch National

Police Force

Master: Economics and Governance Version: Final

Student: M.H.J. Al-Saqaff, s2371103 First reader: Dr. A.C. Wille

Second reader: Prof. J.C.N. Raadschelders Date: 08-01-2020

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Preface

Looking back to September 2018 when I started the master’s degree in economics and governance, I made a decision: I was going to combine my full-time work in the Dutch House of Representatives with this full-time master’s studies. I knew that it would take a lot of discipline, time planning and perseverance. All went more or less according to plan, and in February of this year (2019) I started to write this thesis. The thesis-writing process felt different from the rest of the year, which was focused on learning, understanding and passing. The thesis was to be my own creation and my own research, and I did not only want to learn, understand and pass. Rather, I also wanted to contribute to science and be proud of my own study.

It was difficult to start, and I did not even know where to begin. I knew that I wanted to learn more about watchdogs and in particular watchdog journalism. Furthermore, I knew that I wanted to study an organisation that is close to the public and has a big impact on society. Therefore, I started my research with the case of the NVWA (Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority). However, far into the process I realised that a similar research had been done concerning this case. Consequently, I had to change topics. Luckily, it was not difficult to choose a new one; I easily chose the police force for my case study. The police force together with the army are the only institutions in the Netherlands that have a monopoly on violence, which also makes them a very distinctive case. Moreover, the police force has a significant impact on society. This gave me the idea that the research results could be of significance for the force that safeguards our freedom and safety. The combination of watchdog journalism together with the public organisation of choice brought me to my research topic: the effects of media coverage on the behaviour of the police force as a public sector organisation.

While researching I learnt a lot about the media. I did not even know that the media was studied from so many different angles. As a matter of fact, the literature was so wide and diverse that it was challenging to determine my own angle. Therefore, I thank my supervisor: Dr. Wille. She provided me with the relevant articles and guided me when choosing my research angle. I thank her for her help, patience and critical view. She has helped me to structure my thesis. I would also like to thank my partner: Brian van Hamond. All of the figures and tables in this thesis were edited by him. In addition, his patience and suiting gestures have made this last year bearable for me. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents and sister; they have always supported me in my choices, even though I have seen them very little this year. I know that this was hard on them, so I would like to thank them for always being there for me.

As I just showed, when you decide to write your thesis while having a full-time job, you basically sign a contract giving up your weekends and your evenings. Looking back, it was worth it. After a lot of

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3 sleepless nights, a lot of coffee and lots of stress and time planning, I present to you, a little later than planned, with pride, my master’s thesis.

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Summary

The police force together with the Dutch Defence Force are the only institutions allowed to use force in the Netherlands. Policemen have to make difficult decisions under time pressure and complex situations. The use of force is not always justifiable. Sometimes media reports arise about incidents; particularly incidents in which the functioning of the police is put into question. Extensive media coverage of incidents that criticise the organisation and its direct functioning , are called mediatised incidents. That is what this research is about; the research examines the reaction of the police force concerning two mediatised incidents. The incidents that were chosen are the ‘Death of Mitch Henriquez’ and ‘Racial profiling concerning rapper Typhoon’. This yields the following main question for this empirical study: What is the effect of mediatised incidents on the police force? The literature review suggests two aspects of the police force in which the effect of the mediatised incident could be expected: the accountability and the policy that is being used within the organisation. This raises the following sub research questions: What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the vertical external accountability lines of the police force? What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the horizontal external accountability lines of the police force? What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the vertical internal accountability lines of the police force? What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the horizontal internal accountability lines of the police force? What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the policy of the police force? In line with the expectations I find an activation of the accountability lines and a policy change in both mediatised incidents.

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Index

Preface ... 2

Summary ... 4

Chapter 1: Introduction ... 7

Problem Definition and Question ... 8

Relevance of the Research ... 9

Reading Guide ... 9

Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework ... 11

Mediatised Incidents ... 12

Area of Effect ... 13

Accountability ... 14

Vertical External Accountability ... 16

Horizontal External Accountability ... 17

Vertical Internal Accountability ... 19

Horizontal Internal Accountability ... 19

Policy Change ... 20

Partial Conclusion ... 22

Chapter 3: Methodology ... 25

Research Approach and Design ... 25

The Dutch National Police Force ... 26

Respondent Selection ... 27

Key Concepts and their Operationalisation ... 27

Data Collection and Analysis ... 30

Document Analysis ... 31

Interviews ... 31

Quality Criteria ... 32

Chapter 4: The Death of Mitch Henriquez ... 34

Timeline of Events ... 34

4.1. Mediatisation Analysis ... 37

Categorisation ... 38

Positive/Non-critical ... 40

Opinion ... 41

4.2. The Effect of the Mediatised Incident on the Police Force ... 41

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Window of Opportunity ... 46

Chapter 5: Racial Profiling Rapper Typhoon ... 48

Timeline of Events ... 48

5.1. Mediatisation Analysis ... 49

Categorisation ... 51

Positive/Neutral Coverage ... 52

Opinion ... 53

5.2. Effect of Mediatised Incident: Typhoon ... 53

Window of Opportunity ... 59

Chapter 6: Comparison of the Effect on the Police Force ... 60

Mediatisation ... 60

Accountability ... 61

Policy ... 62

Chapter 7: Conclusion ... 63

Answer to Main Question ... 63

Conclusion Considering Relevance ... 63

Limitations of this Study ... 64

Recommendations for Further Research ... 65

Recommendation for Public Sector Organisations ... 66

References ... 67

Sources Content Analysis ... 73

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Chapter 1: Introduction

In the Netherlands, the monopoly on violence lies with the state. It exercises its monopoly through the police force and the Dutch military, which are the only institutions allowed to use force. In addition to this great responsibility, policemen have to make difficult decisions under time pressure and in complex situations. The use of force is not always seen as justifiable and sometimes it even leads to public outrage. Since the police exercise the monopoly on violence, it is not surprising that when incidents occur the public holds the police force accountable for it (Moor, Ponsaers, de Vries & Easton, 2014). Some articles describe the use of violence by the police as a violation of human rights. Nowadays, the relationship between human rights and the police is increasing in importance . The full scope of human rights is broad; it consists of rights inherent to all human beings. One example is the protection of people’s privacy and living conditions. Moor et al (2014) mention this in their study: ‘The police play an ambivalent part in this. On the one hand the police are the protectors of human rights. On the other hand, the police can, from their legitimate power position, exercise actions that balance on the thin line between human rights violations and human rights safeguards. This line is not easy to draw, and the question arises to what extent the police in our society is able to cope with this’ (p. 179). The death of Mitch Henriquez on June 27, 2015, resulted in public outrage in which part of the public believed that Henriquez’s rights were violated (Meeus, 2017). The media was full of reports on how policemen used force to contain Henriquez after he had publicly shouted that he was armed with a weapon. The police held him in a neck hold that supposedly killed him. The days after his death saw extensive unrest in The Hague; a protest against police violence and racism resulted in confrontations between the public and the police. During those days, more than two hundred arrests were made (Meeus, 2017). One year later the public prosecutor decided to prosecute the policemen involved (Meeus, 2017) making the death of Henriquez an incident that is still present in current media coverage. The case of Henriquez was not the only example in which the police force was openly criticised in the news. On May 30, 2016 the well-known rapper Typhoon was pulled over by police because his appearance did not match with the expensive car that he was driving. A noteworthy part of this is that the involved police officer immediately admitted that he was guilty of racial profiling. Thereafter, the rapper shared the incident on social media, which sparked extensive public outrage. It is commonly known and studied that the media takes on the role of a watchdog and holds politicians and public organisations accountable for their actions. Nowadays more pressure is put on public organisations to be accountable for critical incidents. Critical incidents that are omnipresent in the media are referred to as mediatised incidents (Jacobs, 2014). Mediatised incidents are usually about failures and tend to remain on the public’s mind for a longer period of time (Bitner, Booms & Tetreault,

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8 1990). Since the watchdog role of the media puts an increasing pressure on public organisations, specifically in a time in which information is becoming more readily available, the public sector has to respond in ways that maintain its legitimacy. They have two options: activate their accountability (vertically, horizontally, internally and externally) and change their policies: either in the area in which the incident occurred or their communication policy. This thesis focuses on the effect the mediatised incidents of Henriquez and rapper Typhoon had on the police force. I found two different effects: one being the effect on the activation of the accountability lines of the police force, the other one being the effect observed in the policy area. Both findings were in line with most of the literature used for this thesis.

Problem Definition and Question

There is excessive research on the role of the media as a watchdog. Researchers have also examined the way in which the media enhances accountability. However, specific case studies on the effect of media attention on organisations that are being held accountable for incidents have received minimal attention. Moreover, a case study specifically concerning the police has not yet been conducted. A lack of insight into the behaviour of the police force could cause missteps in the future and a lack of anticipation by the media. Therefore, it is valuable to assess the effect on the police force concerning mediatised incidents, since the incidents occur regularly and publicly. The above descriptions of the two incidents raise the following research question:

What is the effect of mediatised incidents on the police force?

In order to answer the main question, several sub questions must be addressed.

• What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the vertical external accountability lines of the police force?

 What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the horizontal external accountability lines of the police force?

• What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the vertical internal accountability lines of the police force?

 What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the horizontal internal accountability lines of the police force?

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Relevance of the Research

As stated above, much research has been conducted on the role of media as a watchdog. Jacobs (2016) defined the different roles that media can play as a watchdog. Norris (2014) studied whether the media actually serves as an effective watchdog and how the media perceives its own role as a watchdog. However, this role has been extensively researched in relation to politics and political parties (Hjarvard, 2013; Landerer, 2013). Schillemans (2016) has examined how mediatisation affects public agencies: ‘all those situations where communication via mass media replaces other activities and to the ensuing adaptation of processes, rules, routines and structures in order to do so effectively’. When organisations (or other entities) “mediatise”, they “integrate” the media logic in their own operations’ (Schillemans, 2016, p.83). This angle is very relevant, because ‘public agencies are the objects of a large share of the daily news and devote substantial resources to media management and monitoring’ (Schillemans, 2016, p.79). Korthagen (2011) studies a particular mediatised case in the Netherlands. Her angle, however, differs from this thesis; she investigates what the effect is on the policy of the municipality. In this case, the focus is again on political actors and not on public sector organisations. Jacobs (2014) chooses to look at mediatised incidents. She claims that mediatised incidents have an effect on the behaviour of public sector organisations. However, she was not able to assess every public sector organisation in the Netherlands because it would require too much work. This paper examines the Dutch police force in order to understand how this particular organisation responds to media coverage of incidents. Comparative research is scarce. The combination of a case study on the police force and the effect of mediatised incidents is new to the literature and expands the knowledge on both the effect of mediatised incidents and the police force. This thesis is a case study that provides in-depth information on the behaviour of one particular public sector agency.

The research angle of this thesis could also be relevant for the police force itself, in the sense that this thesis could serve as a mirror. By analysing how the police responded to two mediatised incidents, they could use the findings of this study for their own improvement or training. This could subsequently benefit society since a more effective police force benefits all.

Reading Guide

Chapter 2 is a literature review, which gives a clear definition for the concept of mediatised incident. It also highlights multiple scientific articles in order to form an hypothesis of where the effect of the mediatised incident could be seen in the police force. Chapter 3 shines light on the methods used to perform this research. Chapter 4 and 5 are empirical studies in which the content of the articles in which the incidents are described are analysed. The effect of the mediatised incidents is analysed in light of accountability and policy, in order to answer the sub questions. Chapter 6 compares the effect

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10 of both mediatised incidents on the police force. Chapter 7 gives the conclusions of this thesis and answers the following main question: What is the effect of mediatised incidents on the police force? The conclusions are also discussed in light of the relevance of this thesis. The discussion in chapter 7 results in some critical notes on this study, followed by some recommendations for further research.

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Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework

‘Traditionally, journalism has long been regarded as a “fourth estate”: a central component of democracy and a means whereby the power of the state can be monitored and, if necessary, limited’ (Petley, 2004, p.68). Clearly the institutional arrangements of a country matter for the way in which media are allowed to report on news items, such as the way free press is safeguarded. In a democracy, the press has the right to access political and governmental information, which means that it provides a hospitable environment for watchdog journalism (Coronel, 2010).

The underlying original purpose of the media was to discover the truth about political actions and politicians. The role of journalism was to present all evidence in order to keep officers from ‘abusing or exceeding their authority’ (Petley, 2004, p. 68). This is why Petley (2004) refers to journalists as crusaders. ‘The checks and balances inherent in the representative system also legitimise journalistic inquiry as part of a broader framework of government accountability to citizens’ (Coronel, 2010, p.5). The media is therefore seen as the watchdog of the inner workings of democracy and holds officeholders accountable, which is also referred to as exposure journalism. ‘They [the media] compare how organisations work against how they are supposed to work. They expose how and why individuals and institutions fail. They report when things go wrong, who is responsible, how the wrongdoing was done, and its consequences. The best investigative work exposes not just individual, but also systemic, failures’ (Coronel, 2010, p.3). Bardoel (2002) even writes about a mediocracy (i.e., democracy by the media) in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, the Second Chamber holds the highest power and controls the power of the Cabinet of Ministers. In a mediocracy however, this power is executed by the media. Therefore, it is often mentioned that a love-hate relationship exists between the office keepers in The Hague and the media. The officeholders claim that they assess very complex content in which they listen to arguments and make difficult decisions. In their view, the form in which their decisions and arguments are presented is inherent to the content. This is never the case with the media. Depending on their audience the media always ask themselves: which form would be most suitable to obtain the highest number of consumers of their news coverage (Bardoel, 2002)? Therefore, complex content will be simplified, which makes the content inherent to the form. Therefore, Bardoel (2002) speaks of the ‘The Hague marriage’ and ‘The arena in The Hague,’ referring to the love-hate relationship between the two.

Nowadays, the media is also a platform that citizens can use to hold their public officials accountable. There are many different ways to inform or consult citizens or to provide them with platforms on which they can deliver their own input and control the public officials. Examples being: open data, monitoring of social media, internet consultations, e-petitions, twitter analysis and text-votes

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12 (Edwards & de Kool, 2015).The role of the media as a watchdog and the use of multiple media platforms naturally triggers a reaction from the public sector organisations that are under a magnifying glass. The public sector organisations adapt their behaviour in order to survive the accountability structures form the media.

This chapter examines the way in which the media can alter or shape the behaviour of public sector organisations. Therefore, a distinction will be made between different responses to mediatised incidents by public sector organisations. First, the concept of mediatised incidents is discussed. Secondly, the reaction of public sector organisations is discussed in the light of accountability and policy changes. Lastly, a conclusion is given, which raises the sub questions for empirical research.

Mediatised Incidents

All organisations, public or private, could suddenly be put in a bad light due to an incident. Not all incidents however lead to crises. One can speak of an institutional crisis when: the leaders of the organisation are surprised by the storm; when the identity and character of the organisation are being questioned; when the normal way of doing things is questioned and the shared values of the organisation are up for debate. The leaders of the organisation see that politicians distance themselves from the organisation, and employees start to lose pride in their organisation. Furthermore, to make matters worse, a media hurricane arises, which puts the organisation in worse light. Jacobs and Schillemans (2016) claim that 40% of all media coverage of the four largest newspapers in the Netherlands is about public organisations. Schillemans and Van Thiel (2009) also looked at the coverage of the media in the news and made a distinction between positive and negative coverage. They concluded that the coverage about public sector organisations is mostly negative. An institutional crisis starts with a critical incident. Such incidents could occur more often, but what specifically makes these particular incidents gain a lot of unsuspected attention is the attention they receive by the media itself. An incident in itself is defined as ‘an observable human activity that is complete enough in itself to permit inferences and predictions to be made about the person performing the act. A critical incident is one that contributes or distracts from the general aim of the activity in a significant way’ (Bitner et al., 1990, p. 73). When an incident is reported upon extensively in the media, it is called a mediatised incident (Jacobs, 2014) or a critical incident (Boin & Zoudiris, 2018).

More specifically, a mediatised incident is a phenomenon that occurs partially in the surroundings of an organisation but also touches upon its direct functioning. It is an incident that relates to the organisation but becomes public news due to media coverage. A mediatised incident is covered extensively in the news and spreads fast on different news media and social media; it is clearly visible

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13 (Jacobs, 2014). Hence, a mediatised incident is critical in the sense that it is worth remembering, because it shines light on the misfunctioning of the public sector organisation. Furthermore, the news spreads quickly through social media and traditional media because the context of the incident is often left out (Boin & Zouridis, 2018). The content of the reports in the media, combine a sentiment of indignation and anger with protest (Boin & Zouridis, 2018). Moreover, a small incident on the microlevel could be connected with perceptions and trends of a much higher level: the macrolevel. The result is that macrolevel perceptions and trends are being portrayed on the incidents. In addition, Boin and Zouridis (2018) name three characteristics of a mediatised incident: first of all it is traceable in the sense that it fits in a certain pattern or frame, secondly it is evocative and thirdly it has a moral charge. Hence, to consider whether or not an incident could be described as mediatised, the following characteristics should be observed:

1. The incident should touch upon the functioning of the public sector organisation. 2. The incident is covered extensively in the media.

3. The sentiment in the media is negative.

4. The incident should be connected to perceptions or trends on a higher level.

It is easily noticeable when an incident is no longer mediatised: the media coverage simply stops or slims enormously (Jacobs, 2014; Boin & Zouridis, 2018).

Area of Effect

The way in which an organisation that is under scrutiny reacts to the mediatised incident naturally varies. However, according to the literature some varieties can always be expected. Naturally, the public sector agency has to obtain a certain degree of legitimacy; they of course rely on their stakeholders and their principles in order to function legitimately. When its legitimacy is put into question the agency will probably change in order to survive.

However, there are authors that claim that organisations and their employees do not change or respond to media coverage. Rather, their way of dealing with media coverage is by making no decisions and denying any coverage at all (Bachrach & Baratz, 1963). This thesis however focusses on whether the media has an effect and if so, where it could be seen. I, therefore, side with the majority of the literature that assumes that there is an effect. Jacobs & Schillemans (2016) state the following about the organisational reaction: ‘Authorities who know that they are in the spotlights of the media can be expected to adapt their behaviour’ (p.34). Strömberg (2001) states: ‘Because of its unique role in

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14 transmitting information to mass audiences, mass media is likely to affect policies’ (p.662). Policies are allowed to be interpreted in a broader sense, thereby making room for the policy of public sector organisations. Hence, depending on what policy area is covered by the media, the agency can decide to change its policy in that particular area, or it will formulate a new policy to maximise its environmental opportunities and minimise its potential threats raised by the news coverage (Jacobs, 2014). This is supported by the case study of Korthagen (2011) on a mediatised incident in the Netherlands, which finds that a policy change occurred due to a mediatised incident. In addition to this, Jacobs and Schillemans (2016) state that just by mentioning public organisations, be it critical or non-critical, the media can potentially spark off accountability, which suggests that public organisations are sensitive to any kind of media coverage. More specifically, negative media attention makes public sector organisations rise on the political agenda. What had gone unnoticed one day is seen as controversial and questionable the next. Politicians then demand that ‘something’ must be done about the matter (Boin & Zouridis, 2018). The activation of certain accountability lines is also found by Korthagen (2011) in her case study.

According to the abovementioned authors, it can be expected that the effect of mediatised incidents is seen in the accountability lines (Korthagen, 2011; Jacobs & Schillemans, 2016, Jacobs, 2014; Boin& Zouridis, 2018) and in policy change (Strömberg, 2001; Korthagen, 2011; Jacobs 2014; Boin & Zouridis, 2018). These changes are examined more closely in the following paragraphs.

Accountability

In the introduction of this chapter, the role of the media was explained. Nowadays, the media are also a platform for citizens to hold their public officials accountable. As has been described, there are many ways to inform and consult citizens or to provide them with platforms on which they can deliver their own input and control the public officials. Platform examples are: open data, monitoring of social media, internet consultations, e-petitions, twitter analysis and text-votes (Edwards & de Kool, 2015). Ebrahim (2003) states that concerns about accountability in non-governmental organisation have increased, due to a series of highly publicized scandals that have eroded public confidence in non-profit organisations.

Ebrahim (2003) suggests that accountability is both about being ‘held responsible’ by others and about ‘taking responsibility’ for oneself motivated by ‘felt responsibility’ as expressed through individual actions and organisational missions. This results in definition of accountability as ‘understood to refer to a communicative interaction between an actor (person or organisation) and an accountability forum, in which the former’s behaviour (in the broadest sense of the word) is evaluated and judged by

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15 the latter, in light of possible consequences’ (Jacobs & Schillemans, 2016, p.24). Bovens (2007) also defines accountability in a similar manner, namely as ‘a relationship between an actor and a forum, in which the actor has an obligation to explain and to justify his or her conduct, the forum can pose questions and pass judgement, and the actor may face consequences’ (p. 450). The two definitions are similar and approximately 40% of recent papers on accountability use a definition similar to this (Bovens, Schillemans & Goodin, 2014). What stands out is the part of the definition about ‘possible consequences’, which implies that they are not always opposed by the forum. It could also imply that sanctions cannot always be given by the forum. This implication is clarified by Bovens’ (2007) and Bovens et al. (2014) distinctions between vertical (or formal/traditional) accountability and horizontal accountability.

Vertical accountability is a process in which a superior forum demands accountability from the subordinate, which implies a hierarchical relationship (Bovens, 2007; Bovens et al, 2014). In the formal or vertical accountability processes, clear rules and norms are defined to which the public agency must comply. The formal bodies hold the public organisations accountable. The majority of accountability relationships is based on the vertical accountability arrangements. Horizontal accountability refers to a relationship without hierarchy, such as accountability towards the public. ‘The obligation felt by agencies to account for themselves to the general public is usually moral in nature (although in some cases there may be formal requirements as well in their charters)’ (Bovens, 2007, p. 460). Horizontal accountability is also referred to as social accountability (Hoek, Montfort & Vermeer, 2005; Bovens et al, 2014). The different types of accountability imply that public sector agencies are faced with numerous forums, both formal and informal. ‘The distinction also implies that different forums may influence each other and that distinctive accountability processes are linked sequentially’ (Jacobs & Schillemans, 2016, p.25). For example, the media can publish a critical article about a public sector organisation, which could spark a reaction in the parliament. Such a reaction will result in critical questions for the responsible minister, who will hold the public sector organisation accountable. Bovens (2007) also names diagonal accountability as a third form, in which a research institute for example examines the public sector organisation. Those organisations stand in no direct hierarchical relationship to public organisations and have few powers to enforce their compliance. ‘However, the majority of these administrative forums ultimately report to the minister or to parliament and thus derive the requisite informal power from this. This indirect, two-step relation with a forum could be described as a diagonal accountability-accountability in the shadow of hierarchy’ (p. 460). Since this could be seen as a form of vertical accountability, it is not further examined in this research, but it is referred to as vertical accountability.

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16 Jacobs (2014) claims that due to mediatised incidents, accountability structures can be activated or changed. This can be seen in both internal and external accountability structures. The distinction made by Jacobs (2014) between internal and external accountability is used in this study combined with the distinction made by Bovens (2007) about vertical and horizontal accountability. This gives a clearer distinction of the accountability structures within the police force and gives an overview of where to look when investigating accountability relationships. As Mulgan (2000) states, a consensus has been reached on how to look at external accountability. ‘It is associated with the process of being called to account to some authority for one’s actions’ (p. 555). It is external in the way that the account is given to some other body or person outside of the organisation that is being held to account (Mulgan, 2000, p. 555). Internal accountability is about accountability within an organisation. Here, the accountability is not rendered to a forum outside of the organisation.

Vertical External Accountability

The forum calls the accountee to account when searching for answers and rectification, while the accountee responds and accepts sanctions (Mulgan, 2000). This clearly is a form of formal accountability, as has been stated by Bovens (2007). ‘The process is institutionalised and is designed as a means to reach stipulated goals. Formal accountability is predictable and is guided by an institutional logic’ (Jacobs & Schillemans, 2016, p. 26). The first vertical accountability is external, which means that some other body outside of the organisation is being held accountable.

Jacobs (2014) and Boin and Zouridis (2018) show that formal accountability relationships are activated after a mediatised incident. The activation of vertical external accountability for public sector organisations can be assessed by looking at questions in parliament or ministerial acknowledgements. When looking at public sector organisations it is valuable to know by whom the organisation could be held accountable. Public sector organisations often fall under the responsibility of a ministry.

The Minister annually draws up a national management plan and a national annual report for the police. The minister will primarily be interested in financial aspects (Hoek et al, 2005). In total, there are 3200 non-departmental public bodies in the Netherlands with a statutory task. One of them is the police force, others include universities, schools and health insurance companies. In 2004, 109 billion euros were involved in this sector (Hoek et al, 2005). ‘Funding sources are the state budget (32%), tariffs (8%) and contributions (60%). Comparing these figures with the total state budget, which was 134 billion euros in 2004, leaves no other conclusion than that the field of NDPBs with statutory tasks is very important in terms of public spending’ (Hoek et al, 2005, p. 71). The minister in place has to render account for parliament about the public spending.

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17 According to the literature, research regarding whether external formal accountability has taken place can be conducted by considering the following:

1. As Jacobs (2014) states, it is to be expected that there is more interaction between the ministry and the public sector organisation than before the incident. However, the interaction often passes after the incident is no longer in the media.

2. If a supervisor or any other person that is directly responsible for the public sector organisation asks about the incident, such an act is also seen as formal external accountability. The same applies for other ways of asking the police chief about the incident.

3. Parliamentary or municipal council questions could also lead to formal external accountability via the minister or mayor.

Horizontal External Accountability

Horizontal accountability refers to a relationship without hierarchy, from the perspective of public sector agencies. ‘Accountability now commonly refers to the sense of individual responsibility and concern for the public interest expected from public servants (“professional” and “personal” accountability), an “internal” sense which goes beyond the core external focus of the term’ (Mulgan, 2000, p.556). Walker’s (2007) view of individual accountability accompanies Mulgan’s (2000) perspective: individual-level accountability involves the conduct of police officers with respect to lawful, ‘respectful and equal treatment of citizens’ (p.2). As Schillemans (2008) states, horizontal accountability arrangements address peers, equals, boards stakeholders, commissioners, journalists, interest groups, clients and independent evaluators or other concerns outside of the hierarchal relationship between central government and the executive agency. For a relationship to be categorised as horizontal, the accountee needs to be independent from the forum (Schillemans, 2008). Schillemans (2008) also refers to a subjective element in accountability ‘feeling’. In this sense the accountee feels obliged to render account of its conduct, which could differ per organisation. It should be noted that horizontal accountability does not replace vertical accountability. ‘At the end of the day there should be a democratic check on public spending and the execution of public tasks. Also, more stakeholder or internal accountability does not mean that there has to be less accountability to the responsible minister’ (Hoek et al, p. 76).

Hence, the media can be classified in the horizontal accountability category. Whereas formal accountability is orientated towards common goals and has clear rules and norms, informal accountability towards the media is not orientated towards common accountability goals. ‘Journalists

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18 are driven by a media logic that teaches them to search for ‘news’ that is interesting to their perceived public’ (Jacobs & Schillemans, 2016, p. 26). As has been noted above, the Dutch context in which the media operates can be seen as a mediocracy. It is the media’s job to control politicians and officeholders, and the politicians need the approval of their voters. Consequently, they are mutually dependent. As has been stated before, the media can serve as a platform that citizens can use to hold their public officials accountable, but the media can also be used to inform citizens or consult them. This can be done by releasing statements. This view shows when it comes to the police and taking into account horizontal external accountability, that horizontal external accountability will be directed to society as a whole, which includes pressure groups and the media (Hoek et al., 2005). Society will be interested in the degree to which the police act in a ‘socially responsible way in respect to ethical, economic and environmental issues, including social and integrity policies’ (Hoek et al., 2005, p. 73). Disclosure statements and reports provide the stakeholders, public or oversight bodies with information about the public sector organisation: ‘Disclosure statements and reports are among the most widely used tools of accountability. Such legal disclosures enable some degree of accountability to donors, clients and members who wish to access these reports. Such reports and legal disclosures are significant tools of accountability’ (Ebrahim, 2003, p. 817). They are also easily accessible (Ebrahim, 2003). When looking whether this form of accountability has been triggered after a mediatised incident, it would be valuable to search for released statements and reports concerning the incident. Boin and Zouridis (2018) state that the public sector organisation could also ask for independent research into their own organisation. In addition to this, Ebrahim (2003) sees external horizontal accountability as participation. She makes a distinction between four kinds of participation and they all refer to a way in which the public is involved by meetings, hearings, surveys, or a formal dialogue on options, such as improvements, changes or project choice. In this form, participation involves consultation with community leaders and members, but the decision-making power remains with the police force.

Therefore, when considering horizontal external accountability in the police force, the following points should be included:

1. Released statements, reports or interviews aimed at the media or other stakeholders. 2. Looking whether independent research had been done about the incident.

3. Researching whether the public sector organisation has interacted/consulted with certain interest groups concerning the incident.

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Vertical Internal Accountability

While vertical external accountability concerns accountability to a forum outside of the organisation with legal foundations, vertical internal accountability concerns hierarchy inside the organisation. ‘Even where the source of accountability expectations is internal, they are internal to the organisation not to the individual. From the point of view of the particular officials, all accountability involves control from someone else and in that sense is external’ (Mulgan, 2000, p. 559). The account could be given to one’s superiors, which would make it hierarchical, thus vertical in nature. Hoek et al. (2005) specifically talk about supervisory boards. ‘The supervisory board will be interested in information about the functioning of the internal control system and in information about the performance’ (Hoek et al, 2005, p. 73). Internal evaluations are also common, in which the board or staff measures its own progress either towards objectives, internal goals and missions or, in the light of this thesis, incidents (Hoek et al, 2005). Specific for the police force, Walker (2007) states the following: ‘Procedures that are internal to law enforcement agencies include controlling officer conduct through written policies, routine supervision, regular performance evaluations, and the investigation of allegations of misconduct, and early intervention systems’ (p.2). Moreover, communicating and informing the staff internally is also a form of internal accountability (Boin & Zouridis, 2018). Boin and Zouridis (2018) also mention that vertical internal accountability could be triggered by complaints from the employees towards the behaviour of the employer or board. This would be reversed vertical accountability. Considering the topic of this thesis, determining whether vertical internal accountability lines had been activated could be achieved by considering the following:

1. Were the involved employees called to account by one of their superiors?

2. Internal memos, reports or statements released by the board to evaluate or explain the incident to the staff.

Horizontal Internal Accountability

When Fullan, Rincón-Gallardo and Hargreaves (2015) look at educational bodies, they see internal accountability as professional accountability. Professional accountability is defined as follows: ‘when individuals and groups willingly take on personal, professional and collective responsibility for continuous improvement and success’ (Fullan et al., 2015, p.4). This could also be applicable to the police force; as has been mentioned above, both educational bodies and the police force have the same status as non-departmental bodies. They are also both professional organisations that are constantly improving. As Fullan et al. (2015) state, horizontal internal accountability could be on the individual level or on group level. It concerns expertise and professional judgements to make

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20 increasingly more effective decisions over time. ‘When actions are based on developmental and growth-oriented principles for building collective responsibility, such as investing in professional trust, joint work, and peer-based feedback, the improvement work accelerates, because it is the group that is driving it’ (Fullan et al, 2015, p. 6). An organisation should always try to improve its social capital. The strategy to do so consists of building individual and collective efficiency in order to create links of lateral accountability that push and pull employees to become better at their work (Fullan et al, 2015, p.8).

Therefore, when examining horizontal internal accountability, one could consider the following: 1. Have team members held one another to account?

Policy Change

The University of Arkansas (n.d.) defines policies as follows: “Policies are the written or unwritten guidelines that governments, organisations and institutions, communities, or individuals use when responding to issues and situations”. Bennet & Howlet (1992) state that policies change in different ways, some policies are small refinements of a policy, others are new and innovative. According to Birkland (2004), following the theory of Kingdon, for a policy change to occur, a window of opportunity is needed that puts an issue on the agenda. The political agenda is finite and the competition of placing issues on the agenda for the government to act upon is called agenda setting (Cobb & Ross, 1997). ‘Sudden, rare, and harmful events, known as focusing events, can be important influences of the policy process’’ and agenda setting (Birkland & Schwaeble, 2019). ‘Such events can reveal current and potential future harms, mobilize people and groups to address the policy failures that may be revealed by such events, and open the “window of opportunity” for intensive policy discussion and potential policy change’ (Birkland & Schwaeble, 2019).

To put matters into perspective, the above-mentioned theory on policy change is based on governmental policies. However, it would be worthwhile to examine whether this theory could be applicable to public sector organisations or even the private sector. After all, policies are made on the organisational level. The focusing events in this theory resemble the mediatised incidents that are examined in this thesis. Focusing events are defined as follows: ‘A focusing event is an event that is sudden; relatively uncommon; can be reasonably defined as harmful or revealing the possibility of potentially greater future harms; has harms that are concentrated in a particular geographical area or community of interest; and that is known to policy makers and the public simultaneously’ (Birkland 1997; Kingdon 1995, 94–100). In addition, Birkland and Warnement (2013) state that focusing events

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21 gain attention more suddenly and rapidly than other problems, mostly due to the media. The resemblance between a focusing event and a mediatised is hereby shown.

The theory of how a policy change could occur has been described. However, where to look for a policy change in a public sector organisation, specifically in the police force, is yet to be discussed. Jacobs (2014) finds that, depending on what policy area the media coverage covers, the agency can decide to change its policy in that particular area, or it will formulate a new policy to maximise its environmental opportunities and minimise its potential threats raised by the coverage (Jacobs, 2014). The respondents in the cases that Jacobs (2014) examined also revealed that the media had a significant influence on the policy change, in some cases even a crucial role. Policy change occurs in different ways. There could be a top-down change in how the policy is implemented (Jacobs, 2014) or employees could give their views on how a policy should be changed. Also, more people could be hired so that the responsibilities rest on more shoulders and more secure work could be done. However, the change in the specific policy area that the incident is a part of depends highly on the incident at hand, the attention in the media and the kind of organisation. Moreover, not only could the specific policy area of that particular incident change, but the overall communication policy could also be subdued to certain changes. Some communication strategies could be terminated. Some public sector organisations could diffuse their means of communication, for example, adding social media to the communication policy. Others could decide on a more pro-active stance: transmitting instead of reacting (Jacobs, 2014).

To be specific, policies made by government bureaucracies, public services and other non-profit organisations such as the police, cover areas such as (University of Arkansas, n.d.):

• How citizens are treated by agencies and departments, including disparities in the ways members of different racial and ethnic groups are treated.

• The character and quality of schools and services in different neighbourhoods.

• Hiring, employee-staff relations, relations with the community—non-profits also usually have policy that governs other important areas.

• The organisation's view of participants. Does it see participants (e.g., patients at a clinic, job trainees, at-risk youth) as ‘clients’ that the organisation is doing something to or for, or as partners in a change effort? Are staff members expected to treat participants respectfully, as equals, or to condescend or be authoritative?

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22 • Specific practices, methods or programs. Many human service, health and educational organisations are governed by policies that suggest or mandate certain ways of carrying out their work, or particular methods for particular circumstances.

• Collaboration. Some non-profits make it a priority to collaborate as much as possible, from joining coalitions to engaging in joint projects with other organisations. Others rarely, if ever, work with other organisations.

• Professional ethics. Many non-profits expect staff members to adhere to a particular code of professional ethics—either an internal one, or one set out by a professional association—that governs areas such as confidentiality, inappropriate relationships, abuse of position and reporting (or non-reporting) of specific kinds of illegal behaviour. They may also have formal or informal ethical standards for their relationships with other organisations and with the community.

Jacobs (2014) studies several cases, and she finds that her subjects have quite similar responses to incidents: shortly after the incident the involved employees come together to find direct solutions or ways to spin the incident in a more favourable direction. The change in policy is seen later when the team or organisation that is responsible for the implementation of the specific policy area within the incident is subjected to more and stricter controls. Organisations can also decide to set up a team that is responsible for structural improvements in the policy area. To sum it all up, the following could be assessed to determine whether a policy change has occurred:

1. Is there a different policy in how to treat citizens/ suspects? 2. Is there a policy change in the policy area of the incident? 3. Has the communication policy changed?

4. Has there been a change in the collaboration policies? 5. Has the ethics code changed?

Partial Conclusion

To conclude, the form and timeline of the public debate is largely shaped by the media. The media reports and frames mediatised incidents. Mediatised incidents question the legitimacy of the public sector organisation involved in the incident. The following figure (Jacobs, 2014) gives an overview of the effect of the mediatised incident.

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23 Figure 1: Jacobs (2014, p.93). Where are the effects to be expected? Policy and accountability. [Translated by the writer of this thesis].

The adaptation process depicted in Figure 1 can be explained as follows: a public sector organisation wants to maintain its legitimacy. Any form of damage has to be prevented or minimalised. Therefore, the agency will change the policy in the relevant area that touches upon the incident. It will also probably review its communication policy. This happens under the influence of the vertical and horizontal, internal and external accountability processes, that give feedback on the incident. The literature review leads to several sub questions by examining the effect of mediatised incidents at the police force.

The literature review leads to several expectations for where the effect of the mediatised incident is to be seen: the accountability and policy change. This raises the following sub research questions: Concerning the activation of the accountability lines the following research questions are asked: • What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the vertical external accountability lines of the

police force?

 What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the horizontal external accountability lines of the police force?

• What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the vertical internal accountability lines of the police force?

 What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the horizontal internal accountability lines of the police force?

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24 Concerning the policy change the following sub research question is asked:

• What is the effect of the mediatised incident on the policy of the police force?

The literature review has already proposed the indicators for answering the sub questions. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 are empirical chapters in which the mediatised incidents are analysed in light of the literature review.

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Chapter 3: Methodology

In this chapter the methodology of this thesis will be described. The goal of this chapter is to explain to the reader how this study was conducted. First the research design will be described, which gives an overview of the outline of this study. Thereafter, the selected cases and the respondents will be described. Then, the operationalisation of the key concepts will be given. After this, the data collection and analysis will be discussed. Finally, the quality of this research will be discussed.

Research Approach and Design

The research question was defined as follows: What is the effect of mediatised incidents on the police force? This is an explanatory question. Explanatory research points to the causes of events and aims to reveal the causal mechanism that produces them (Toshkov, 2016). More specifically, this thesis focusses on the effect of mediatised incidents (X) on the police force (Y). This proposal is about a single case study: the Dutch national police force (Toshkov, 2016). This creates the opportunity to study the in-depth behaviour of the police. The effect of the mediatised incidents is assessed by using two examples of mediatised incidents. Thus, this thesis tries to explain the changes that have already occurred due to mediatised incidents, which makes this thesis a retrospective research (Toshkov, 2016).

In this study, the Dutch national police force is selected as a public sector organisation. The two mediatised incidents are the cases. As this research makes use of multiple data sources, the unit of observation is both the individual, in the interviews, as the organisation, by analysing annual reports (Toshkov, 2016). The rationale for choosing these particular cases is, that they are ‘unique cases’ considering the public sector organisation: the Dutch national police force (Bryman, 2012). The police force is, apart from the Defence Department, the only public sector organisation in the Netherlands that can use force, which makes it an interesting organisation to study. The in-depth knowledge is obtained by doing document analysis and studying literature. Also, intensive interviews with high-ranked policemen were held to really understand whether a change in the organisation was due to the mediatised incident. Thereafter, the results of the two cases are compared, making this a comparative case study. The cases are not randomly selected. The police force was chosen as the topic of this research first, after which the two cases were selected.

During the interviews I tried to understand what kind of changes occurred after the mediatised incident in order to see what the effect was. I also asked questions with regards to the literature and the document analysis to get a clearer picture. The interviews were transcribed and analysed by me,

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26 which makes this thesis a qualitative interpretative research. The interpretative approach focusses on the understanding of certain phenomena. The goal of interpretive research is to understand human behaviour (Bryman, 2012).

The expectations and the hypothesis of this thesis were derived from the literature review. As has been mentioned in the literature review, the effect of the mediatised incident on the police force could be expected in both the accountability and policy change. According to Toshkov (2019) this is classified as a deductive research, because it is theory testing.

The Dutch National Police Force

On January 1, 2013 the new Police Act 2012 was enforced. The Act arranged that the 26 police departments merged to one national police force (Politie, 2014). For the first time in Dutch history, the policemen were part of one organisation under the supervision of one commissioner. The police force now consists of ten regional units, the national unit and the police detention centre. The centralised supervision is in the hands of the commissioner, currently Erik Akerboom. The Dutch Police Act states that responsibility for police management lies with the Minister of Security and Justice (Politiewet, 2012). The Minister of Security and Justice annually draws up a national management plan and a national annual report for the police. The Dutch Police Act also states that the police force is under dual authority by the mayor of the municipality in which it operates and by the public prosecutor. For the maintenance of public order and for assistance, the authority lies with the mayor, and for criminal enforcement, the authority lies with the public prosecutor. The mayor, public prosecutor and chief of police meet in the so-called Triangular Consultation, which is institutionalised. The mayor is held accountable by the municipal council for the authority he exercises. Verbally or in writing, he gives the council all of the information that the council needs for the performance of its duties (Politiewet, 2012).

The reorganisation of the national police force was the biggest reorganisation of Dutch public governance. The reorganisation was meant to improve the satisfaction rates of civilians. As could be seen on the website of the police: ‘In our society there are all kinds of rapid social and technological developments that influence the work of the police. Consider, for example, the arrival of social media. Citizens place higher demands on police work and its accessibility, while criminals are increasingly less restricted by boarders. The police must respond as effectively as possible to all these changes. By bringing all people and resources together in one organisation, the police can literally contribute with their strength to a safer Netherlands’ (Politie, n.d.).

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27 On the website of the Dutch police the following slogan could be found: ‘The police are always there. For a safer Netherlands. The police protect the democracy, enforce the law and are the authority on the streets (Politie, n.d.).’ The website also depicts the monopoly on the use of force from the state through the police: ‘Where others step back, policemen step ahead. If necessary, with force, if necessary, with a risk to one's own life’ (Politie, n.d.). Naturally the police are visible in the whole country. The force works together with civilians, public organisations and other partners. They are at the centre of society. The mayor of a municipality is responsible for maintaining the public order. Therefore, the mayor has the authority over the police (NGB, n.d.).

However, as has been said before, the police risk their own life in order to protect others. This makes their work stressful and complex and it requires tough decisions from policemen in tough situations. The way the police handle these situations is crucial for its functioning and legitimacy.

Respondent Selection

The respondent that was interviewed for the incident concerning ‘Mitch Henriquez’ is the police chief of the The Hague unit, Paul van Musscher. He was the spokesman of the police for this incident (AD, 2015; OmroepWest, 2016; Politie, 2017).

I first approached him via a contact form, after which I called the police and e-mailed the respondent via an indirect contact. Finally, I approached a mutual contact who had his direct contact information. I was then able to contact the respondent directly after which an appointment for an interview was made. The interview took place on June 14, 2019.

I interviewed district chief of IJsselland, Arjan Mengerink. He was the responsible district chief during the incident. He was also the first police spokesman to reply to this incident (Volkskrant, 2016). I approached him via a contact form, a contact person and eventually via LinkedIn. Through LinkedIn an appointment was made.

Key Concepts and their Operationalisation

Table 1: Key concepts from the literature review and their operationalization.

Concept Definition Operationalisation

Mediatised incident

A mediatised incident is covered extensively in the news and spread on

 Incident covered in multiple media

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28 different news media, it is also clearly

visible (Jacobs, 2014). Hence, a

mediatised incident is critical in the sense that it is worth remembering, because it shines light on the misfunctioning of the public sector organisation (Bitner, Booms, & Tetreault, 1990).

 The coverage has a critical/ negative sentiment

 Touches upon the functioning of the police force

Vertical external accountability

The process is institutionalised and is designed as a mean to reach stipulated goals. Formal accountability is predictable and is guided by an institutional logic’ (Jacobs & Schillemans, 2016, p. 26). The first vertical accountability is external, which means that the account is given to some other body outside of the

organisation.

 Interaction between the Ministry and the public sector organisation about mediatised incident.  The public prosecutor or

the mayor ask about the incident in the Triangular Consultation The same applies for other ways of asking the responsible police officers about the incident.

 Parliamentary or municipal council questions could also lead to formal external accountability, via the Minister or mayor. Horizontal external

accountability

Horizontal accountability refers to a relationship without hierarchy, from the view of public sector agencies.

‘Accountability now commonly refers to the sense of individual responsibility and concern for the public interest expected from public servants (‘professional’ and ‘personal’ accountability), an ‘internal’ sense which goes beyond the core

 Released police statements, reports or interviews aimed at the media or other stakeholders.

 Looking whether

independent research had been done about the incident.

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29 external focus of the term’ (Mulgan,

2000, p.556).

 Interaction/ consultation with certain interest groups concerning the incident.

Vertical internal accountability

Vertical internal accountability concerns hierarchy inside the organisation. ‘Even where the source of accountability expectations are internal, they are internal to the organisation not to the individual. From the point of view of the particular officials, all accountability involves control from someone else and in that sense is external’ (Mulgan, 2000, p. 559).

 Policemen held to account by one of their superiors.  Internal memos, reports or

statements released by the board to evaluate or explain the incident to the staff.

Horizontal internal accountability

This is ‘when individuals and groups willingly take on personal, professional and collective responsibility for

continuous improvement and success’ (Fullan et al., 2015, p.4).

 Team members calling one another to account.

Policy change ‘Policies are the written or unwritten guidelines that governments,

organisations and institutions,

communities, or individuals use when responding to issues and situations’ (University of Arkansas, n.d.). ‘Policies change in a variety of different ways. As has long been recognised, some policies are new and innovative, while others are merely incremental refinements of earlier policies’ (Bennett, Howlet, 1992, p.1).

 New/ different policy in how to treat citizens/ suspects?

 Policy change in the policy area of the incident?  Change in communication

policy.

 Change in the collaboration policies.

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Data Collection and Analysis

I used the database LexisNexis Advanced to search for keywords scanning for ‘Henriquez’ and ‘Typhoon’ to identify relevant news articles. I chose to include the four biggest newspapers in the Netherlands: De Telegraaf, Het Algemeen Dagblad, De Volkskrant and NRC Handelsblad (Jacobs, 2014; NOS, 2017). There are eight national newspapers in the Netherlands, the four that were chosen for this thesis a reach of almost 90% of the total amount of subscriptions, as shown in figure 2.

Aside from their big market share, another reason for me to include them, is because one third of the parliamentary questions is based on news coverage in one of the five biggest newspapers (Vliegenthart, 2012). The coverage in those newspapers plays a big role in political accountability relationships. Consequently, when investigating whether a mediatised incident has effected a behavioural change in the external accountability relationship in parliament a mediatised incident in one of the four chosen newspapers will probably have triggered it. This does however, only concern the traditional newspapers. Not including television news or news on social media will most likely not cause the missing of crucial mediatised incidents, because the platforms are overlapping (Jacobs, 2014). Also, a mediatised incident is about a critical finding, therefore the incident will probably be covered in several news media platforms

I have chosen two time frames, one for each incident, when searching in LexisNexis Advanced. It is necessary to have a time frame, since the coding is done by hand and is fairly time consuming. Also, a mediatised incident is an incident, therefore it will probably not stay in the news for a very long time, because it is no longer ‘new’. For the mediatised incident of ‘Henriquez’ the time frame started on Figure 2: The amount of subscriptions on printed newspapers in the Netherlands in 2000-2017 in percentages (Bakker, 2018).

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31 June 27, 2015, which was the day of the incident, until September 18, 2016, which is the day after the results from the investigation were publicised. It is plausible that any policy changes happened afterwards. The incident was also mentioned later on because on the public prosecutor decided on September 19 that the five men involved would be prosecuted. Of course, this decision was news, but it was less relevant for the original incident. The time frame for mediatised incident ‘Typhoon’ started on May 30, 2016, the day of the incident, and ended on August 2, 2016, the day in which another incident regarding the rapper came to the attention of the media.

In the study of Schillemans & Van Thiel (2009) which focuses on news media coverage they make a distinction between positive and negative coverage. The articles in this study have been categorized accordingly.

Document Analysis

The data for the literature review was found in the Leiden University library, Google Scholar and was given by the teacher that guided me in my thesis writing. I looked for words as ‘mediatised incident’, ‘ ‘vertical/ horizontal, internal/ external accountability’ and policy. Several documents were analysed to assess where a policy change had occurred: academic literature, articles for newspaper and magazines, press releases, books and quarterly and yearly reports. This broad range of sources of information allows for a thorough and complete analysis of both selected cases and the accountability types at play. The document analysis for the literature review and the empirical chapters were quite similar. I have read the relevant literature and documents thoroughly and marked the most important passages. After the most important passages were highlighted and read again, I copied the most relevant passages to a word document. Those passages have been analysed and processed to fit into the research. There are two different chapters with references, one of them contains the reference list for the content analysis: the articles from Lexis Nexis Advanced. The other one contains all other literature that was used for this thesis. Not all articles contain a weblink to the source, because Lexis Nexis Advanced also provides insight in hard copy newspapers. When searching for the titles in the search database, the articles will appear.

Interviews

Finally, data was collected through two interviews. One with the chief of police and one with the district chief. The goal of the interviews was to confirm the findings in the document analysis and to ask whether other aspects of the mediatised incident were visible. For the interview, a topic list was