De Volkskrant framing conflict

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De Volkskrant framing conflict

Comparing news on Dutch military interventions in former

Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan

Main supervisor: Heinrich, dr. A. (Ansgard)

Second supervisor: Wijfjes, prof.dr. H.B.M. (Huub)

Kirsten Ripken (S2047764)

University of Groningen

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Abstract

This thesis centres on the question how Dutch quality newspaper De Volkskrant framed the news on three major conflicts. It compares the news texts written about these three conflicts over time. A relevant research subject, since the public relies on news media to provide them with facts and not values. The ideal of objectivity in journalism practice is expressed by universally accepted moral codes and standards in reporting, such as factuality, independence and non-interpretation. However, despite the objectivity ideal most European and US media cling to, journalists always emphasize certain aspects of a news text, in a process called framing. The influence of framing on news texts is especially important in war and conflict reporting, since then news is often the only source of information from remote conflict areas. The Dutch military has been involved in several conflicts over the years, of which the three major ones are in former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The reporting on these conflicts by De Volkskrant, a Dutch quality newspaper, has been compared by means of a qualitative content analysis utilizing a set of frames devised by Dimitrova and Strömbäck (2005) to analyse the framing of news. The focus on the Dutch military and comparing their

interventions in three conflicts over time, makes this a unique research topic. It appears that three frames are most recurring in conflict reporting, focussing mostly on the causes of a conflict, the fighting, military equipment, military operations and the victims of war. Furthermore, despite journalists in general clinging to the objectivity ideal, De Volkskrant published articles that were not always neutral in tone, but contained value statements, both negative and positive. Lastly, De Volkskrant appeared to rely heavily on government officials as a source of information during the three conflicts.

Keywords: objectivity, framing, former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, De Volkskrant, content analysis, conflict reporting, war reporting, Dutch military, sources, tone

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List of figures

FIGURE 6.2.1 USE OF THE ANTI-‐WAR PROTEST FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA………46

FIGURE 6.2.2 USE OF THE ANTI-‐WAR PROTEST FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN IRAQ………47

FIGURE 6.2.3 USE OF THE ANTI-‐WAR PROTEST FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN……….47

FIGURE 6.3.1 FRAMES USED IN REPORTING ON FORMER YUGOSLAVIA ... 50

FIGURE 6.3.2 FRAMES USED IN REPORTING ON IRAQ ... 51

FIGURE 6.3.3 FRAMES USED IN REPORTING ON AFGHANISTAN ... 51

FIGURE 6.3.4 USE OF THE MILITARY CONFLICT FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA………52

FIGURE 6.3.5 USE OF THE MILITARY CONFLICT FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN IRAQ ………53

FIGURE 6.3.6 USE OF THE MILITARY CONFLICT FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN………..54

FIGURE 6.3.7 USE OF THE DIAGNOSTIC FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA………...55

FIGURE 6.3.8 USE OF THE DIAGNOSTIC FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN IRAQ………56

FIGURE 6.3.9 USE OF THE DIAGNOSTIC FAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN………57

FIGURE 6.3.10 USE OF THE VIOLENCE OF WAR FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA……….58

FIGURE 6.3.11 USE OF THE VIOLENCE OF WAR FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN IRAQ……….59

FIGURE 6.3.12 USE OF THE VIOLENCE OF WAR FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN………..59

FIGURE 6.3.13 USE OF THE PROGNOSTIC FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA………...61

FIGURE 6.3.14 USE OF THE PROGNOSTIC FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN IRAQ………...61

FIGURE 6.3.15 USE OF THE PROGNOSTIC FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN……….62

FIGURE 6.3.16 USE OF THE HUMAN INTEREST FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA……….63

FIGURE 6.3.17 USE OF THE HUMAN INTEREST FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN IRAQ……….64

FIGURE 6.3.18 USE OF THE HUMAN INTEREST FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN………...65

FIGURE 6.3.19 USE OF THE RESPONSIBILITY FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA…………66

FIGURE 6.3.20 USE OF THE RESPONSIBILITY FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN IRAQ……….67

FIGURE 6.3.21 USE OF THE RESPONSIBILITY FRAME PER QUARTER DURING THE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN………..67

List of tables

TABLE 5.1. SEARCH QUERIES IN LEXISNEXIS ... 37

TABLE 6.1.1 AMOUNT OF WORDS USED IN ARTICLES ON ALL THREE CONFLICTS………...42

TABLE 6.1.2 PLACEMENT OF ARTICLES ON ALL THREE CONFLICTS………42

TABLE 6.1.3 ARTICLES BY AUTHOR ON ALL THREE CONFLICTS………43

TABLE 6.2.1 USE OF FRAMES IN THE THREE CONFLICTS………44

TABLE 6.2.2 THE TONE OF ARTICLES IN ALL THREE CONFLICTS ... 46

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Introduction

The Dutch military has been involved in several military missions over the past decades, ranging from anti-piracy actions near the coast of Somalia to the involvement in conflicts such as Sudan and Libya. The three major conflicts in which the Dutch military has been involved have been Former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan. In the latter conflict the Dutch military is still involved when this thesis is written. Conflicts with military involvement are a popular topic for news media; war and conflict usually find their way into the content of newspapers and television news. It has even led to a large number of new publications on the topic. According to Karskens (2001), World War II led to the initiation of several new Dutch newspapers titles such as Trouw and Het Parool while the Gulf war caused Dutch news broadcaster NOS to commence with daily morning news bulletins. It shows the importance of news during periods of war and conflict for the public, who are eager to receive news on the topic. When ones own national military gets involved the topic gets especially present. That is why these three conflicts with Dutch military involvement are the topic of this thesis.

News media are an important source for the public to receive their information from, whether this is news on conflicts or not. People need news media, since they are not able to witness all events happening in the world for themselves. When a conflict takes place on a remote location, people, including politicians, have very few sources except for the news media to stay up to date on the conflict as it happens. The media’s influence is significant, because they can emphasise particular aspects of a conflict, since they are the main provider of information (Ruigrok, 2005). Furthermore, conflict reporting has specific importance, since war and conflict usually involves human sacrifice and human suffering. Schoeman (1999) stated that heroism, sacrifice, brotherhood and a lot of human suffering are some of the emotions that together form the ultimate mass media spectacle. Furthermore, war seems to fit neatly into the criteria for news selection because it is emotional, episodic and powerful images are guaranteed. Also, as Ruigrok (2005) suggests, interest in news on war and conflict comes from the fact that it could lead to danger for one’s self or can cause dramatic changes in one’s daily life.

The two main components of this research on the Dutch military and their

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in their news texts, while framing focuses on how news articles are written from a certain perspective and how this can be seen in news texts. Framing is a process in which media professionals make sense of the huge amount of news available to them by categorizing events and showing the public how to understand them. As scholars such as Entman (1993) have pointed out, journalists convey a dominant frame in their news items, even though they might obey the rules for objective journalism. The point where framing and objectivity are connected is exactly here, because the public relies on news items for information. We rely on news texts for, objective, information about the world, but the information in a news text also influences, or frames, our perception of the world. Framing is a concept that researches exactly this process: how news texts send a certain message. Furthermore, Aday, Livingston & Hebert (2005) argue that war is the most pressing time for the media to be independent and objective.

The public depends on the press to serve as their eyes and ears on the battlefield and in the halls of policymakers to ensure that their fellow citizens are not sent to die in unnecessary wars or forced to fight immoral or poorly waged ones (Aday, Livingston & Hebert, 2005, p. 17).

The aim of this research is to provide further insight in the framing behaviour of the Dutch media by inquiring into its reporting on the Dutch military. This thesis compares news reports from Dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant on major military interventions in former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan by the Dutch military.

While conflict reporting has been the topic of several researches, which will be discussed in this thesis, the research angle of this thesis is less common. Where most researches focus on a specific war or conflict, in this thesis the reporting on three major conflicts with Dutch military involvement are compared to each other. By doing so, a longitudinal study of framing and objectivity in news articles makes it possible to map possible similarities, differences and trends between reporting on different conflicts. In comparison to US and UK media, the Dutch media and conflict reporting has been discussed in several researches (Wieten, 2002; Ruigrok, 2005; Walgrave & Verhulst, 2005; Scholtens, 2007; Mans, Meindersma & Burema, 2008; Hazelbag, 2009; Vliegenthart & Schröder, 2010; Van Duijnen, 2013; and others), but not as extensive. For example, the involvement of the United States in the wars in Vietnam and the Gulf and the British involvement in the

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complement previous research on Dutch media and conflict reporting. The goal of this thesis is to find similarities and/or differences in how Dutch news media have reported on conflict over time. Specifically, this research will focus on one Dutch newspaper in particular, namely De Volkskrant and how this newspaper has reported on the three conflicts. The reason for choosing De Volkskrant is that it is the Dutch national quality newspaper with the highest circulation figures.

The method of choice in this matter is a longitudinal qualitative content analysis, in which articles of Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant will be analysed. A content analysis focuses on the contents of texts, in this case the news texts of articles in De Volkskrant, while a

qualitative research method enables a more in-depth look at the contents of the De Volkskrant. Rather than only counting certain recurring elements in a text, the analysis will also focus on analysing the frames used in the news texts. The method and associated coding scheme will be the same for all three conflicts, making it possible to compare the use of frames and reporting practices in three different conflicts. Furthermore, analysing articles throughout the whole duration of a conflict can map possible trends and changes in the use of frames over time. The design of the longitudinal qualitative content analysis is based upon the two key concepts of this thesis: objectivity and framing. Specifically, a content analysis has been performed to compare the framing and objectivity of Dutch news reports on the Dutch military over time. The main research question is therefore:

How did the Dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant frame the Dutch military involved in major military conflicts from 1995 to 2014?

In order to come to an adequate answer to the research question I will be addressing the following sub questions:

1. How does De Volkskrant frame war over time?

2. Does the way the three wars are framed differ over time?

In the first chapter of this thesis I will explain why the three conflicts in Former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan are the topic of choice. Furthermore, I will elaborate on the

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Chapter 1 – Background on Dutch military intervention

In this thesis there is a focus on three conflicts in particular. From 1995 until present, these are the three major conflicts in which the Dutch military was involved and which have received a considerable amount of media attention. Overall, they received considerably more media attention then other conflicts involving Dutch militaries did. The three major conflicts discussed here were the conflicts in former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan. In the latter, the Dutch military is still present at the moment this thesis is being written. In the following paragraphs a brief history on the Dutch involvement in these conflicts will be given, along with a review of existing research on the conflicts. Background information on the three different conflicts is necessary to understand patterns in the use of frames, because certain news events or specific discussions during a conflict may influence the use of frames. The three conflicts will be discussed in chronological order, starting with the conflict in Former Yugoslavia.

1.1 Former Yugoslavia

The conflict in former Yugoslavia came to the attention of the Dutch public in 1991, as Karskens (2001) stated that on the 25th of June 1991 the RTL Nieuws bulletin of seven thirty pm opened with the news that Croatia and Slovenia had officially announced their separation from the Federation of Yugoslav Republics. Unclear television images of a border crossing illustrated the news, as RTL’s own reporters were not at the scene. It was the beginning of the longest and bloodiest war on the European continent since the Second World War and

according to Karskens (2001, p. 255) no one saw this first day of war coming.

During this period the Netherlands was the chairperson of the European Commission and therefore had an active role in the diplomatic developments surrounding the conflict (Ruigrok, 2005). In April of 1992 the first regiment of Dutch militaries departed as part of the UN peace operation called UNPROFOR, short for United Nations Protection Force.

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Dutchbat, was send to protect the Muslim enclave Srebrenica. When the Bosnian Serb army surrounded the enclave, the very little, and only lightly armed Dutch troops, were forced to surrender. After the fall of Srebrenica, considerable debate on the role of the Dutch

government and Dutchbat rose. After all of the criticism, the Dutch government ordered an investigation into the events that happened in Srebrenica as well as the responsibilities of involved parties. The report about Srebrenica was published in 2002 by the Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (NIOD) [Netherlands Institute for War Documentation] and two weeks after this the Dutch government accepted its responsibilities and resigned (Ruigrok, 2005).

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1.2 Iraq

The possible upcoming war in Iraq and the involvement of the Dutch military in this war were not a hot topic for Dutch media. According to the Commissie van besluitvorming Irak

[Committee to research the decision-making concerning Iraq] (2010) there was little attention for discussions in the Dutch news media about peace and security issues in the world at the start of the conflict. This was due to a troubled social and political climate in the Netherlands, culminating in the murder of Dutch political leader Pim Fortuyn.

Operation Iraqi Freedom started in March 2003, but the involvement of the Dutch military stayed limited (Brocades Zaalberg & ten Cate, 2010). In May 2003 the war in Iraq was declared over and the Dutch support was requested for a ‘state-building’ mission. According to Brocades Zaalberg and ten Cate (2010), the Dutch government cautiously decided to support the governments of the United States and United Kingdom politically, but not militarily. However a few months later the Dutch government decided to send military troops to Iraq anyway, based on intelligence which, as later research showed, was almost completely based on British and US (tinted) intelligence (Brocades Zaalberg & ten Cate, 2010, p.42). This decision-making process concerning the intervention in Iraq has raised several questions according to the Commissie van onderzoek besluitvorming Irak [Committee to research the decision-making concerning Iraq] (2010), however it took until 2009 for the Dutch government to order an official investigation.

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Cate (2010) also researched the mission in Iraq, but from a military perspective that did not really focus on media attention for the conflict. The history on the conflict in Iraq paints a picture of a military mission that did not receive much opposition. Furthermore, the idea of a ‘state-building’ mission is important to remember when conducting the framing analysis since this concept may have influenced the framing of news on the conflict in Iraq.

1.3 Afghanistan

The participation of the Netherlands in operation Enduring Freedom, which started in 2001, stayed limited to sending medical personnel, supplies and some military equipment in the beginning. The Dutch government started to seriously play with the idea of sending their own military operation to Afghanistan in January 2005. The government had already regularly expressed the need to aid the local people and reconstruct the region. According to Hazelbag (2009), it eventually took more than a year for the government to agree on sending the Dutch military to Afghanistan. Although both the Dutch Ministry of Defence and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs were pro military operation, they did not seem able to create common grounds for the mission. Furthermore, political parties within the Dutch government could not reach an agreement on the mission. Also, the publication of a report by the Dutch Military Intelligence Service (MIVD), which stressed that Dutch victims were inevitable, complicated the, already laborious, political decision making process. The Dutch operation could certainly not be a fighting mission, like Enduring Freedom, the focus of the military really needed to be on reconstruction. There would off course be some fighting, but the main task of the military would be to help reconstruct the area.

Finally, on February 2, 2006 the Dutch government agreed to send a military

reconstruction mission to Afghanistan. It marked the start of one of the most dangerous Dutch missions since the Korean War, according to Hazelbag (2009, p.V). Because of the emphasis on reconstruction in the initial debate, Scholtens (2007) stated that the Dutch public was shocked every time news on heavy fighting or Dutch victims reached them. This just did not fit in with the idea of a mission to reconstruct the region.

The involvement of the Dutch in Afghanistan has been researched by Mans,

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Dutch political decision making process concerning the mission in Afghanistan. There have also been some more general researches on media and conflict in the Netherlands. Ruigrok and Atteveldt (2007) analysed the way in which the terrorist attacks were reported, whether they were framed in a globalized context or in a more local context. Carpentier and Trioen (2010) had a more philosophical approach to objectivity in journalism texts on conflict and war. They distinguished objectivity-as-a-value from objectivity-as-a-practice in books written by Dutch war correspondents. Reconstruction seemed to be the keyword in the discussions on the possible Dutch military intervention in Afghanistan. This is something to keep in mind when conducting the framing analysis for this particular conflict. Also the difficulties in reaching a consensus on the mission could have had an impact on the news later on, when the mission was in full swing. By comparing these three different conflicts with Dutch military involvement, with quite different background stories, it will be possible to look at similarities in conflict reporting in a Dutch national newspaper. However, also the specific character of each military intervention will be clearer when they are compared to each other.

1.4 Dutch media and the military

After reviewing the existing research on the Dutch media and the military, it appears that there is some previous research on Dutch media and their reporting on the Dutch military to build on. The conflict in Former Yugoslavia has been written about most elaborately, possibly because it took place several years prior to the other two conflicts. Exceptional in the research on the conflict in former Yugoslavia is that the role of the media has specifically been

researched, for example framing of news on the conflict in news media. In the research on the conflict in Iraq there is more of a focus on the political decision-making process. Also, the conflict in Afghanistan has been looked at from more of a political decision-making point of view. However, the impact of embedded reporters on the news media content has been researched as well.

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on military interventions by the United States military. Since the Netherlands is not quite the United States, look for example at country size, international political power and military spending, I have put specific focus on the Dutch research on war and conflict reporting.

Noticeable in previous research is that Dutch news media seem to have been nationalistic and often not very critical of war efforts when there were Dutch militaries involved, while they relied heavily on political or elite sources to provide information on the conflicts (Ruigrok, Scholten & Ridder, 2003; Vliegenthart and Schröder, 2010; Bergman, 2014). Since these findings indicate that there might be a certain bias in news texts on conflict, it will be interesting to see whether or not the analysis in this thesis proves or

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Chapter 2 – Objectivity in journalism

This thesis centres on the question how Dutch news media have framed the news on three major conflicts and compares the news texts written about these three conflicts over time. In the previous chapter research on Dutch military intervention was discussed, in which the two key concepts of this thesis were already briefly discussed. For example both Wieten (2002) and Ruigrok (2005) analysed the framing of the conflict in former Yugoslavia, while Vliegenthart and Schröder (2010) touched upon the subject of objectivity with their finding that Dutch newspapers were most favourable of the war in Iraq. The following chapters will build on this research on framing and objectivity. These concepts will form the key

ingredients to the analysis and are closely connected subjects. Framing theory assumes that all news events are selected and interpreted in a particular way. This basically means that there cannot be an objective journalism. Framing in news media means that news messages portray a certain point of view. However, the concept or ideal of objectivity is an ideal in journalism claiming that (a certain level of) objectivity is possible in news media reporting. As scholars such as Lippmann (1920/2008) and Schudson (2001) have outlined, objectivity is seen as an ideal in Western journalism since the 1920’s and has been theorized as reporting the reality as it happens, separating facts from values, without adding further comments. Both concepts complement each other, since they are both concerned with the process of transferring information, via news media, to the public. Since the public depends upon media to provide them with information, how this information is gathered and presented by journalists is of importance.

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2.1. The objectivity ideal

Objectivity is an ideal, a norm, which requires journalists to remain distant from their topics and the people who are central to their stories. The central component of objectivity is detachment. Ward (2004) stated:

(…) the doctrine of objectivity implied that everything in the newspaper that was not a news report lacked objectivity because it went beyond facts into the arena of opinion, values, and interests. Non-objective journalism included analysis, interpretation, investigative reporting, dramatic description, theoretical speculation, strong comment, and campaigning (Ward, 2004, p. 217).

By accepting the objectivity ideal, the idea that there could be a clear distinction between fact and opinion, fact and value, in news is supported. Schudson (2001) supplemented this

argument that objective journalism separates values from facts:

Objective reporting is supposed to be cool, rather than emotional, in tone. Objective reporting takes pains to represent fairly each leading side in a political controversy. According to the objectivity norm, the journalist’s job consists of reporting something called ‘news’ without commenting on it, slanting it, or shaping its formulation in any way (Schudson, 2001, p.150).

Most US and European media nowadays cling to the objectivity ideal, which Aday, Livingstone and Hebert (2005) described as those media organisations agreeing “on two things: (1) that reality should be covered objectively and (2) that violations of this norm are wrong” (p.8). Objectivity is seen as an important aspect of journalism, because of the role of the media in a democracy. As Ward (2004) stated it: “journalism should be the lifeblood of a deliberative democracy” (p.10). Through journalism, citizens in a democracy can discuss social and political issues. Objectivity is therefore an important ideal in journalism, since in a democracy the media are considered to be independent information providers for the public. According to Bennett, Lawrence and Livingston (2007), this is “both to raise timely questions about debatable government policies and to report challenges to those policies when they fail” (p. X). Basically, in this view, the media keep an eye on the government and other elites. This is also what Curran (2005) stated, “the principal democratic role of the media, according to traditional liberal theory, is to act as a check on the state. The media should monitor the full range of state activity, and fearlessly expose abuses of official authority” (p.122). This

importance of journalism was accentuated by referring to media as the ‘fourth estate’ or as the ‘watchdog’ of the state (Ruigrok, 2005). Curran (2005) however, stated that:

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media can also be viewed in a more expansive way, in liberal theory, as an agency of information and debate that facilitates the functioning of democracy (Curran, 2005, p. 129).

In this view, media provide an arena for the public to discuss information in, make

communication between state and the public possible and to let the public form an opinion on certain topics. Furthermore, Curran (2005) added that the media are representing the public consensus towards the state.

2.2 The rise of the objectivity ideal

Objective journalism has not always been an ideal in journalism in democratic societies; it was the successor of partisan journalism. This was a journalism style that focused on specific political ideals and was vocal about supporting these political ideals. This partisan press used to be the ideal for journalists until around the 1920’s, after the First World War, discussion on the norm of objectivity as a journalism practice arose (Schudson, 2001). According to Ward (2004), the objectivity ideal was an assurance to the public that news media were factual and fair, since “the problem of ensuring democratic self-governance is, in large part, the problem of ensuring that the news media properly inform people” (Ward, 2004, p.10). Objective reporting can be related to quality reporting, as objective reporting is one of the characteristics of quality reporting. Lippmann (1920/2008) was one of the first to express the need for

quality reporting by stating:

(…) reporting is a post of considerable honour. Observation must precede every other activity, and the public observer (that is, the reporter) is a man of critical value. No amount of money or effort spent in fitting the right man for this work could possibly be wasted, for the health of society depends upon the quality of the information it receives (Lippmann, 1920/2008, p. 47).

From the moment the discussion on objectivity started, the press gradually became more independent and objective, whereas before they often published opinionated articles siding with a specific political point of view. Schudson (2001) explains that this separation of press and politics is argued to be caused by both technological changes, such as the invention of the telegraph, as economic changes, for example the commercial opportunities newspaper owners saw by bridging the political party divisions. The concept of objectivity became a moral code, taught at journalism schools and inserted in codes of ethics of news organizations (Schudson, 2001). In 1923, the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) formally recognized

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(Ward, 2004). The code “stressed responsibility, freedom of the press, independence, truthfulness, impartiality, and decency” (Ward, 2004, p.214). Schudson (2001) believes that journalists from that moment on could be seen as striving to be impartial and objective, as he describes how:

(…) analytical fairness had no secure place until journalists as an occupational group developed loyalties more to their audiences and to themselves as an occupational community than to their publishers or their publishers’ favoured political parties (Schudson, 2001, p. 161).

Journalist’s goal, according to Ruigrok (2005), became to publish the truth, as they perceived it, meaning that they would not include a political or normative statement in it. News stories needed to be a reflection of reality. While news media need to be independent and

autonomous, they should also represent the interests of the general public and should use their power to challenge the dominant elites in a society, such as political actors (Donohue,

Tichenor & Olien, 1995). According to Ward (2004):

(…) the prestige of objectivity in journalism grew with the development of egalitarian, democratic theory. Countless public figures repeated the claim that the press’s most important social role was to provide citizens with enough objective information to govern themselves (Ward, 2004, p.216)

However, the above-mentioned researchers speak of the objectivity ideal and an independent press, but how journalists incorporate this ideal into their daily routine is also interesting. How the objectivity ideal affects journalism practice is therefore the next topic to discuss.

2.3 Objectivity and journalism practice

To refrain journalists from writing down unverified statements or value judgements,

journalistic standards were invented to ensure as much impartiality and objectivity as possible in news reports. Ward (2004) acknowledges the importance of professional standards from the moment objectivity became an ideal in journalism:

Reporting came to follow an elaborate set of objective procedures. There was a list of rules for checking claims, testing facts, quoting sources, attributing comments, and balancing sources. Objectivity preached carefulness, restraint, and scepticism towards unverified claims (Ward, 2004, p.217).

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the standards” (Ward, 2004, p. 19), guides journalists in determining whether a news report is objective or not. Ward (2004) names six guidelines for journalists:

1. Factuality: Reports are based on accurate, comprehensive, and verified facts. 2. Fairness: Reports on controversial issues balance the main rival viewpoints,

representing each viewpoint fairly.

3. Non-bias: Prejudices, emotions, personal interests, or other subjective factors do not distort the content of reports.

4. Independence: Reports are the work of journalists who are free to report without fear of favour.

5. Non-interpretation: Reporters do not put their interpretations or opinion into their reports.

6. Neutrality and detachment: Reports are neutral. They do not take sides in a dispute. Reporters do not act as advocates for groups and causes (Ward, 2004, p.19).

Overall, most Western journalists have accepted this strive to be accurate and impartial, by double-checking information and checking facts before publishing. According to Wieten (2002) however, in war situations these practices come to be under pressure.

2.4 Objectivity in war & conflict reporting

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public on both subjects at the same time: how the war is going and what sort of enemy they are facing.

According to Boyd-Barrett (2004), once journalists have created the context of a war, there is little chance that there ever will be a complete survey of the causes and consequences of a particular war in their articles. Failing to report on the causes of a conflict makes it impossible for the public to decide whether or not a war is meaningful, exactly what the ideal of objectivity in journalism and the corresponding professional practices should prevent. An example in which this did not happen is given by Boyd-Barrett (2004) is the second Gulf War, during which US media completely agreed with US administration policy, even though long before the war started there were numerous doubts about the reasons for war. Neither press nor television seemed capable of listening to non-governmental expert sources or gave attention to the alternative frame: that Iraq was not of any threat to the United (Boyd-Barrett, 2004). Press reports on conflict usually reflect the opinions of political and military elites concerning the operations. Both Schoeman (1999) and Wieten (2002) write about how the press is only able to create discussion about a conflict, once the political and military elites start to disagree as well.

Besides government interference and the press following the government’s point of view, another factor influencing objectivity during conflict situations according to Wieten (2002) are difficulties when gathering information. According to the Mans, Meindersma and Burema (2008) it can be difficult for journalists to find sources during a conflict situation or to determine which sources can be trusted. Usually when there is a conflict situation, the media turn to their local correspondents on the scene for their reports. War correspondents furthermore rely on fixers, translators or stringers for their information and for making contact with interesting sources, all of which can influence the neutrality and independence of

journalists, important conditions for objective reporting. According to Wieten (2002), there is also a special kind of war correspondents, the so-called ‘parachutists’, journalists who are notorious for turning up on a conflict scene, searching a juicy, shocking story, sending it through to their employer and then leaving the site as quickly a they came in. They tend to lack an ability to put events into their wider perspective.

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to Van Duijnen (2013), Bell thought that when a journalist reports on a conflict, he or she automatically picks a side in the debate about the conflict. It is a form of conflict journalism that does not even try to be objective, but knowingly chooses to side with the victims, the ‘good guys’ and not the ‘bad guys’ (Wieten, 2002). ‘Journalism of attachment’ is very

relevant during wars and conflicts, as opposed to normal foreign corresponding. According to Ruigrok (2005), during conflict situations journalists are more concerned with achieving a certain goal with their news. Take for example the Dutch journalists of De Volkskrant and NRC Handelsblad who tried to persuade the Dutch government to intervene in the conflict in former Yugoslavia, by publishing an opinionated piece in their newspapers on the matter. According to Wieten (2002), in the case of the war in the former Yugoslavia, several journalists have admitted that they found the situation to be inappropriate for objective reporting.

2.5 Critical reflection on the objectivity ideal

This chapter introduced the objectivity ideal and different theories about how to achieve objective journalistic reporting and approaches to accomplish this in journalism practice. However, the concept of objectivity has its difficulties as well. Lippmann (1920/2008) was one of the first to describe the concept of objectivity in journalism, but he was also one of the first to recognize the difficulties surrounding this concept. According to Lippmann

(1920/2008) mass media have created a division between the observer, or eyewitness, seeing the news event as it happens, and the reporter or journalist writing about it. In between is the medium. Writers such as Figdor (2010) have build on this idea, by stating that human

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Chapter 3 - Framing news

Framing and objectivity are closely connected concepts. As discussed in the previous chapter, objectivity is an ideal in journalism; however pure objective reporting seems impossible. News articles always appear to be framed, written from a certain point of view or perspective. The main research topic of this thesis is the concept of framing, since this thesis compares how Dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant has framed the news on three conflicts in which the Dutch military was involves. However, in order to adequately answer the main research question, it is necessary to discuss framing theory first. The basic component of all framing theory is that news in some way influences the perception of the public about certain news events, the first part of this chapter will therefor focus on the concept of framing. Secondly, framing analysis and tone of reporting will be discussed since these are important aspects in this thesis. Lastly, the influence of sources on the framing of news stories is explained.

3.1 The concept of framing

The concept of framing in news media concerns how news stories are presented to the public. When journalists inform their public, they have to select, interpret and present news events. By doing so, news editors and journalists frame news. When considering the role of framing in media, Tankard Jr. (2001) has created some useful metaphors to describe the media’s role in this process. As an example he uses the picture frame, as a picture frame centres attention to a specific view. It cuts a certain part of that picture and does not leave any room for other possibilities. Furthermore, a picture frame can create the suggestion of a certain tone, as a wooden frame is different from a metal one for example, the same way as media suggest a tone on certain issues. Another example is the frame of a house, “in architecture, the frame is the organizing structure used to construct a house. In news work, a frame can be the

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Entman (1993) stated that:

Framing essentially involves selection and salience. To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described (Entman, 1993,p.52).

A frame lets the reader of a text focus on a particular part of information above other information. By doing so, it elevates its salience. Salience means that information is given more meaning or made more memorable and noticeable for its audience. Frames can define a problem, diagnose a cause, make a moral judgement and suggest a remedy for this. A news text, or even a single sentence can include all of these. Frames usually have only one meaning or perspective and some ‘generic’ journalism frames are conflict, human interest and

economic impact. These frames can be triggered by a single word or example (Wieten, 2002). Furthermore, according to Entman (1993), a frame can reinforce itself. Once a certain term or concept is widely accepted by the public, audiences can take a news text less seriously or discredit it when it contains a divergent concept or frame. With a single word or image, previous events are called into memory and ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ are discerned

(Scholten, Ruigrok & Heerma, 2002). According to Tankard Jr. (2001), there is a much power in framing, because it goes unnoticed by the public: “Media framing can be likened to the magician’s sleight of hand-attention is directed to one point so that people do not notice the manipulation that is going on at another point” (Tankard Jr. 2001, p.97). It is not that

journalists always intentionally try to frame news. According to Entman (1993), even though journalists obey the rules for objective journalism, they still provide the public and their audience with an imbalanced view on news events because they always convey a dominant frame in their news items. This is also something Gans (2003) stated:

News is not merely information. Journalists also speculate when information is

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markers, and accepts the preferred meaning, depends on whether or not certain values are shared between newsmaker and consumer. “However, the structured array of signifying elements does set up parameter of a cognitive ‘window’ through which a news story is ‘seen’. (…) Because of this structuring function, a theme is also called a frame” (Pan & Kosicki, 1993, p.59). Ruigrok (2005) explains that the media present the topics in a way the audience will understand them, but how the media frame their topics also determines the way in which the public will interpret a certain event. Or as Reese (2001) puts it: “Frames are organizing principles that are socially shared and persistent over time, that work symbolically to meaningfully structure the social world” (p.11). Framing according to Reese (2001) is in a sense an organizing mechanism to combine interests, communicators, sources and culture in a coherent whole to understand the world, using “all of the available verbal and visual symbolic resources” (p.11). It means that not only journalists, but also people in general make sense of the world by putting certain daily activities or happenings into categories or frames in their brain. By interacting with organizations and institutions, individuals, groups and

organizations have to take on certain frames to be effective in their communication with each other. According to Gamson and Modigliani (1989) individuals approach certain topics with their own view, bringing their own history and vision into the social process of constructing meaning. Gamson and Modigliani (1989) viewed this process as a constant interaction between different systems: “media discourse is part of the process by which individuals construct meaning, and public opinion is part of the process by which journalists and other cultural entrepreneurs develop and crystallize meaning in public discourse” (Gamson & Modigliani, 1989, p.2). Media discourse is a phrase to describe the communication, interaction or construction of meaning that takes place via a media platform. Gamson and Modigliani (1989) basically explain with this quote that the construction of meaning works both ways, the public influences what the media publish by expressing their public opinion. Vice versa the media influences public opinion by what media texts they publish. It is a fluent process, wherein it is difficult to differentiate between who influenced who.

3.2 Framing analysis

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of specific frames, tone of reporting and the use of sources in news texts. All three aspects are part of the framing of an article, the point of view an article transfers to its reader.

According to Wieten (2001), frames reflect the vision of journalists on news events, just as they represent the overall opinion or vision of a news medium, such as a newspaper. They form more or less a pressing suggestion to interpret certain events in a specific way. Tankard Jr. (2001) suggests, framing adds emotion to a text, as well as beliefs and attitudes about a certain topic or theme. Furthermore, framing according to Tankard Jr. (2001), means acknowledging the ability of a news text to define a situation, the issues and the debate:

For example, defining abortion as an issue primarily concerning the life of the unborn child brings to the forefront a whole set of strongly held values and powerful

emotions. Defining it as an issue primarily concerned with the freedom of choice of the mother raises a drastically different set of values and emotions (Tankard Jr., 2001, p.96).

Usually studies that use a frame analysis create frame ‘categories’ and then perform qualitative and/or quantitative analysis on a data set. Bantimaroudis and Ban (2001) for example first performed a qualitative analysis of several articles to identify overall themes and keywords. The identified frames are then counted in a quantitative analysis of a three-year period of articles on the conflict in Somalia. Another example is provided by Swenson (1990, in: Tankard Jr. 2001, p.99), who coded several characteristics of a story that would define the news frame in stories about abortion. They were: gender of the writer, placement of article, terms used to refer to different actors in the text and the morality orientation of the news text. A multidimensional approach to framing analysis, as Tankard Jr. (2001) describes it, combines traditional variables of a content analysis with content variables such as the sort of terms used in a news text. Traditional variables are for example location in a newspaper or amount of words. Tankard Jr. (2001) furthermore adds that for different types of stories, a different type of pre-defined frame must be developed, since each theme uses different types of terms. Therefore, a specific type of pre-defined frame must be used when looking at framing of news on conflict and war.

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The amount of stories on international organisations such as the United Nations and their contribution to solving the war and stories on civilian casualties differed very much. Pfau et al. (2004) compared the tone of reporting with and without embedded reporters and found that embedded coverage of the war in Iraq had a more positive tone towards the military then non-embedded coverage on the war. However, Pfau et al. (2004), also found that compared to other conflicts, the amount of positive coverage was roughly the same. While the tone in an article can influence the frame, so can the information in a news text lead to a certain point of view. Therefore, the next section is focused on how journalists gather their information to form a news text: the sources and their influence on framing.

3.3 Framing & the use of sources

The use of sources can influence the framing of a news text considerably. As Gans (2003) pointed out, journalists can hand information, or propaganda, directly from their sources to the public. For example, a military official may deliver information more favourable to the military, while an opposition member may deliver information favouring the opposition’s efforts. The job of the news media is to provide the public with a steady and continues flow of news. Here for, media rely on for example news agencies, which have a vast network of sources. Furthermore, Wieten (2002) stated, that routines in journalism practice lead to the news media relying on expected and planned news events. Highly professionalised media-relations departments of companies or public institutions usually initiate these events. When a source is important and can provide a steady flow of relevant news, it appears that access to news media is easily granted. Media try to balance this by interviewing seemingly

independent experts, however according to Wieten (2002), these experts are usually attached to for example the government as well.

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till now, foreign reports tend to favour official sources. According to Wieten (2002), especially during conflict situations, it appears that the authorities that control access to certain locations either are easily able to let these locations be the centre of news events or prevent these locations from becoming the stage for a news event. According to Kothari (2010), it is the combination of easy access and the language barrier that causes news stories to be dominated by easy accessible sources such as government officials. Wieten (2002) also stated, that social contacts between journalists and their sources are important: journalists go where there is news, news originates where there are journalists. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy of which for example terrorists, the military and emergency assistance are very much aware. Furthermore, Kothari (2010) stated that journalists endorse the views of sources that they respect and these are not usually opposition party members.

With the introduction of the concept of framing in this chapter, the foundation has been laid for the remainder of this thesis. The difficulties for news media claiming to report objectively, while framing news at the same time have been discussed. As both Entman (1993) and Gans (2003) pointed out, news is not just information. It always conveys a certain meaning. While the objectivity ideal may require journalists to gather factual information from sources to put together a news text, at the same time the use of for example specific sources can cause a certain point of view to prevail in a text. Furthermore, the tone of an article is also related to the framing of news. Important to remember is that even objective, neutral news texts can contain a specific meaning, belief or frame. Now I will look more closely at how De Volkskrant has portrayed the Dutch military in their reporting during the conflict in former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The influence of sources and tone on the framing of news texts will be taken into account. Furthermore, the discussion of previous framing analyses provides useful pointers as well. However, before arriving at the

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Chapter 4 – Hypotheses

Based on the literature review and after discussing the key concepts, several hypotheses were constructed to provide guidelines for the analysis performed in this thesis. All hypotheses will be briefly explained on the basis of previously discussed literature. Based on the objectivity ideal and the concept of framing hypotheses were constructed linked to the two sub questions. Sub question 1. How does De Volkskrant frame war over time?

H1 Articles will be mostly neutral in tone during all three conflicts H2 Most articles will rely on governmental officials as a source H3 The anti-war perspective will be largely absent from all articles

The objectivity ideal assumes that journalists strive to report news events as they happen around the world, without adding further comments or value judgements. Since news media strive to report objectively, and have certain journalism routines in place to ensure this objectivity, the assumption is made that most articles will be neutral in tone.

Hypothesis number two is based upon findings from previous research where researchers detected a heavy reliance on government sources in war and conflict reporting (Aday, Livingstone and Herbert, 2005; Ruigrok & Atteveldt, 2007; Kothari, 2010). The assumption is that during the three conflicts discussed in this thesis this reliance on official sources is also found. Lastly, the fifth hypothesis assumes that there will be a lack of anti-war perspective in the analysed articles. This assumption is linked to the previous hypothesis, because the assumption is that a heavy reliance on government official sources means that most articles will support the war and not criticize it. It is also based upon the literature

review in which Boyd-Barrett (2004) and Mans, Meindersma and Burema (2008) indicate that the press has troubles with being critical towards government policy during times of conflict or war. This is caused by either patriotism or because the press did not listen to anti-war comments.

Sub question 2. Does the way the three wars are framed differ over time? H4 The use of frames in each conflict will change over time

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This fourth hypothesis was formed by assuming that news events and discussion in society on conflict will alter the way each of the three conflicts is framed over time. Therefore not one of the conflicts will be framed in a similar fashion over time, as framing changes as a conflict and military intervention develops itself.

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Chapter 5 – Methodology

In this chapter the previously discussed literature will be incorporated into the chosen

methodology. First there will be an explanation on why De Volkskrant was chosen as research sample. Furthermore, the research method, a longitudinal qualitative content analysis, will be discussed. After this, the research period is defined and the research design and coding process are discussed. Finally, the limitations to this methodology are discussed.

5.1 Research sample

The research sample in this thesis was selected from Dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant. I chose this newspaper because of its reputation as a ‘quality’ newspaper, a

newspaper containing relatively more (political) information and less entertainment than other Dutch national newspapers (Bakker & Scholten, 2011). Because of this focus on (political) information, I assumed there would probably be enough articles on the three different conflicts included in this thesis. Therefor De Volkskrant lends itself as a news outlet to be studied as it provides enough material to work with for the analysis. I based this assumption on the research by Scholten, Ruigrok and Heerma (2002). In their analysis of newspapers reporting on the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, it was apparent that both De Volkskrant and NRC Handelsblad wrote significantly more articles on the conflict than other Dutch newspapers such as Trouw and De Telegraaf. That is why I assumed that there would be a good chance that this was also the case during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Furthermore, De Volkskrant has the highest circulation figures of all the Dutch quality newspapers. In the year 2014 circulation figures were on average 263.221 copies for De Volkskrant, compared to, for example, 168.181 copies from other Dutch quality national newspaper NRC Handelsblad (Media Monitor, 2015). Lastly, De Volkskrant can also be seen as an agenda-setter for other news media, because of its quality characteristic and its

relatively high circulation figure.

5.2 Research method

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analysis of framing practices in the articles in De Volkskrant. Berelson (1952/1971) wrote a much cited definition in which content analysis is described as “a research technique for the objective, systematic and quantitative description of communication” (Berelson, 1952/1971, p.18). Bryman (2012) filtered two main qualities a content analysis needs to possess from this description, namely the need to be objective and the need to be systematic in a content

analysis. However, he also recognised the need for some research to focus not only on pure quantification of text, but also to utilise a more interpretative approach, looking at text in relation to context and themes. Obviously, in the basic definition by Berelson (1952/1971) a content analysis is described as being quantitative, while in this thesis I will be using a mainly qualitative content analysis, with some elements of a quantitative analysis such as the

counting of sources. The definition of a content analysis stated by Krippendorff (2013) leaves room for a more qualitative approach to content analysis while still focussing on objectivity and a systematic approach as mentioned by Bryman (2012). Krippendorff states “content analysis is a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the contexts of their use,” (Krippendorff, 2013, p. 24).

The reason for choosing a longitudinal qualitative content analysis is because I want to measure how de Volkskrant in its reporting framed the involvement of the Dutch military in three different wars. Framing is not a concept that can be counted, but needs to be analysed in relation to the context in the articles published by de Volkskrant. Therefor a mere quantitative approach to the content analysis would not suffice to analyse framing. Framing is a much-used theory and concept in content analysis, however a clear and unified method for conducting framing analysis is non-existent and every research utilises its own specific approach. And what about the proposed sourcing angle? Can you say something about this as well?

5.3 Research period

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militaries deployed were selected, because these are considered to be a ‘major’ military operation in this research. After selecting military missions on the basis of these

preconditions, 8 missions remained from the period of 1995 up to the present. After searching articles in the database LexisNexis the missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan and the war in Iraq were chosen as research sample, because these wars proved to have more articles published on them and the Dutch involvement than did the other missions. This may also indicate the importance that is given to these three military missions in the media, and maybe therefor also in society in general, as compared to the other military missions.

Since the Netherlands participated in several separate military missions in the same regions, for both the conflict in former Yugoslavia as for the conflict in Afghanistan two separate, but overlapping missions were combined. According to the Dutch Ministry of Defence (2015) the Implementation Force (IFOR) en Stabilisation Force (SFOR), in Former Yugoslavia, took place from December 20, 1995 until December 2, 2004. The Kosovo Force mission took place within that same time period, April 12, 1999 until August 8, 2000. In this analysis the conflict in former Yugoslavia is therefor seen as one. The same goes for the conflict in Afghanistan. According to the Dutch Ministry of Defence (2015) operation Enduring Freedom took place from October 22, 2001 until the present. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) started some months later on January 11, 2002 and is also still present in Afghanistan.

5.4 Research design

The unit of analysis is the individual news article. These articles were selected by conducting an advanced search in the database LexisNexis. All articles that appeared in De Volkskrant from 1995 until present are included in this database. The official time periods of the selected missions, as mentioned on the website of the Dutch Ministry of Defence (2015), were entered as beginning and end date for the search. For the mission in Former Yugoslavia this meant that the date the first mission started was entered and the date the last mission ended. As a start date for the search for articles on the conflict in Afghanistan, the start date of Enduring Freedom was entered. Both missions in Afghanistan are still going on ate the present, so the end date of May 1 2015 was entered. Just as Dimitrova and Strömbäck (2005) in their

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editorials and opinion pieces are least present, namely the front page, foreign news, domestic news and economics by entering the search query SECTION(voorpagina),

SECTION(binnenland), SECTION(buitenland) and SECTION(economie).

Furthermore, a combination of keywords was entered in the Boolean search operator to find only articles relating to the Dutch military in combination with the specific conflict. For the conflict in Former Yugoslavia this meant searching for the keywords Nederlandse militairen OR Nederlandse leger AND Kosovo OR KFOR OR Kosovo Force OR

Implementation Force OR IFOR OR Stabilisation Force OR SFOR OR Joegoslavië OR Kroatië OR Bosnië OR Servië. A total of 141 articles were found this way. For the conflict in Iraq the combination of keywords Nederlandse militairen OR Nederlandse leger AND Irak, was entered, which resulted in 168 articles. Lastly, for the conflict in Afghanistan I entered the search query Nederlandse militairen OR Nederlandse leger AND Enduring Freedom OR Afghanistan OR International Security Assistance Force OR ISAF, which resulted in a total of 479 articles. Since I wanted to have equal sized samples, I decided to make a probability sample by taking the first article from the sample and then take every article published with two in between. So article 1, article 4, article 7 and so forth. Whenever an article was a column, interview or a short reference to an article on a page further on in the newspaper, the first article after this article was chosen, if this was a hard news article. This left me with a sample of 159 articles for the conflict in Afghanistan. Since I wanted to examine possible changes in framing over the whole duration of the conflict this way of sampling provided me with equal amounts of articles throughout the whole duration of the conflict and still allows me to see whether in a certain time period more articles were published than in others.

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Table 5.1. Search queries in LexisNexis

5.5 Coding process

Hertog & McLeod (2001) recommend a combination of methods to study frames in texts. Van Duijnen (2013) in his analysis of nationalism in Dutch press coverage on Macedonia, looks for example first at words related to nationalism, a more quantitative approach, and then goes on to a more qualitative approach by looking at argumentation and reasoning of journalists in the texts, related to these words. I have used the indicators Van Duijnen (2013) uses to code whether a text was positive, negative or neutral in relation to nationalism, but then alternated to relate to the Dutch military instead of nationalism. Van Duijnen (2013) uses the term nationalism when there is referral to the opposition party or to the name conflict with Greece. Instead of using the concept of nationalism, I have replaced this with the Dutch military.

Time period Mission Country Amount of articles Search query 20/12/1995 – 02/12/2004 Implementation Force (IFOR) en Stabilisation Force (SFOR) Bosnia (Former Yugoslavia) 141 SECTION(voorpagina) OR SECTION(binnenland) OR SECTION(buitenland) OR SECTION(economie) AND Nederlandse militairen OR

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‘Negative’ is coded when the Dutch military is referred to as being the instigator or cause of violent or non-violent conflict, when the Dutch military is linked to irrationality, failure or when the Dutch military is linked to a person or action the writer disagrees with. As the main task of the military is usually related to conflict, it is important to note that only when the Dutch military is described as the initiator or reason of conflict, a text is coded as being negative. So a text is not ‘negative’ when the Dutch military is described as participating in a mission. A text is coded as being ‘positive’ when the writer agrees with actions taken by the Dutch military, when bravery and heroism of the Dutch militaries is described or when the mission of the Dutch military is seen as a justified cause. ‘Neutral’ are texts with neither aspects of ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ coded texts, these texts are lacking normative statements on the Dutch military.

Next to normative aspects in texts on the Dutch military, I have more specifically looked at the framing of these texts. The approach of Dimitrova and Strömbäck (2005) in their research on the framing of the Iraq war is comparable to what I intent to research. In their content analysis on framing in Swedish and US newspapers, Dimitrova and Strömbäck (2005) coded for general characteristics of texts, but then looked for the presence or absence of certain specific thematic frames. They identified eight types of frames used in texts on the war in Iraq and I have used these same frames, except the media self-referential frame, in my research on framing of the Dutch military in Dutch newspapers. The media self-referential frame was excluded, as it was not included in the original codebook made by Dimitrova and Strömbäck (2005) but only in the final research paper. The frames Dimitrova and Strömbäck (2005) describe in their research paper, are:

Military conflict frame Human interest frame Responsibility frame Diagnostic frame Prognostic frame Violence of war frame Anti-war protest frame Media self-referential frame

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The design of this content analysis is aimed at describing both objective characteristics of the news articles (such as date of publication) and more subjective characteristics such as the use of certain frames. In the analysis chapter I will start by looking at some general characteristics of the articles. Firstly, when the article was published, because in later analysis it is relevant to see in which time periods articles were written as I am conducting an analysis which looks at changes over time. Furthermore, the author of an article is an aspect I will be looking at, since my research centres on how De Volkskrant framed conflict. Therefor, articles written by (international) news agencies are less important because De Volkskrant’s own staff does not write them. They are therefor less a reflection of De Volkskrant’s own point of view. However, these articles were published in De Volkskrant and therefore they might influence the point of view De Volkskrant portrays on conflicts involving Dutch military. I code for authors as being either a journalist from De Volkskrant, a national or international news agency, an other author or unknown author. Lastly, the section in which the article was published is coded, because it may turn out those different sections of a newspaper, frame news events in different ways.

Then I looked at some characteristics that are used in this analysis as indicators of framing by De Volkskrant. The amount of words and the placing of the article in the

De Volkskrant framing conflict