To what extent was the Dutch media able to hold the  intelligence agency AIVD to account during the  exploitation of the improved ISS data collection act  in 2018?: The role of media in intelligence oversight

This thesis explores the role of the Dutch online media outlet NU.nl in holding the intelligence agency AIVD accountable for unlawful conduct during the utilisation of the upgraded ISS act 2017. This is an important issue due to the gap in literature and the increasing importance of media in society. Furthermore, the ISS act has caused public outcry in the Netherlands and citizens fear for their privacy and rights. The watchdog of the AIVD, CTIVD has published four reports investigating their conduct. Using these reports a benchmark of issues is created as indicator of good reporting to enhance accountability. This thesis has chosen to analyse the amount of coverage these issues receive in the media articles in 2018 and compare it to the occurrence of the issues in the reports. Limitations of this study are the lack of linguistic and contextual comparison and the lack of consideration of political affiliation of the news outlet. Furthermore, the CTIVD reports are considered as the...Show moreThis thesis explores the role of the Dutch online media outlet NU.nl in holding the intelligence agency AIVD accountable for unlawful conduct during the utilisation of the upgraded ISS act 2017. This is an important issue due to the gap in literature and the increasing importance of media in society. Furthermore, the ISS act has caused public outcry in the Netherlands and citizens fear for their privacy and rights. The watchdog of the AIVD, CTIVD has published four reports investigating their conduct. Using these reports a benchmark of issues is created as indicator of good reporting to enhance accountability. This thesis has chosen to analyse the amount of coverage these issues receive in the media articles in 2018 and compare it to the occurrence of the issues in the reports. Limitations of this study are the lack of linguistic and contextual comparison and the lack of consideration of political affiliation of the news outlet. Furthermore, the CTIVD reports are considered as the ideal way to report in order to maximise intelligence accountable, which neglects the imperfection of the organisation. This paper concludes that in the 17 news articles that contain one or more of the benchmark issue(s), 6 out of the 8 relevant issues (75%) were extensively reported on in the media when comparing to the CTIVD reports resulting in a positive effect on the media’s ability to hold the AIVD accountable. Therefore, this thesis argues that the ability of the media to hold the AIVD accountable in news articles that cover the unlawful conduct is very high.Show less

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To what extent was the Dutch media able to hold the intelligence agency AIVD to account during the exploitation of the improved ISS data collection act in 2018? The role of media in intelligence oversight