This thesis examines in what ways the online news media has framed refugees and asylum seekers who arrived in Europe and specifically the Netherlands during the refugee crisis that started in 2015....Show moreThis thesis examines in what ways the online news media has framed refugees and asylum seekers who arrived in Europe and specifically the Netherlands during the refugee crisis that started in 2015. Carrying out a qualitative content analysis of all news articles on refugees uploaded over a period of six years, it has been possible to construct four distinct connotative frames that used to depict refugees: normalization, victimization, burden and threat. The results show that on the long-term, the victimization-frame turned out to be the most popular frame to use on refugees. Additionally, online news turns out to be susceptible to the occurrence of key events, which occurrence determines the dominant frame of the subsequent weeks. This study nuances the idea that refugees are increasingly portrayed negatively by providing a long-term insight and shows the diffuse process and developments that have occurred over time.Show less
