Research in social psychology shows that looking into the nuances in stereotyping is of vital importance due to unique emotional and behavioural reactions the different clusters of stereotypical representations may evoke. Media analysts, however, rarely apply a framework that would allow a systematic deconstruction of stereotypes conveyed in the media productions. In the current study, the Dutch news media representation of native and non-native youth is analyzed and compared. The results show considerable differences in news media portrayal of the two groups not only in the amount of (negative) attention they attract but, especially, in the content of their descriptions. While native youth is more frequently evaluated with reference to competence, non-native youth is more readily evaluated with respect to benevolence. The results of the study and the social consequences of Dutch news media representations of younger citizens are interpreted in the light of literature on social distance and (social) practices of ‘othering’.
AlthoffM. (2005) ‘Het beeld van de jeugd als criminaliteits- en veiligheidsprobleem. Een discourstheoretische verklaring’ [Images of youth as a criminality and safety problem. A discourse-theoretical analysis], Pedagogiek25(4): 262–78.
2.
BernierA. (2011) ‘Representations of Youth in Local Media: Implications for Library Service’, Library and Information Science Research33(2): 158–67.
3.
BullockH.WycheK.WilliamsW. (2001) ‘Poverty as We Know It: Media Images of the Poor’, Journal of Social Issues57(2): 229–46.
4.
CBS (2014) Bevolking van Nederland per de eerste van de maand naar herkomstgroepering, generatie, leeftijd en geslacht [Dutch population per country of origin, age and gender], URL (consulted September2014): http://statline.cbs.nl
5.
ClawsonR.A.TriceR. (2000) ‘Poverty as We Know It: Media Portrayals of the Poor’, Public Opinion Quarterly64(1): 53–64.
6.
CornelissenM. (2000) ‘De’ jongere bestaat niet. Negatieve gevolgen van beeldvorming over jongeren [‘The’ youth does not exist. Negative consequences of youth representations]. Utrecht: LBL.
7.
CuddyA.J.FiskeS.T.GlickP. (2008) ‘Warmth and Competence as Universal Dimensions of Social Perception: The Stereotype Content Model and the BIAS Map’, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology40: 61–149.
8.
CushionS.MooreK.JewellJ. (2011) Media Representations of Black Men and Boys. London: Department for Communities and Local Government.
9.
DagevosJ.GijsbertsM. (2009) ‘Sociaal-culturele positie’ [Socio-cultural position], in GijsbertsM.DagevosJ. (eds) Jaarrapport integratie 2009 [Year report: Integration 2009], pp. 226–53. Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau.
10.
de BruinJ. (2005) ‘Multicultureel drama? Populair Nederlands televisiedrama, jeugd en etniciteit’ [Multicultural drama? Popular Dutch television series, youth and ethnicity], Amsterdam: Otto Cramwinckel.
11.
der ValkI. (2002) ‘The Netherlands’, in ter WalJ. (ed.) Racism and Cultural Diversity in the Mass Media: An Overview of Research and Examples of Good Practice in the EU Member States, 1995–2000, pp. 287–309. Vienna: EUMC.
12.
DevlinM. (2005) ‘“Teenage Traumas”: The Discursive Construction of Young People as a “Problem” in an Irish Radio Documentary’, Young13(2): 167–84.
13.
DevlinM. (2006) Inequality and the Stereotyping of Young People. Dublin: The Equality Authority.
14.
d’HaenensL.BinkS. (2006) ‘Islam in de Nederlandse media: Focus op het Algemeen Dagblad’ [Islam in the Dutch media: Focus on the Algemeen Dagblad], Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap34(4): 351–67.
15.
d’HaenensL.de LangeM. (2001) ‘Framing Asylum Seekers in Dutch Regional Newspapers’, Media, Culture and Society23(6): 847–60.
16.
d’HaenensL.OganC. (2007) ‘Introduction to the Special Issue: Media and Ethnic Minorities in Europe’, Communications32(2): 137–40.
17.
EntmanR. (1989) ‘How the Media Affect What People Think: An Information Processing Approach’, The Journal of Politics51(2): 347–70.
18.
FaucherCh. (2009) ‘Fear and Loathing in the News: A Qualitative Analysis of Canadian Print News Coverage of Youth Offending in the Twentieth Century’, Journal of Youth Studies12(4): 439–56.
19.
FineM. (1994) ‘Working with Hyphens: Reinventing Self and Other in Qualitative Research’, in DenxinN.LincolnY. (eds) Handbook of Qualitative Research, pp. 70–82. London: Sage.
20.
FiskeS.CuddyA.GlickP. (2006) ‘Universal Dimensions of Social Cognition: Warmth and Competence’, TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences11(2): 77–83.
21.
GilensM. (1999) Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media and the Politics of Anti-poverty Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
22.
GoldingP.MiddletonS. (1982) Images of Welfare: Press and Public Attitudes to Poverty. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
23.
HagestadG.UhlenbergP. (2005) ‘The Social Separation of Old and Young: A Root of Ageism’, Journal of Social Issues61(2): 343–60.
24.
HagestadG.UhlenbergP. (2006) ‘Should We Be Concerned about Age Segregation? Some Theoretical and Empirical Explorations’, Research on Ageing28(6): 638–53.
25.
KnijnT. (2012) ‘New Social Risks for Young Adults: A Conceptual Framework’, in KnijnT. (ed.) Work, Family Policies and Transitions to Adulthood in Europe, pp. 3–16. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
26.
Krumer-NevoM.OrlyB. (2010) ‘Critical Poverty Knowledge: Contesting Othering and Social Distancing’, Current Sociology58(5): 693–714.
27.
LeeT.FiskeS. (2006) ’Not an Outgroup, Not Yet an Ingroup: Immigrants in the Stereotype Content Model’, International Journal of Intercultural Relations30 (6): 751–68.
28.
LepiankaD. (2015) ‘How Similar, How Different? On Dutch Media depictions of Older and Younger People’, Ageing and Society35(5): 1095–113.
29.
LevinsenK.WienCh. (2011) ‘Changing Media Representations of Youth in the News—A Content Analysis of Danish Newspapers 1953–2003’, Journal of Youth Studies14(7): 837–51.
30.
LubbersM.ScheepersP.WesterF. (1998) ‘Ethnic Minorities in Dutch Newspapers 1990-5: Patterns of Criminalization and Problematization’, International Communication Gazette60(5): 415–31.
31.
MazzarellaS. (2003) ‘Constructing Youth: Media, Youth, and the Politics of Representation’, in ValdiviaA. (ed.) A Companion to Media Studies, pp. 227–46. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
32.
McCombsM.ReynoldsA. (2009) ‘How the News Shapes Our Civic Agenda’, in BryantJ.OliverM. (eds) Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research, pp. 1–16. New York: Routledge.
33.
McQuailD. (2010) McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
34.
NeuendorfK. (2002) The Content Analysis Guidebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
35.
PeetersA.d’HaenensL. (2005) ‘Bridging or Bonding? Relationship between Integration and Media Use among Ethnic Minorities in the Netherlands’, Communications30 (2): 201–31.
36.
PhaletK.PoppeE. (1997) ‘Competence and Morality Dimensions of National and Ethnic Stereotypes: A Study in Six Eastern-European Countries’, European Journal of Social Psychology27(6): 703–23.
37.
Phaletter K.WalJ. (2004) Moslim in Nederland. Den Haag: SCP.
38.
SnidermanP.HagendoornL. (2007) When Way of Life Collide: Multiculturalism and Its Discontents in the Netherlands. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
39.
TajfelH. (1982) ‘Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations’, Annual Review of Psychology33: 1–39.
40.
ter WalJ.d’HaenenL.KoemanJ. (2005) ‘(Re)presentation of Ethnicity in EU and Dutch Domestic News: A Quantitative Analysis’, Media, Culture and Society27(6): 937–50.
41.
van GinnekenJ. (2003) Collective Behaviour and Public Opinion: Rapid Shifts in Opinion and Communication. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
42.
VerhagenS. (2000) ‘Gabbers in de media’ [Gabbers in the Media], in ter BogtT.HibbelB. (eds) Wilde Jaren. Een eeuw jeugdcultuur [Wild years. A century of youth culture], pp. 305–24. Utrecht: Lemma.
43.
WayneM.HendersonL.MurrayC.PetleyJ. (2008) ‘Television News and the Symbolic Criminalisation of Young People’, Journalism Studies9(1): 75–90.
44.
WesterF.PleijterA.RenckstroftK. (2004) ‘Exploring Newspapers’ Portrayals: A Logic for Interpretative Content Analysis’, Communications29(4): 495–513.
45.
WierstraR. (2001) Goede Beelden, Slechte Beelden. Verbeelding van leeftijd in de media [Good images, bad images. Representation of af age in the media]. Utrecht: LBL.
46.
WojciszkeB. (1994) ‘Multiple Meanings of Behaviour: Construing Actions in Terms of Competence or Morality’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology67(2): 222–32.
