The Refugee Situation as Portrayed in News Media: A Content Analysis of Belgian and Swedish Newspapers - 2015-2017

This chapter aims to compare the newspaper coverage of the so-called “refugee crisis” from March 2015 to July 2017 in Belgium and Sweden. In total, 1832 news articles were analysed to identify the most important thematic topics developed in six different newspapers. The main results reveal that the most important theme in Belgium as well as in Sweden was the political response to the “refugee crisis” from a domestic point of view. Three peak periods are recognized in the material and the refugee topic became a structural news topic. The ranking of most important countries of origin in newspapers does not correspond with the ranking of the countries of origin of registered asylum seekers. When it comes to comparison, Swedish newspapers published more about refugees and paid more attention to the topic than the Belgian newspapers. The Swedish press had a tendency to collectivize refugees more often than the Belgian press.