The Dutch Royal Family in the spotlight. A framing analysis of newspapers de Volkskrant and Trouw on the quest for transparency regarding the Royal Family

Abstract

This paper analyses how Dutch newspapers Trouw and de Volkskrant frame the issue of transparency regarding the Dutch Royal Family. Three mutually exclusive frames have been reconstructed, which were used by the media under scrutiny by means of a qualitative, inductive content analysis. The motives, which are included in these frames, may best be coined in the terms of progressive, conservative and pragmatic. The written press has, by means of this ‘framing’, pushed the transparency debate in various directions during the last fifteen years.