The Dutch Media Monopoly: A critical-historical analysis of journalism in the Netherlands

Taking the American tradition of political economy of the news media as a starting point, this dissertation examines Dutch journalism throughout the twentieth century, with a focus on the present. The argument is that the conclusion drawn by American scholars like Ben Bagdikian, Robert McChesney, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, namely that the news media’s content is biased in favor of elite interests, also holds for the Netherlands. The first part of this dissertation establishes a critical-historical framework that predicts and contextualizes this persistent bias. Subsidiary arguments made are the viability of a “radical” take on Dutch media history (following James Curran’s typology) and that Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model explains not only the American media’s performance but also the Dutch media’s, although not as forcefully. The second part of this dissertation consists of three content analyses that show that this pro-elite bias exists up to the present. Examined are the coverage of the run-up to the war in Iraq in 2003, the coverage of the US troop withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, and press reactions to a proposal in 2011 by the Greek prime-minister to hold a referendum on the euro crisis. The content analyses show that the coverage indeed privileged elite perspectives.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communications

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Bergman, Tabe

Contributors dc:contributor

• Reisner, Ann E.
• Nerone, John C.
• McChesney, Robert W.
• Ehrlich, Matthew

• The Netherlands
• Journalism
• Political economy of media
• Iraq
• foreign news
• media history
• media monopoly

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2013 Tabe Bergman

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45343

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/45343