Lydia about her thesis Beyond Europe’s Backyard: 'In the thesis, I argue that factual knowledge rather than emotion-informed combinations of fact and fiction are what is needed in Dutch newspaper articles about the Western Balkans, especially in light of the EU enlargement process that involves six of the seven Western Balkan countries covered in the study. Based on this, my recommendation for society is twofold.
First, journalists should increase their apprehension of the tasks before them. The production, reproduction and distribution of news are not tasks that should be taken lightly, instead, they should feel like a burden that is taken seriously. Especially right now, in the Netherlands, when not only opinion makers but politicians alike are spreading misinformation on the regular, journalists should be at the forefront of calling them out and adding informed nuance to each and every story. Journalists should not become accomplices to scapegoating and Othering committed by those in power. This requires them to reject so-called neutrality, and instead take a stance for what is right, and not unimportant, lawful.
Second, I recommend readers pay close attention when they read the news. Always wonder—whether reading NRC or de Telegraaf—who wrote this article and why? Does this newspaper or this particular author want to convince me of something, or is it merely trying to inform me? Are the metaphors used in this article really necessary, or do they reveal something that is not at all relevant to the story? When the Western Balkans, or even marginalized communities within the Netherlands, are discussed in a news article, scan the article for the subject speaking: do they get a chance to explain themselves or to explain the complexities of an event? Wonder also what the simplest of words might mean: what is meant by “Europe”? Who is considered “Dutch,” and who is explicitly not described as such?
This thesis is just one tiny part of a global and growing field of research that attempts to go further than platitudes of the order of “racism is bad,” but instead puts a finger on the sore spot. As such, this thesis is not an island, but a starting point as well as a linking point for other research that looks critically at language use and that makes suggestions to use language for the better.'
Vice dean Arie Zwiep about the thesis: 'Our recommendation is based on its excellence, both in terms of its academic rigor and in its societal relevance.'