How Dutch Muslims were written about in newspapers at the beginning of the 20th century is similar to coverage of Dutch Jews at the end of the 19th century. However, there are also differences: coverage of Dutch Jews was much more pluralistic, while coverage of Dutch Muslims became increasingly negative after 2000. The research also outlines possibilities to change the current discourse about Muslims in Dutch newspapers.
The last few decades, Muslims and Islam have been in the news frequently. Around the end of the 19th century, the position of Dutch Jews, who just like current Dutch Muslims were the largest non-Christian religious minority at that moment, was depicted more or less the same in Dutch newspapers.
Cultural anthropologist Aalt Smienk did research on the similarities and differences between the debate about Muslims between 1990 and 2013 in Dutch national daily newspapers and the debate about Jews between 1890 and 1910 in Dutch newspapers. There was a more pluralistic spectrum of views on Jews: these views were initially around 1890 problematic and polarising, but improved from 1910 on significantly. However, views on Muslims after 2000 became increasingly unequivocal and negative.
Leafing through tens of thousands of newspapers
Smienk did research on more than 40,000 articles about Jews from the period around 1900 and more than 50,000 articles about Muslims, using a combination of different content analyses: "To make an optimal comparison, the content analyses of Dutch newspapers in both periods have been attuned to each other. This was done by using the same method of content analysis, focussing on a specific part of the newspapers' framing: the reporting on the Jews' and Muslims' position in society."
Difference in social status
According to Smienk, in order to explain the differences between the news articles in both periods, one has to account for the difference in social status between both religious groups: "Dutch Jews were not the only demographic who were emancipating in Dutch society in the period 1890 to 1910. Dutch Muslims are, by contrast, recently the only religious minority who have been 'knocking on the door', during a time when religion lost its significance in Dutch society."
