Focussing on the perpetrators, this paper investigatesnews media framing of clergy sexual abuse in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The results show that the four national... Show more Focussing on the perpetrators, this paper investigatesnews media framing of clergy sexual abuse in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The results show that the four national presses vary in the way they construct the crime and its perpetrators, depending on cultural differences in the way the church is embedded in society. Every nation's media frame the crisis in a way that fits their own rhetorical goals. The Netherlands and the UK share a focus on the Catholic Church as an institution and, in the case of the UK, on the Pope as holding ultimate responsibility. In Belgium and Ireland the offenders are portrayed as individuals. In all four countries the media need to come to terms with what we call the dual offender: the individual priest and / or the institute that failed to control its employees and show compassion to their victims. Show less
The study of newspaper legends emerged as a vital research topic in the nineteen fifties and has so far focused on the past half century. The present study explores the potential of digitized... Show moreThe study of newspaper legends emerged as a vital research topic in the nineteen fifties and has so far focused on the past half century. The present study explores the potential of digitized newspaper archives to analyze the discursive construction of newspaper legends in Dutch dailies during the years 1850-1950. Emic concepts of Dutch journalists are contextualized in shifts regarding content, genre and work routines of the Dutch daily press. During this period, the most frequently used label for traditional stories of uncertain veracity was zeeslang, i.e. sea serpent. These stories were said to be particularly frequent during the slow news season in summer, the so-called komkommertijd (lit. ‘cucumber time’). Identifying and condemning these stories as false or unreliable served the rhetorical function of bolstering the journalists’ ethos as a credible professional. Discussing sea serpent and cucumber stories, journalists demarcated their routines and output from those of less professional news purveyors (Gieryn’s ‘boundary work’). The most commonly named scapegoat were allegedly money-driven American journalistic practices. Show less
