The normalisation of the far right in the Dutch media in the run-up to the 2021 general elections

Abstract

Although there is widespread agreement in the literature that the media play an instrumental role in furthering or limiting the spread of right-wing populism, there are few studies that examine the micro-mechanisms at play that facilitate the normalisation of the far right in and by the media. This contribution seeks to redress that gap. Focussing in particular on the Netherlands, we trace the ways in which the media have accommodated populist radical right politicians and their parties in the run-up to the 2021 Dutch general elections, thereby discursively shifting the boundaries of what is considered appropriate or ‘normal’. We do so by concentrating on the far-right political newcomer, Thierry Baudet, who is the leader of the Forum voor Democratie (Forum for Democracy or FvD, also referred to as Forum). Using discourse-conceptual analysis of Dutch newspaper articles, the article provides illustrative evidence that Dutch mainstream media outlets adopted an accommodative stance towards Baudet and his party in the run-up to the elections. The findings suggest that this media strategy contributed to the normalisation of the far right in the Dutch public sphere.

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“…This architecture has been designed to discriminate against migrants from specific countries-not least by endangering and criminalizing their mobility. We argue that not only has this border disorder (Bueno Lacy and van Houtum 2013) alienated the EU from its self-professed values (i.e., the rule of law and universal human rights) but it also has legitimized and normalized nativist authoritarian populists (Boedeltje and van Houtum 2008;van Houtum and Bueno Lacy 2017;De Jonge and Gaufman 2022). Thus, the autoimmunity that we recognize has its roots inside EUrope and not beyond its borders.…”

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“…This architecture has been designed to discriminate against to migrants-not to all but to migrants from specific countries-not least by endangering and criminalizing their mobility. We argue that not only has this border disorder (Bueno Lacy/van Houtum 2013) alienated the EU from its self-professed values (i.e., the rule of law and universal human rights) but it has legitimized and normalized nativist authoritarian populists (Boedeltje/van Houtum 2008;van Houtum/Bueno Lacy 2017;van Houtum 2021;De Jonge/Gaufman 2022). Thus, the autoimmunity that we recognize has its roots inside EUrope and not beyond its borders.…”