A Comparison of British & Dutch Newspapers’ Representation of Transnational Human Trafficking since 2000

• In Event: Human Trafficking Representations and Awareness

Abstract

This paper offers a comparison of reporting on (transnational) human trafficking by Dutch and British newspapers since 2000, thereby aiming to shed further light on the question to what extent the narrative uncovered through prior research to have been dominant, continues to be cross-culturally and diachronically.

This comparison is primarily done through corpus linguistic methods, enhanced through the use of methods from corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis (CACDA, see Baker et al 2008). In doing so, this paper follows on the analysis of British newspaper reporting on transnational human trafficking between 2000 and 2016 by Gregoriou and Ras (2018).

Gregoriou and Ras (2018) found, in line with prior research, that trafficking for sexual exploitation is over-reported compared to other forms of trafficking, and that victims are generally presented as young, female, and vulnerable. As a result, non-stereotypical victims, of crimes like forced begging and domestic servitude, are not readily recognized as victims, and thereby are deprived of opportunities for assistance. This paper examines to what extent Dutch newspaper representations fall back on the same stereotypes of human trafficking.

Author

• Ilse Ras, Leiden University