Goodguy vs.Badguy?!

In the ‘image driven culture’ in which we live, pictures have become increasingly more and more important. Especially when it comes to political candidates as now, it is necessary to secure the best media spotlight during campaigns to win votes. Therefore, published pictures chosen by the papers, are of high important for the candidates. The aim of this thesis is to answer the question: “In what way are Job Cohen and Geert Wilders illustrated during the election campaign of 2010 in the Dutch newspapers De Telegraaf, Algemeen Dagblad, De Volkskrant and NRC Handelsblad?". To answer this question, research is done by a quantitative and qualitative analysis. The photographs show barely exciting pictures and the text that is used in the header and subscription has a mostly positive tone. The party leaders are most often depicted alongside colleagues during a political speech or debate. The results show that especially the image of De Telegraaf as the ‘right-popular ' mass newspaper is confirmed. The newspaper has displayed the most pictures, which consist mainly of images of Wilders laughing. In contrast, the image of the "left" Volkskrant is confirmed. The newspaper puts significantly more pictures of Cohen than of Wilders and places more often a photograph of a smiling Cohen. In contrast, the Algemeen Dagblad is remarkably attentive to the "left" Cohen. Although when the tenor of the photos and the tenor of the text in the header and subscription of the image are analyzed, almost no notable outliers appear which confirm the political views of the newspapers. The pictures within the text impart a positive tone and the rates are very close together. The results of the study show that Dutch newspapers are very reticent in illustrating the party leaders. The research fails to find support for the media’s creation of a 'good guy' versus 'bad guys' scenario. The media is not ‘on top’ of the campaign leaders following them in a ‘panting’ way. Moreover, there is no media hype and there is a lack of private photos indicating a personalization of politics. It seems that the election of 2010 was covered objectively in the media without any sensation. The results of this study show that both Cohen and Wilders were depicted as ‘good guys’ by the Dutch newspapers during the 2010 elections.