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6

From Accommodation to

Professionalisation? The Changing

Culture and Environment of Dutch

Political Communication

Kees Brants and Philip van Praag 1

Every country has its own examples of how its government successfully or dismally From Accommodation to Professionalisation? The Changing Culture and Environment of Dutch Political Communication
handled a crisis that prominently featured in the media. In spite of its long held image
of consensual politics and Lowland dullness, the Netherlands is no different. In 2001
and 2002, for example, the issue of drug trafficking from the West Indian ex-colonies of
Aruba and Curacao, the scale of which was well known to both police and Ministry of
Justice, suddenly exploded in public. It was not so much the issue of drugs, but the
authorities’ way of dealing with this particular problem that appears to have aroused
the ire of some opposition politicians and the media. In order to avoid case overload of
police and prosecution, those caught smuggling cocaine (often by swallowing drug-
stuffed condoms) at Schiphol Airport, simply had the goods impounded and were then
sent back again. The media, well informed by unnamed immigration sources, framed
the news as a failure of law-enforcement.The resulting public debate forced an irritated
minister, against his will and better judgement, to introduce stricter rules and more
severe penalties. The subsequent overload of courts and jails not only prompted
protest by judicial and prison authorities, but also resulted two years later in a return to
the send-back policy.

This story seems to indicate, or at least to hint at, a number of issues. Firstly, that
decision makers sometimes feel that media frames, with their specific problem 97