From risk to safety: implicit frames of third-party airport risk in Dutch quality newspapers between 1992 and 2009

In this study, we investigated the public debate in The Netherlands about third-party airport risk by analyzing 17 years of media discourse in two quality newspapers from May 1, 1992 to May 31, 2009. The Netherlands is one of the few countries in which third-party airport risks are analyzed, modeled, systematically monitored and integrated into the national external safety policy for industry. We used a semantic mapping method and constructed implicit frames to represent the discourse’s latent structure. The research shows that third-party airport risk is mainly framed as an economic issue. In the 1990s these economic frames are flanked by frames of accidents and risk and in the 2000s accidents and safety.