The European economic crisis has been ongoing since 2008 and while austerity has spread over the continent, it has failed to revive economies. The media have played an important ideological role in presenting the policies of economic and political elites in a favourable light, even if the latter’s aim has been to shift the burden of adjustment onto citizens. This book explains how and why, using a critical political economic perspective and focusing on the case of Ireland. Throughout, Ireland is compared with contemporary and historical examples to contextualise the arguments made. The book covers the housing bubble that led to the crash, the rescue of financial institutions by the state, the role of the European institutions and the International Monetary Fund, austerity, and the possibility of leaving the eurozone for Europe’s peripheral countries. Through a systematic analysis of Ireland’s main newspapers, it is argued that the media reflect elite views and interests and downplay alternative policies that could lead to more progressive responses to the crisis.

The Euro Crisis produced the most significant challenge to European integration in 60 years--testing the structures and powers of the European Union and the Eurozone and threatening the common currency. This book explores how the financial and political crisis was portrayed in the European press and the implications of that coverage on public understanding of the developments, their causes, responsibilities for addressing the crisis, the roles and effectiveness of European institutions, and the implications for European integration and identity. It addresses factors that shaped news and analysis, the roles of European leaders, and the extent to which national and pan-European debates over the crisis occurred. In doing so, it provides a clear and readable explanation of what the portrayals tell us about Europe and European integration in the early twenty-first century.

This authoritative book offers a complete breakdown of the EUês political economy in the wake of the global financial crisis and will therefore appeal to students of European politics, international political economy and European studies, as well as po

The Media and Austerity examines the role of the news media in communicating and critiquing economic and social austerity measures in Europe since 2010. From an array of comparative, historical and interdisciplinary vantage points, this edited collection seeks to understand how and why austerity came to be perceived as the only legitimate policy response to the financial crisis for nearly a decade after it began. Drawing on an international range of contributors with backgrounds in journalism, politics, history and economics, the book presents chapters exploring differing media representations of austerity from UK, US and European perspectives. It also investigates practices in financial journalism and highlights the role of social media in reporting public responses to government austerity measures. They reveal that, without a credible and coherent alternative to austerity from the political opposition, what had been an initial response to the consequences of the financial crisis, became entrenched between 2010 and 2015 in political discourse. The Media and Austerity is a clear and concise introduction for students of journalism, media, politics and finance to the connections between the media, politics and society in relation to the public perception of austerity after the 2008 global financial crash.

The Media and Financial Crises provides unique insights into the debate on the role of the media in the global financial crisis. Coverage is inter-disciplinary, with contributions from media studies, political economy and journalists themselves. It features a wide range of countries, including the USA, UK, Ireland, Greece, Spain and Australia, and a completely new history of financial crises in the British press over 150 years. Editors Steve Schifferes and Richard Roberts have assembled an expert set of contributors, including Joseph E Stiglitz and Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times. The role of the media has been central in shaping our response to the financial crisis. Examining its performance in comparative and historical perspectives is crucial to ensuring that the media does a better job next time. The book has five distinct parts: The Banking Crisis and the Media The Euro-Crisis and the Media Challenges for the Media The Lessons of History Media Messengers Under Interrogation The Media and Financial Crises offers broad and coherent coverage, making it ideal for both students and scholars of financial journalism, journalism studies, media studies, and media and economic history.

This is the first book to provide a full and dispassionate account of the politics and economics of the Eurozone crisis, focusing on the interlinked origins and impacts of the Euro-Zone crisis and the policy responses to it. The book is distinguished from existing research by its avoidance (and rejection) of the too-often simplistic analysis that has characterized political, media and regrettably some academic coverage, and by its attempt to escape from the tyranny of day-to-day events and short-term developments. Each of the contributors identifies an important question and undertakes a careful empirical, theoretically-informed analysis that produces novel perspectives. Together they seek to balance many of the existing accounts that have rushed to sometimes unwarranted conclusions, concerning, for example, the locus of institutional power in European crisis-management; the power and centrality of particular member states, notably Germany which has been attributed with 'hegemonic' status; the supposed entrapment of EU policy makers by an 'austerity ideology'; and the deep flaws that apparently afflict the solutions to the crisis put painstakingly in place, such as Banking Union. While it will be some time before the EU can put the crisis behind it, and the dust finally settles on the revised institutional system that emerges, The Political and Economic Dynamics of the Eurozone Crisis marks an important step towards a considered, reflective analysis of the tumultuous events and developments of the crisis period.

This volume focuses on the aftermath of the euro crisis and whether the reforms have brought about lasting changes to the economic and political structures of the crisis countries or if the changes were short-term and easily abandoned post-bailout and post-recovery. Starting with an analysis of the state of euro area governance at the onset of the crisis and the ensuing reforms, the book considers structural conditions as well as those specific to the domestic political economy of most of the countries affected by the crisis, including Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. It presents up-to-date and incisive analysis of the aftermath of the crisis and suggests how we can situate it within our understanding of different national growth models in Europe. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners interested in the Euro Crisis, Economic and Monetary Union, European Union and European politics and more broadly to Comparative Politics, Political Economy, International Relations, Economics, Finance, Business and Industry.