Media Amnesia: Rewriting the Economic Crisis

by Laura Basu

One of the major questions confronting us in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, the Brexit vote, and the rise of populism around the world, is what role the media has played in shaping our current political moment. This book offers an unprecedented dive into that question, reaching back more than a decade to show the stance of the media toward the 2008 financial crash, the recession that followed, austerity in the UK, the Eurozone crisis, and more. Throughout, we see—with damning clarity—that even as capitalism is in crisis, the media remains devoted to a narrative of a swollen public sector, welfare scams, and immigration threats. What does this mean for those who are committed to solving our manifest economic and social problems? How can we use what we know about the workings of the media to break through their filter and force progress? The insights in this book are the first step.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Published April 20, 2018

Reviews

[Tamim Diaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

very well researched with an excellent analysis. My only criticism is that it had too much economics and could have used more media analysis. Also, as a business media professional, I think it is almost impossible for mass media to perform the role of a median of economic debate in such a manner proposed by the author. However, media outlets can definitely use more diversity of opinions and viewpoints.

[Markus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a critical analysis of business and financial journalism in UK mainstream news outlets (BBC News at Ten, Guardian, Telegraph, Sun, Mirror) since the 2007-9 financial crisis. The critique focuses on three aspects of the coverage: lack of historical contextualisation; lack of diversity in the political views and economic interpretations of events; lack of global contextualisation. Result from these deficiences, Basu argues, the media has actively produced amnesia about the causes of the economic crisis, thereby contributing, wittingly or not, to the legitimation of neoliberal policies adopted as a response to the problems. Mainstream news media is obviously an easy target for critique when it comes to economic coverage, and the theoretical perspectives adopted to explain why (financial) journalism fails us - including its professional practices and values, and the economic, political and ideological pressures of commercialised media - are hardly innovative in media research. Nevertheless, the critical readings of news are grounded in a well-constructed account of major postwar developments in the global political economy, and the book includes references to an impressive range of recent critical and heterodox debates on economic theory and policy.