Birgitte Kjos Fonn

A Hidden Theory in Financial Crisis Journalism? The Case of Norway

Abstract The present article analyses press coverage of the dramatic finance crisis and the ensuing European debt crisis in Europe, in three decisive periods. The authors conduct quantitative and qualitative content analyses of two major mainstream Norwegian newspapers, Aftenposten and Dagbladet, employing concepts and methods from framing theory, to analyse coverage in the framework of two contesting schools in economics. The study finds traces of discussions of finance brokers’ ethics and some discussions of governmental regulations that made the 2008 crisis possible, but few indications of a basic discussion of the system as such. The authors conclude that the crisis was framed more as a superficial, short-term problem (as per a mainstream, neoliberal theory of economics) than as a deeper and long-term system problem (as a more critical ‘political economics’ theory would have held).

It’s the Economy, Stupid: Coverage of the British EU Referendum in Norway

This chapter analyses the coverage in three Norwegian daily newspapers and the online service of the Norwegian public service broadcasting company NRK during the 20 days before and 10 days after the British EU referendum in 2016. The study finds that there were four competing frames in the coverage, two about the outcome of a possible leave vote (negative effects and not particularly negative effects) and two about the reasons for a leave vote: a reaction to social and economic inequality or a reaction to immigration. The negative effects frame was the most salient frame, and it also turned out that a fair share of both effects frames was about economic issues, including long-term and more short-term reactions of the financial markets. Economic issues were however not given the same attention when it came to the situation of the unemployed or ‘working poor’, as the immigration question to an extent overshadowed other messages from ‘ordinary’ interviewees.

Putting a Face on It

In journalism studies, the discussion of objectivity as a strategic ritual is long stand-ing, while the impact of subjectivity and emotion upon journalism has received much less attention. During t ...