|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Journalism, Vol. 7, No. 4,
433-452 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1464884906068361
Financial news journalism
A post-Enron analysis of approaches towards economic and financial news production in the UK
Gillian Doyle
University of Stirling, UK
The collapse of Enron and other corporate scandals have raised concerns about the efficacy of financial journalism. Based on research on where reporters get their ideas for stories and how they approach their work, this article explores the particular circumstances in which production of financial and economic news takes place. The author argues that, while reporters are generally highly sceptical about ‘spin’ and strongly inclined towards highlighting instances of corporate underperformance and mismanagement, the circumstances and constraints they work within nonetheless make it unlikely that financial irregularities obscured within company accounts will be detected on a routine or consistent basis. Moreover, the way in which the commercial sector is organized (with in-depth analysis generally confined to specialist media whose audiences are already financially literate) means that the task of facilitating a sound public grasp over the significance of financial and economic news developments is largely being neglected.
Key Words: agendas • corporate influence • economic journalism • financial journalism • financial press • news decisions • sources
References
- Davis, A. (2000) ‘PR, Business News and Corporate Elite Power’ , Journalism 1(3): 282-304 .[Abstract]
- Davis, A. (2002) Public Relations Democracy: Public Relations, Politics and the Mass Media in Britain. Manchester: Manchester University Press .
- Dreier, P. (1982) ‘Capitalism V the Media: An Analysis of an Ideological Mobilization among Business Leaders’ , Media Culture & Society 4(2): 111-132 .[CrossRef]
- Galbraith, J. K. (2004) The Economics of Innocent Fraud: Truth for Our Time. London: Allen Lane .
- Franklin, B. (1994) Packaging Politics: Political Communications in Britain’s Media Democracy. London: Arnold .
- Glasgow University Media Group (1976) Bad News. London: Routledge .
- Glasgow University Media Group (1980) More Bad News. London: Routledge .
- Goddard, P., J. Corner, N. T. Gavin and K. Richardson (1998) ‘Economic News and the Dynamics of Understanding: The Liverpool Project’, in N. T. Gavin (ed.) The Economy, Media and Public Knowledge, pp. 9-37. Studies in Communication and Society Series, R. Negrine and A. Hansen (eds). London: Leicester University Press .
- Jensen, K. (1987) ‘News as Ideology: Economic Statistics and Political Ritual in Television Network News’ , Journal of Communication 37(1): 8-27 .
- Jones, N. (2000) Sultans of Spin. London: Orion .
- Oborne, P. (2002) ‘Why Does the Press Not Spot Monsters Like This?’ , Evening Standard, 3 July: 55-55 .
- Parsons, W. (1989) The Power of the Financial Press: Journalism and Economic Opinion in Britain and America. Aldershot: Edward Elgar .
- Schlesinger, P. (1990) ‘Rethinking the Sociology of Journalism: Source Strategies and the Limits of Media Centrism’, in M. Ferguson (ed.) Public Communication: The New Imperatives - Future Directions for Media Research. London: Sage .
- Sherman, S. (2002) ‘Enron, Gimme an "E": Uncovering the Uncovered Story’ , Columbia Journalism Review 2(March/April), URL (consulted 20 June 2006): http://www.cjr.org/issues/2002/2/enron-sherman.asp
- Tunstall, J. (ed.) (1971) Journalists at Work. Communication and Society Series. London: Constable .
- Tiffen, R. (1989) News and Power. St Leonards, Australia: Allen & Unwin .
- Tumber, H. (1993) ‘Selling Scandal: Business and the Media’ , Media Culture & Society 15(3): 345-362 .[CrossRef]
- West S, (2005) ‘Sceptical Attitude Is Vital for Accurate Business Journalism’ , UK Press Gazette, 4 March: 9-9 .
- Wintour, P., J. Carvel and T. Branigan (2005) ‘Blair: Economy Is Key to Victory’ , Guardian, 31 March: 1-1 .
 CiteULike  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati What's this?
|
