# A new book on how the media reported the financial crisis



## Brendan Burgess (12 Sep 2014)

*The  Political Economy and Media Coverage of the European Economic Crisis:  the case of Ireland (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy)*

By Julien Mercile 


It's a very interesting topic.  I am astonished at how the media has reported some recent stuff without questioning it e.g. the Central Bank claiming that the average rate for new mortgage business is 3.15% and the Nevin Institute claiming that the average tax rate  paid by someone earning €159k is 24%.



At £89, I doubt if it will be a best seller. I presume it's aimed at academic libraries. 



The blurb: 




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.*_


----------



## Purple (12 Sep 2014)

From the link;
‘This is one of the most important political economy books of the year. Julien Mercille’s book is set to become the definitive account of the media’s role in Ireland’s spectacular and transformative economic boom and bust. He argues convincingly that critical political economic perspectives are a rarity in the Irish media and Mercille’s devastating critique painstakingly chronicles the persistent failures of the Irish media.’ — *Dr. Tom McDonnell, Macroeconomist at the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI)*

‘Julien Mercille has filled an important gap in our understanding not only of how a nation implemented irrational austerity policies, but how media institutions played a central role in ensuring people tolerated them - from distorting and manipulating facts, to shutting out alternative analysis, Mercille shows that austerity is a first and foremost a political policy which requires an uncritical and compliant media’ — *Michael Taft, Research Officer, Unite the Union*

‘Julien Mercille shows how the "responsible", "balanced", "non-ideological" Irish media, notably including the public service broadcaster, have consistently supported policies that favor elites and disfavor most people, notably people in disadvantaged communities. And that the Irish media do so even more flagrantly than the media elsewhere’ — *Vincent Browne, Broadcaster and journalist*

So an economist from a Trade Union propaganda office, a trade unionist and a loony-left broadcaster think it's great. Now exactly a ringing endorsement!


----------



## Firefly (12 Sep 2014)

Purple said:


> So an economist from a Trade Union propaganda office, a trade unionist and a loony-left broadcaster thing it's great. Now exactly a ringing endorsement!



Maybe that's why the book is so expensive....those champagne socialists don't come cheap you know!


----------



## Steven Barrett (12 Sep 2014)

Since switching to a Kindle a few years ago, I have a load of books on my book shelf that I haven't got near reading. Only last night, I saw one of Matt Cooper's book on who ruined Ireland, sitting there and I thought 'now, there's a book I'll never read'. I have no interest in going back again and getting angry about what went on. 

Anyway, we all know who is the blame...




...Lehman Brothers 


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie


----------



## Brendan Burgess (16 Oct 2014)

Julian has a paper here which might give a flavour of the book 

[broken link removed] 

His argument seems to be 

1) It is obvious to everyone that we should have defaulted on the bonds, the government debt and the Promissory Notes
2) The "elite's"/government's position of not defaulting was clearly wrong 
3) The issue was not discussed much in the mainstream media because the elite controls the media 

It's a bizarre argument on so many fronts 

1) It was not at all obvious at the time that we should have defaulted on the bonds, the government debt and the Promissory Notes.  In retrospect, it's even less obvious. 
2) The cheerleaders for default, like David McWilliams and Constantin Gurdgiev   were given huge prominence. 
3) A majority of articles in the papers actually did  favour default

Here are some quotes from the paper...


 "most of the articles about bondholders advocate some form of haircut for 
  those creditors."


  "Only a total of 28 articles appeared in the three newspapers which addressed the subject of default directly over five years.  Of those, 17 were favorable to the default option, 7 were against it, and 4 adopted a neutral  stance."

  "Since their issuance in 2010, promissory notes have been discussed in 31 opinion articles and editorials. ...only 7 of the articles advocated the cancellation of the notes in their entirety while 19 called for some 
  form of minor rescheduling, which has been exactly the government’s position, as seen in the February 2013 negotiated package replacing the notes with long-term bonds."


----------



## T McGibney (16 Oct 2014)

Mercile attacks Marc Coleman in the book for allegedly predicting a "soft landing" to the bubble. His response is here:


----------



## Brendan Burgess (16 Oct 2014)

Excellent.

They are both presenting in the same session at the Dublin Economics Workshop tomorrow. 

Brendan


----------



## Branz (16 Oct 2014)

From here: [broken link removed]

I see these few modest words:

_My research focuses on global politics, (international) political economy, US foreign policy, media studies, and the 'war on drugs', from a critical political economy perspective. I have published extensively on those subjects in peer-reviewed journals, book manuscripts, as well as in the media. I appear on television and radio regularly as an expert on current affairs.

I received my PhD in 2007 from UCLA (Los Angeles, USA) in geography (geopolitics and US foreign policy). I had previously received an MA from the University of Kentucky (Lexington, USA) in geography, and a BA from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) in International Development Studies and Political Science. 

In addition to my academic writing, I am a regular analyst and commentator for publications such as Asia Times, OpenDemocracy, Truthout, Foreign Policy in Focus, Social Europe Journal, The Irish Times, The Sunday Business Post and Al Jazeera, among others. Also, I often appear as expert and analyst on television and radio for RTE (Ireland's national broadcaster), NewsTalk, Tonight with Vincent Browne, Russia Today and Press TV, among others.
_
ps: his ma paid to have two LLs in the surname   Mercille

mercille beaucoup and all that.


----------



## Purple (16 Oct 2014)

T McGibney said:


> Mercile attacks Marc Coleman in the book for allegedly predicting a "soft landing" to the bubble. His response is here:



That's a very comprehensive rebuttal. I presume Julien Mercil(l)e will now publically apologise.


----------

