How to Read Economic News: A Critical Approach to Economic Journalism

Closely examining how the news media reports economic and financial matters, this book equips students with solid methodological skills for reading and interpreting the news alongside a toolkit for best practice as an economic journalist.

How to Read Economic News combines theory and practice to explore the discourse surrounding economics in the mass media and how this specialised form of reporting can be improved. Beginning by introducing major concepts such as financialised economic reporting, media amnesia and loss of trust, the book goes on to help students to interpret, understand and analyse existing news discourse and to identify subtle biases in news reports stemming from hegemonic belief systems. The final section puts this analytical knowledge into practice, providing students with methods for the critical production of news and covering such skills as identifying newsworthiness, story sourcing, achieving clarity, and using complex datasets in news stories.

This is a key text for students and academics in the fields of financial journalism and critical discourse analysis who wish to approach the subject with a critical eye.

Dr Henry Silke is a lecturer in the Department of Journalism at the University of Limerick. His research interests include ideology and how it manifests in the media. He has previously published work looking at the role of journalism in economic and political crises.

Dr Fergal Quinn is a lecturer in Journalism at the University of Limerick. He worked for over a decade as a print and multimedia journalist. His research interests include the representation of minorities and societal inequality in journalism output, and journalism training, particularly in developing world and post-conflict environments.

Dr Maria Rieder is a lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics at the University of Limerick. Her research is concerned with the critical role of language in situations of economic and social inequality. She has been involved in research on media and social protest, issues of immigration and asylum, critical intercultural communication and minority languages and economics. Her published work focuses on social and economic inequality, human rights and minority communities.