Media and Financial Crises

Steve Schifferes is Marjorie Deane Professor of Financial Journalism at City University London. He covered the financial crisis for BBC News. Richard Roberts is professor at the Institute of Contemporary British History, King’s College London. Publications include studies of HSBC, Schroders, the City, Wall Street, Bank of England and Equitable Life.

"This elegantly conceived and meticulously executed collection scores a palpable double hit: deepening our understanding of financial crises and transforming our knowledge of financial journalism. Above all it marks a historiographical step-change through its sophisticated reading across the last two centuries of that elusive but symbiotic relationship between the ‘actors’ (whether individuals or markets) and their interpreters in the media. To anyone seriously interested in financial matters, this is a mandatory text."David Kynaston, professional historian and author of The Financial Times: A Centenary History"This is a cogent and multidimensional examination of business and financial reporting during times of economic crises and commercial fiascos. It provides insightful and integrated analysis of the roles, quandaries and performance of media during economic shocks across the past two centuries and is a compelling appraisal of how media cover and influence economic, financial, and commercial activities and public responses." Robert G. Picard, Reuters Institute, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford"The media and the financial sectors are both criticised for being over-powerful and lacking public accountability. This collection of essays - from some of the most knowledgeable academics with experience of both fields - tackles that issue head-on and is essential reading for anyone interested in the role and effectiveness of business journalism."Richard Sambrook, Professor of Journalism and Director of the Centre for Journalism, Cardiff University

• Editors’ Introduction Overview: Soothsayers of Doom? PART I The Banking Crisis and the Media 1. Willful Blindness: The Media's Power Problem 2. Why the Media Got It Right 3. The US Media and the 2009 Stimulus Package 4. The British Media and the ‘First Crisis of Globalization’ 5. From Wall Street to Main Street: Australian Finance and Business Journalism and the Crisis PART II The Euro-Crisis and the Media 6. The Irish Press, Politicians, and the Celtic Tiger Economy 7. The Spanish Press: No Illusions 8. European Media Views of the Greek Crisis PART III Challenges for the Media 9. What Are Financial Journalists For? 10. The Media and the Crisis: An Information Theoretic Approach 11.Why the Public Doesn’t Trust the Business Press 12. The Mediation of Financial Information Flows: Traders, Analysts, Journalists 13. Paying for Crisis News: The Dilemmas of News Organizations PART IV The Lessons of History 14. Financial Crises and the Birth of the Financial Press, 1825–1880 15. Boom, Crisis, Bust: Speculators, Promoters, and City Journalists, 1880–1914 16. ‘Run on the Bank’: Covering the 1914 Financial Crisis 17. The Pound and the Press, 1919–1972 18. ‘Goodbye, Great Britain’? The Press, the Treasury, and the1976 IMF Crisis PART V Media Messengers Under Interrogation 19 UK Financial Journalists Quizzed by MPs