Television news and the economy: inflation in Britain

In: Media, Culture & Society, Volume 20, Issue 3, p. 451-470

Abstract

This study looks at television coverage of the economy through analysis of the issue of inflation. A year-long corpus of material from the BBC and ITN is surveyed. The focus is on the way this medium handles explanations of the causes of inflation — and on the political implications that follow. The agenda that emerges is broadly based in political terms and reification of the economy is not found to be a common feature of the coverage. Explanations for the contours of the agenda (and omissions from it) are sought in terms of newsroom practice and the location of the coverage within a broader discourse of economic ideas.