Challenging Economic Journalism Covering Business and Politics in an Age of Uncertainty

This book, inspired partly by journalism's failure to raise early warning flags in the run up to financial crises and by the rise of (economic) populism in recent years, puts forward a framework for economic journalism. It argues that that independent quality economic journalism is essential to the functioning of both the market and democracy but is under threat, and explores questions raised by the decline of media trust: what is the value of economic journalism? And how can journalists change their practices to counter this decline? The book takes a global approach with one chapter focusing on European integration and concludes with an outlook on the future of economic journalism, and the financing of journalism more widely.

1. The Loss of Certainty: Journalism vs. the Economy.- 2. Peculiar Products: The Business of Economic News.- 3. Good, Bad or Ugly: On the Quality of Economic Journalism.- 4. Making Sense: Narratives, Journalism and the Economy.- 5. Media Coverage and Animal Spirits: The Interplay between Economic Journalism and the Economy.- 6. Here, There and Everywhere: Economic Globalization and National Media.- 7. The Case of Europe: A Common Currency without a Common Public Sphere.- 8. From Gate Keeping to Scouting: The Changing Role of Journalism.- 9. What to Cover: Topic Selection and Research.- 10. What’s at Stake: An Outlook for Economic Journalism.

Henrik Müller is Professor and Chair of Economic Policy Journalism at TU Dortmund University, Germany.