Media Discourse During the Financial Crisis: An Inquiry into the Nature of the Contemporary "Fourth Estate"

Conclusion

Establishing any causal connection between media propriety and content has proven inherently problematic for communications scholars and was never the intention of this study. The complexities of my research demanded a post positivist approach without a hypothesis as the assertion that our contemporary fourth estate represents its own narrow business interests and actively supports a neoliberal agenda, cannot be scientifically proven. However as Bachrach and Baratz have illustrated, just because something is not objectively measurable does not mean it does not exist.145 My intention was to demonstrate through the empirical analysis of media discourse and ownership how the nature of our fourth estate has altered dramatically in recent decades, to the extent that it’s unchallenged status as an integral part of the democratic process, as a fourth estate of government, should be reconsidered.

This study has demonstrated a propensity for media outlets to frame stories in a way which legitimises neoliberal economic orthodoxy and suppress criticism of the political economic doctrine; through such behaviour the fourth estate can be seen to represent the commercial interests of society instead of the public good. This bias appears to be more profound amongst purely commercially operated enterprises but, given the free market environment our contemporary fourth estate has to operate in also affects not for profit organisations which strive to protect their impartiality.

Analysis of media discourse during the financial crisis offered the best opportunity to evaluate the media’s performance as a platform for rational critical debate; and offered a tentative explanation of how neoliberalism managed to reassert itself as the only viable ideological option for liberal democracies. It established that our fourth estate exercises a degree of normative hegemony over society by promoting an ideology which benefits its own commercial interest instead of the public good and through a mobilisation of bias, restricts a natural discursive process fundamental to the functioning of representative liberal democracies.

Our critical analysis of elite media reaction to the financial crisis has also illustrated the degenerative effect a commercialised fourth estate can have on the democratic process. Affecting an agent-centred constructivist approach it demonstrated how contemporary media output is distorting the public sphere and retarding a natural persuasive process which allows free societies to endogenously react and adapt to an ever changing global environment.

It has been posited through the empirical analysis of newspaper discourse that the fourth estate, distorted by market forces, represents its own narrow commercial interests instead of wider society. Such an evolution has grave implications for what we call liberal democracies and demonstrates how our own ideals, expectations and the fundamental role of the media as a unique estate of government needs to be revised.

The degenerative effects, or externalities, of commercialisation, evidenced by this study, should not be condemned as a new phenomenon, but rather viewed as an inherent characteristic of the media made more profound through neoliberal market deregulation in the 1980s. Our fourth estate has always operated in a market environment and been a commercial enterprise. In fact as Jürgen Habermas demonstrates, the free-press was in fact a product of free-markets, the commodification of information, where commercialised news developed in the seventeenth century to assist the business interests of society. The institution was conceived to represent and protect commerce as the state began to regulate primitive free-market economies.146

From such an ontological approach it seems liberal democratic notions of the media serving democracy as a public utility, representing the interests of wider society, may indeed have been a unique historical moment where the media was viewed as a sacred institution, enshrined in legislation to protect it from the very market forces that created it. The fourth estate grew from the free market to function as a watchdog over the state on behalf of commerce, and as demonstrated by this research, once more represents a narrow section of society ensuring the states principal concern is to uphold the sanctity of the free-market.

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References

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Arrow, Kenneth, “Political and Economic Evaluation of Social Effects and Externalities,” in, Margolis, Julius ed, “The Analysis of Public Output” (UMI, 1970).

Bachrach, Peter & Baratz, Morton, “Two Faces of Power” (The American Political Science Review, Volume 56, Issue 4, December 1962).

Bishop, John H & Bishop, Michael M, “An Economic Theory of Academic Engagement Norms: The Struggle for Popularity and Normative Hegemony in Secondary Schools” (CAHRS Working Paper Series, 2007).

Calhoun, Craig, “Habermas and the Public Sphere” (Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1992).

Carragee, Kevin M & Roefs, Wim, “The Neglect of Power in Recent Framing Research,” (Journal of Communication, Issue 54, June 2004).

Chang, Byeng-Hee & Chan-Olmsted, “Relative Constancy of Advertising Spending: A Cross-National Examination of Advertising Expenditures and their Determinants.” (The International Journal for Communication Studies, Volume 67, Issue 4, June 2005).

Declare, John, in Lauw, Eric, “The Media and Political Process” (London: Sage, 2010).

Editorial, “Banking Bail-Out: Bonfire of the Certainties” (The Guardian, 14/10/08, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database).

Editorial, “Has Capitalism Failed?,” (The Times 14/10/08, accessed 04/06/14, on LexisNexis database).

Editorial, “Liberal Democrats: The Lure of False Friends” (The Guardian, 21/09/09, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database).

Editorial, “One Week and the World: UN and G20 Meetings” (The Guardian, 21/09/09, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database).

Elliot, Larry, “Brown won’t save our jobs. But he may save his own: The G20 deal still leaves fundamental problems, despite the PM’s upbeat view – yet any recovery could swing an election” (The Guardian, 03/04/09, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database).

Entman, Robert, “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm” (Journal of Communication, Volume 43, Issue 4, 1993).

Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink Kathryn, “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change” (International Organisation, Volume 52, Number 4, International Organisation at Fifty: Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics, Autumn, 1998).

Flew, Terry and Gilmour, Callum, “A Tale of Two Synergies: An Institutional Analysis of the Expansionary Strategies of News Corporation and AOL – Time Warner” (Presentation Paper, Managing Communication for Diversity, Australia and New Zealand Communications Association Conference, Brisbane, 9-11 July, 2003).

Freedland, Jonathan, “Our leaders are impotent to tame the beast: this crisis is one of democracy: Politicians’ limitations have been laid bare during these tumultuous weeks. If ever they can assert strength, it is now” (The Guardian, 08/10/08, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database).

Guardian Media Group, “Securing the long-term future of the Guardian,” (Annual Reports and Accounts 2009, accessed on 22/07/2014).

Guardian Media Group, “The Scott Trust is a Unique form of Media Ownership in the UK,” The Scott Trust, (http://www.gmgplc.co.uk/the-scott-trust/, accessed 17/07/14), p.1.

Habermas, Jürgen, “The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society” (Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1989).

Halsall, Robert, “Signs of Crisis and Recovery: Geographical Imaginaries in Press Coverage of the Financial Crisis in the UK and German Press 2008-2009” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2013).

Hartz, Ronald, “Reclaiming the Truth of the Market in Times of Crisis: Course, Transformation and Strategies of a Liberal Discourse in Germany” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2012).

Herman, Edward, & Chomsky, Noam, “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media” (New York: Random House, 1988).

Jenkins, Simon, “The end of capitalism? No, just another burst bubble: Those drooling over the free-markets collapse are wrong: This passing crisis is down to lax regulation and craven ministers.”(The Guardian 15/10/08, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database).

Lapid, Yosef, “The Third Debate: On the Prospects of International Theory in a Post-Positivist Era,” (International Studies Quarterly, Volume 33, Number 3, Sept 1993).

Lauw, Eric, “The Media and Political Process” (London: Sage, 2010).

Leader’s Statement, “The Pittsburgh Summit,” September 24-25 2009, (https://www.g20.org/sites/default/files/g20_resources/library/Pittsburgh_Declaration_0.pdf, accessed 19/07/2014).

McChesney, Robert, “Global Media, Neoliberalism and Imperialism” (Monthly Review, Volume 52, Issue 10, March 2001).

McChesney, Robert, “Journalism, Democracy,…and Class Struggle” (Monthly Review, Volume 52, Number 6, 2000).

McChesney, Robert, “The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas” (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2008).

McNair, Brian, “An Introduction to Political Communication” (London: Routledge, 2011).

McKnight, David, “Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation: A Media Institution with A Mission” (Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Volume 30, Issue 3).

Monbiot, George, “This stock collapse is pretty when compared to the nature crunch: The financial crisis at least affords us an opportunity to now rethink our catastrophic ecological trajectory,” (The Guardian, 14/10/08, accessed on 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database).

Mudge, Stephanie Lee, “What is neo-liberalism?” (Socio-Economic review, Volume 6, Issue 4, August 2008).

National Readership Survey, “Newspapers,” March 2013, (Monthly Circulation), (National Readership Survey, http://www.nrs.co.uk/downloads/padd-files/pdf/padd-apr12_mar13-newspapers.pdf, accessed 31/07/14).

News Corporation, “Annual Report,” (http://investors.newscorp.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-13-373501&CIK=1564708 , accessed 07/07/14).

Neumann, Russel, Just, Marion & Crigler, Ann, “Common Knowledge: News and the Construction of Political Meaning” (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992).

Orwell, George, Appendix I, Orwell’s proposed preface to Animal Farm, “THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS,” in, “Animal Farm: A Fairy Story,” (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995), pp. 207-208.

Peck, J, Theodore, N & Brenner, N, “Postneoliberalism and its Malcontents” (Antipode, Volume 41, Number 51, 2009).

Picard, Robert & van Weezel Aldo, “Capital and Control: Consequences of Different Forms of Newspaper Ownership,” (The International Journal on Media Management, Volume 10, Issue 22, 2008).

Picard, Robert, “Commercialism and Newspaper Quality” (Newspaper Research Journal, Volume 25, Number 1, winter, 2004).

Picard, Robert, “Shifts in Newspaper Advertising Expenditures and their Implications for the Future of Newspapers” (Journalism Studies, Volume 9, Issue 5, 2008).

Rojecki, Andrew, “Rhetorical Alchemy: American Exceptionalism and the War on Terror” (Political Communication, Volume 25, Issue 1, 2008).

Stiglitz, Joseph, “The End of Neoliberalism?” (Project Syndicate, 2008, http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-end-of-neo-liberalism- accessed on 20/06/14).

Widmaier, Wesley, Blyth and Seabroke, “Symposium of the Social: Construction of Wars and Crises as Openings for Change: Exogenous Shocks or Endogenous Constructions? The Meanings of Wars and Crises” (International Studies Quarterly Volume 51, Number 4, December 2007).

Winseck, Dwayne, “The State of Media Ownership and Media Markets: Competition or Concentration and Why Should We Care?” (Sociology Compass, Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2008).

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Data Sample

492 Newspaper Articles. All articles accessed from LexisNexis database 04/06/14

Week 1: 08/10/2008 – 15/10/2008

• 176 Editorial & Opinion Articles; 76 Frames
• The Guardian: 73 Articles; 38 Frames
• The Times: 76 Articles; 25 Frames
• The Sun: 27 Articles; 13 Frames

Week 2: 30/03/2009 – 06/04/2009

• 146 Editorial & Opinion Articles; 30 Frames
• The Guardian: 68 Articles; 13 Frames
• The Times: 54 Articles; 12 Frames
• The Sun: 24 Articles; 5 Frames

Week 3: 21/09/2009 – 28/09/2009

• 170 Editorials & Opinion Articles; 10 Frames
• The Guardian: 82 Articles; 3 Frames
• The Times: 57 Articles; 7 Frames
• The Sun: 31 Articles; 0 Frames

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Endnotes

1. Orwell, George, Appendix I, Orwell’s proposed preface to Animal Farm, “THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS,” in, “Animal Farm: A Fairy Story,” (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995), pp. 207-208.
2. Declare, John, in Lauw, Eric, “The Media and Political Process” (London: Sage, 2010). p.49
3. McNair, Brian, “An Introduction to Political Communication” (London: Routledge, 2011). pp.18-20.
4. Lauw, Eric, “The Media and Political Process” (London: Sage, 2010). p. 48.
5. Ibid.
6. McChesney, Robert, “Global Media, Neoliberalism and Imperialism” (Monthly Review, Volume 52, Issue 10, March 2001), p.2.
7. Winseck, Dwayne, “The State of Media Ownership and Media Markets: Competition or Concentration and Why Should We Care?” (Sociology Compass, Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2008), p.37.
8. McChesney, Robert, “Global Media, Neoliberalism and Imperialism” (Monthly Review, Volume 52, Issue 10, March 2001), p.12.
9. McChesney, Robert, “Journalism, Democracy,…and Class Struggle” (Monthly Review, Volume 52, Number 6, 2000), p.3.
10. Lapid, Yosef, “The Third Debate: On the Prospects of International Theory in a Post-Positivist Era,” (International Studies Quarterly, Volume 33, Number 3, Sept 1993), p.240.
11. Hartz, Ronald, “Reclaiming the Truth of the Market in Times of Crisis: Course, Transformation and Strategies of a Liberal Discourse in Germany” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2012), p.139.
12. Halsall, Robert, “Signs of Crisis and Recovery: Geographical Imaginaries in Press Coverage of the Financial Crisis in the UK and German Press 2008-2009” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2013), p.377.
13. Peck, J, Theodore, N & Brenner, N, “Postneoliberalism and its Malcontents” (Antipode, Volume 41, Number 51, 2009), pp. 99-100.
14. Ibid. p.95.
15. Ibid. p.100.
16. Halsall, Robert, “Signs of Crisis and Recovery: Geographical Imaginaries in Press Coverage of the Financial Crisis in the UK and German Press 2008-2009” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2013), p.384.
17. Freedland, Jonathan, “Our leaders are impotent to tame the beast: this crisis is one of democracy: Politicians’ limitations have been laid bare during these tumultuous weeks. If ever they can assert strength, it is now” (The Guardian, 08/10/08, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database), p.29.
18. Editorial, “Banking Bail-Out: Bonfire of the Certainties” (The Guardian, 14/10/08, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database), p.34.
19. Elliot, Larry, “Brown won’t save our jobs. But he may save his own: The G20 deal still leaves fundamental problems, despite the PM’s upbeat view – yet any recovery could swing an election” (The Guardian, 03/04/09, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database), p.39.
20. Editorial, “One Week and the World: UN and G20 Meetings” (The Guardian, 21/09/09, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database), p.32.
21. Editorial, “Liberal Democrats: The Lure of False Friends” (The Guardian, 21/09/09, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database), p.32.
22. National Readership Survey, “Newspapers,” March 2013, (Monthly Circulation), The Sun: 16,986,000; The Guardian 12,459,000; The Times 5,402,000. (National Readership Survey, http://www.nrs.co.uk/downloads/padd-files/pdf/padd-apr12_mar13-newspapers.pdf, accessed 31/07/14), p.1.
23. Rojecki, Andrew, “Rhetorical Alchemy: American Exceptionalism and the War on Terror” (Political Communication, Volume 25, Issue 1, 2008), p.73.
24. “The Scott Trust,” (Guardian Media Group website, http://www.gmgplc.co.uk/the-scott-trust/ accessed 07/07/14), p.1.
25. Ibid.
26. Picard, Robert & van Weezel Aldo, “Capital and Control: Consequences of Different Forms of Newspaper Ownership,” (The International Journal on Media Management, Volume 10, Issue 22, 2008), pp.23-27.
27. News Corporation, “Annual Report,” (http://investors.newscorp.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-13-373501&CIK=1564708 , accessed 07/07/14), p.165.
28. National Readership Survey, “Newspapers,” March 2013, Monthly Circulation, (National Readership Survey, http://www.nrs.co.uk/downloads/padd-files/pdf/padd-apr12_mar13-newspapers.pdf, accessed 31/07/14), p.1.
29. Entman, Robert, “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm” (Journal of Communication, Volume 43, Issue 4, 1993), p.51.
30. Ibid. p.52.
31. Ibid. p.57.
32. Hartz, Ronald, “Reclaiming the Truth of the Market in Times of Crisis: Course, Transformation and Strategies of a Liberal Discourse in Germany” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2012), pp.139-152.
33. Halsall, Robert, “Signs of Crisis and Recovery: Geographical Imaginaries in Press Coverage of the Financial Crisis in the UK and German Press 2008-2009” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2013), pp.337-393.
34. Peck, J, Theodore, N & Brenner, N, “Postneoliberalism and its Malcontents” (Antipode, Volume 41, Number 51, 2009), p.95.
35. Stiglitz, Joseph, “The End of Neoliberalism?” (Project Syndicate, 2008, http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-end-of-neo-liberalism- accessed on 20/06/14), p.1.
36. Peck, J, Theodore, N & Brenner, N, “Postneoliberalism and its Malcontents” (Antipode, Volume 41, Number 51, 2009), pp.96-106.
37. Mudge, Stephanie Lee, “What is neo-liberalism?” (Socio-Economic review, Volume 6, Issue 4, August 2008), p.704.
38. Habermas, Jurgen, “The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society” (MIT Press: Massachusetts, 1989), pp.2-27.
39. Ibid. p.60.
40. Calhoun, Craig, “Habermas and the Public Sphere” (MIT Press: Massachusetts, 1992), pp.23-28.
41. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink Kathryn, “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change” (International Organisation, Volume 52, Number 4, International Organisation at Fifty: Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics, Autumn, 1998), p.888.
42. Ibid. p.891.
43. Ibid. p.904.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid. p.906.
46. Mudge, Stephanie Lee, “What is neo-liberalism?” (Socio-Economic review, Volume 6, Issue 4, August 2008), p.705.
47. Bishop, John H & Bishop, Michael M, “An Economic Theory of Academic Engagement Norms: The Struggle for Popularity and Normative Hegemony in Secondary Schools” (CAHRS Working Paper Series, 2007), p.4.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid. p.5.
50. Ibid.p.4.
51. Bachrach, Peter & Baratz, Morton S, “Two Faces of Power” (The American Political Science Review, Volume 56, Issue 4, December 1962), p.949.
52. Ibid. p.948.
53. Orwell, George, Appendix I, Orwell’s proposed preface to Animal Farm, “THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS,” in, “Animal Farm: A Fairy Story,” (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995), pp. 207-208.
54. Bachrach, Peter & Baratz, Morton S, “Two Faces of Power” (The American Political Science Review, Volume 56, Issue 4, December 1962), p.952.
55. Widmaier, Wesley, Blyth and Seabroke, “Symposium of the Social: Construction of Wars and Crises as Openings for Change: Exogenous Shocks or Endogenous Constructions? The Meanings of Wars and Crises” (International Studies Quarterly Volume 51, Number 4, December 2007), pp.748-753.
56. Ibid. p749.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid. p.752.
59. Rojecki, Andrew, “Rhetorical Alchemy: American Exceptionalism and the War on Terror” (Political Communication, Volume 25, Issue 1, 2008), p.73.
60. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink Kathryn, “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change” (International Organisation, Volume 52, Number 4, International Organisation at Fifty: Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics, Autumn, 1998), p.897.
61. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink Kathryn, “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change” (International Organisation, Volume 52, Number 4, International Organisation at Fifty: Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics, Autumn, 1998), p.896.
62. Ibid. p.897.
63. Ibid.
64. Ibid. p.895
65. Ibid. p.
66. Entman, Robert, “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm” (Journal of Communication, Volume 43, Issue 4, 1993), p. 52.
67. Neumann, Russel, Just, Marion & Crigler, Ann, “Common Knowledge: News and the Construction of Political Meaning” (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992), p.60.
68. Entman, Robert, “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm” (Journal of Communication, Volume 43, Issue 4, 1993), p.53.
69. Ibid. p.52.
70. Ibid. p.53.
71. Ibid. p.54.
72. Ibid.
73. Ibid.
74. Ibid. p.55.
75. Rojecki, Andrew, “Rhetorical Alchemy: American Exceptionalism and the War on Terror” (Political Communication, Volume 25, Issue 1, 2008), p.82.
76. Ibid. p.55.
77. Carragee, Kevin M & Roefs, Wim, “The Neglect of Power in Recent Framing Research,” (Journal of Communication, Issue 54, June 2004), p.214.
78. Ibid. p.221.
79. Ibid. p.221.
80. Ibid. p.222.
81. Altheide, David, “Media Hegemony: A Failure of Perspective” (Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 48, 1984), p.479.
82. Carragee, Kevin M & Roefs, Wim, “The Neglect of Power in Recent Framing Research,” (Journal of Communication, Issue 54, June 2004), p.223.
83. Rojecki, Andrew, “Rhetorical Alchemy: American Exceptionalism and the War on Terror” (Political Communication, Volume 25, Issue 1, 2008), p. 73.
84. Entman, Robert, “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm” (Journal of Communication, Volume 43, Issue 4, 1993), pp.51-57.
85. Ibid. p.52.
86. Ibid.
87. Ibid.
88. Rojecki, Andrew, “Rhetorical Alchemy: American Exceptionalism and the War on Terror” (Political Communication, Volume 25, Issue 1, 2008), p.73.
89. Entman, Robert, “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm” (Journal of Communication, Volume 43, Issue 4, 1993), p.53.
90. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink Kathryn, “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change” (International Organisation, Volume 52, Number 4, International Organisation at Fifty: Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics, Autumn, 1998).pp.888-894.
91. Peck, J, Theodore, N & Brenner, N, “Postneoliberalism and its Malcontents” (Antipode, Volume 41, Number 51, 2009). P.103.
92. Bachrach, Peter & Baratz, Morton, “Two Faces of Power” (The American Political Science Review, Volume 56, Issue 4, December 1962). pp. 952-949.
93. Halsall, Robert, “Signs of Crisis and Recovery: Geographical Imaginaries in Press Coverage of the Financial Crisis in the UK and German Press 2008-2009” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2013). P392.
94. Hartz, Ronald, “Reclaiming the Truth of the Market in Times of Crisis: Course, Transformation and Strategies of a Liberal Discourse in Germany” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2012). P.146.
95. Entman, Robert, “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm” (Journal of Communication, Volume 43, Issue 4, 1993). P.53.
96. Widmaier, Wesley, Blyth and Seabroke, “Symposium of the Social: Construction of Wars and Crises as Openings for Change: Exogenous Shocks or Endogenous Constructions? The Meanings of Wars and Crises” (International Studies Quarterly Volume 51, Number 4, December 2007). p.752.
97. Rojecki, Andrew, “Rhetorical Alchemy: American Exceptionalism and the War on Terror” (Political Communication, Volume 25, Issue 1, 2008). p.73.
98. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink Kathryn, “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change” (International Organisation, Volume 52, Number 4, International Organisation at Fifty: Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics, Autumn, 1998). p.896.
99. Guardian Media Group, “The Scott Trust is a Unique form of Media Ownership in the UK,” The Scott Trust, (http://www.gmgplc.co.uk/the-scott-trust/, accessed 17/07/14), p.1.
100. Editorial, “Banking Bail-Out: Bonfire of the Certainties” (The Guardian, 14/10/08, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database), p.34.
101. Hartz, Ronald, “Reclaiming the Truth of the Market in Times of Crisis: Course, Transformation and Strategies of a Liberal Discourse in Germany” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2012), p.139.
102. Peck, J, Theodore, N & Brenner, N, “Postneoliberalism and its Malcontents” (Antipode, Volume 41, Number 51, 2009), pp. 99-100.
103. Widmaier, Wesley, Blyth and Seabroke, “Symposium of the Social: Construction of Wars and Crises as Openings for Change: Exogenous Shocks or Endogenous Constructions? The Meanings of Wars and Crises” (International Studies Quarterly Volume 51, Number 4, December 2007). Pp753-754.
104. Editorial, “Has Capitalism Failed?,” (The Times 14/10/08, accessed 04/06/14, on LexisNexis database), p.2.
105. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink Kathryn, “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change” (International Organisation, Volume 52, Number 4, International Organisation at Fifty: Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics, Autumn, 1998), p. 888.
106. Monbiot, George, “This stock collapse is pretty when compared to the nature crunch: The financial crisis at least affords us an opportunity to now rethink our catastrophic ecological trajectory,” (The Guardian, 14/10/08, accessed on 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database), p.31.
107. Jenkins, Simon, “The end of capitalism? No, just another burst bubble: Those drooling over the free-markets collapse are wrong: This passing crisis is down to lax regulation and craven ministers.”(The Guardian 15/10/08, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database), p.29.
108. Ibid. p.897.
109. Ibid. p. 894.
110. Ibid. pp.894-895.
111. Elliot, Larry, “Brown won’t save our jobs. But he may save his own: The G20 deal still leaves fundamental problems, despite the PM’s upbeat view – yet any recovery could swing an election” (The Guardian, 03/04/09, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database), p.1.
112. Ibid.
113. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink Kathryn, “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change” (International Organisation, Volume 52, Number 4, International Organisation at Fifty: Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics, Autumn, 1998), p. 902.
114. Halsall, Robert, “Signs of Crisis and Recovery: Geographical Imaginaries in Press Coverage of the Financial Crisis in the UK and German Press 2008-2009” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2013). pp.337-393.
115. Leader’s Statement, “The Pittsburgh Summit,” September 24-25 2009, (https://www.g20.org/sites/default/files/g20_resources/library/Pittsburgh_Declaration_0.pdf, accessed 19/07/2014), p2.
116. Editorial, “One Week and the World: UN and G20 Meetings” (The Guardian, 21/09/09, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database). p.32.
117. Editorial, “Liberal Democrats: The Lure of False Friends” (The Guardian, 21/09/09, accessed 04/06/14 on LexisNexis database), p.32.
118. Rojecki, Andrew, “Rhetorical Alchemy: American Exceptionalism and the War on Terror” (Political Communication, Volume 25, Issue 1, 2008). P.73.
119. Ibid, p.82.
120. Ibid, pp.73-83.
121. Halsall, Robert, “Signs of Crisis and Recovery: Geographical Imaginaries in Press Coverage of the Financial Crisis in the UK and German Press 2008-2009” (Culture and Organisation, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2013), pp. 377-393.
122. Guardian Media Group, “Securing the long-term future of the Guardian,” (Annual Reports and Accounts 2009, accessed on 22/07/2014), p.1.
123. Ibid.
124. Picard, Robert & Van Weezel Aldo, “Capital and Control: Consequences of Different Forms of Newspaper Ownership,” (The International Journal of Media Management, Volume 10, Issue 22, 2008), p.27.
125. Guardian Media Group, “Securing the long-term future of the Guardian,” (Annual Reports and Accounts 2009, accessed on 22/07/2014), p. 2.
126. News Corporation, “Annual Report,” (http://investors.newscorp.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-13-373501&CIK=1564708 , accessed 07/07/14),p.167.
127. McKnight, David, “Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation: A Media Institution with A Mission” (Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Volume 30, Issue 3), p.304.
128. Picard, Robert & Van Weezel Aldo, “Capital and Control: Consequences of Different Forms of Newspaper Ownership,” (The International Journal of Media Management, Volume 10, Issue 22, 2008), pp.25-26.
129. News Corporation, “Annual Report,” (http://investors.newscorp.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-13-373501&CIK=1564708 , accessed 07/07/14), p.71.
130. Flew, Terry and Gilmour, Callum, “A Tale of Two Synergies: An Institutional Analysis of the Expansionary Strategies of News Corporation and AOL – Time Warner” (Presentation Paper, Managing Communication for Diversity, Australia and New Zealand Communications Association Conference, Brisbane, 9-11 July, 2003), p.12.
131. Picard, Robert & Van Weezel Aldo, “Capital and Control: Consequences of Different Forms of Newspaper Ownership,” (The International Journal of Media Management, Volume 10, Issue 22, 2008), p.26.
132. Ibid.
133. News Corporation, “Annual Report,” (http://investors.newscorp.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-13-373501&CIK=1564708 , accessed 07/07/14), p.165.
134. Winseck, Dwayne, “The State of Media Ownership and Media Markets: Competition or Concentration and Why Should We Care?” (Sociology Compass, Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2008), p.40.
135. Ibid.
136. Picard, Robert & Van Weezel Aldo, “Capital and Control: Consequences of Different Forms of Newspaper Ownership,” (The International Journal of Media Management, Volume 10, Issue 22, 2008), p.25.
137. Picard, Robert, “Shifts in Newspaper Advertising Expenditures and their Implications for the Future of Newspapers” (Journalism Studies, Volume 9, Issue 5, 2008), p.704.
138. Picard, Robert, “Commercialism and Newspaper Quality” (Newspaper Research Journal, Volume 25, Number 1, winter, 2004), p.60.
139. McChesney, Robert, “The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas” (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2008), p.421.
140. Picard, Robert, “Commercialism and Newspaper Quality” (Newspaper Research Journal, Volume 25, Number 1, Winter, 2004), p.61.
141. Picard, Robert, “Shifts in Newspaper Advertising Expenditures and their Implications for the Future of Newspapers” (Journalism Studies, Volume 9, Issue 5, 2008), p.705.
142. Chang, Byeng-Hee & Chan-Olmsted, “Relative Constancy of Advertising Spending: A Cross-National Examination of Advertising Expenditures and their Determinants.” (The International Journal for Communication Studies, Volume 67, Issue 4, June 2005), pp.339-340.
143. Picard, Robert, “Commercialism and Newspaper Quality” (Newspaper Research Journal, Volume 25, Number 1, Winter, 2004), p.54.
144. McChesney, Robert, “The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas” (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2008), p422.
145. Bachrach, Peter & Baratz, Morton, “Two Faces of Power” (The American Political Science Review, Volume 56, Issue 4, December 1962). p.952.
146. Habermas, Jurgen, “The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society” (MIT Press: Massachusetts, 1989), p21.