The Euro Crisis in the Press : Political Debate in Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom

This book offers a comparative study of the political debate on the Euro crisis in the press. In the tradition of Critical Discourse Analysis, it investigates the ways in which discourse produces and reproduces social domination, and demystifies the hegemony of specific discourses. Combining quantitative content-based and qualitative text-based analyses, the book examines the discursive constructions of the crisis in a selection of broadsheet newspapers in Germany, Poland, and the UK, and discloses their ideological foundations. The analysis of the representations of the crisis, social actors and their agency, and legitimating strategies, including the use of metaphors, demonstrates how neoliberalism determined the hegemonic discourse on the Euro crisis. It resulted in ideologically biased discursive constructions that created and legitimised an image of non-agentic social change. The book will appeal to an international audience of discourse and media studies. It will be of interest to university teachers, graduate and undergraduate students and researchers of international and comparative media studies, political communication, linguistics, and politics. \ Disclaimer 7 Contents 8 About the Author 9 List of Figures 10 List of Tables 11 Chapter 1: Introduction 12 EU and Its Crises 14 Summary of Main Aims, Methods and Tools 15 Research Design 17 Structure of the Book 19 References 20 Chapter 2: Approaching Discourse Analysis of the Euro Crisis 23 Notion of Crisis 23 2008 Financial and Economic Crisis and New Rules of the Game 24 Europeanisation of Debate on the Euro Crisis 27 Euro Crisis as Mediatised Conflict 30 Power and Ideology in Critical Discourse Studies 31 Notions of Text, Discourse and Context 35 Media Models and Crises 35 References 41 Chapter 3: Delineating the Boundaries of Discourse 46 Main Root of the Crisis 46 Main Responsibility for Solving the Crisis 48 Main Mechanism for Responding to the Crisis 49 Primary Broader Response to the Crisis 50 Main Benefit from the Euro Currency 51 Main Harmful Consequence from the Euro Currency 52 Primary Beneficiary from the Euro Crisis 52 Primary Sufferer from the Euro Crises 53 Main Geopolitical Frames 54 Main Portrayal of the Euro Zone Institutions 55 Main Portrayal of the European Central Bank 56 Consequences of the Rescue Measures 57 Initial Findings and Conclusions 58 Chapter 4: Dimensions of the Euro Crisis 60 Sample Description 61 Situation in Italy 63 Situation in Greece 69 Roots of the Euro Crisis 72 Solutions to the Euro Crisis 83 Reforms 83 Fiscal and Political Union 86 Return to National Currencies 88 Role of the European Central Bank 91 Consequences of the Euro Crisis 97 Temporal and Spatial Representations of the Euro Crisis 99 Representation of Time 99 Representation of Space 100 Summary 102 References 102 Primary Sources 103 Chapter 5: Social Actors in the Euro Crisis 107 Crisis as a Major Activated Actor 108 Governments as Activated Players 110 Passivation of Greeks 117 Summary and Implications 118 References 120 List of Primary Sources 120 Chapter 6: Policy Legitimation in the Euro Crisis Discourse 122 Legitimation in CDA Research 123 Neoliberal Legitimation of the Euro Crisis 124 Categories of Legitimation 126 Authorisation 126 Moral Evaluation 128 Rationalisation 129 Mythopoesis 130 Combination of Legitimation Categories 130 Pre-legitimation 133 Summary and Preliminary Conclusions 134 References 134 List of Primary Sources 136 Chapter 7: Metaphors of the Euro Crisis 137 Metaphorical Frames in the Euro Crisis Discourse 139 Natural Disaster 140 Disease 141 War 143 Construction 144 Game and Sports 145 Orientational Metaphors 145 Other Metaphors 146 Concluding Remarks: Power of Metaphors 147 References 149 List of Primary Sources 151 Chapter 8: Conclusions 152 Alternative Stories of the Euro Crisis 158 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research 162 References 164 Primary Sources 165 Annex: Methodology 166 Selection of Newspapers 168 Selection of Time Periods 168 Selection of Content 170 Search Results 170 Number of articles by newspaper: Germany 170 Number of articles by newspaper: Poland 171 Number of articles by newspaper: The United Kingdom 171 Codebook 172 Reliability Test 173 Selection of the Period for In-depth Analysis 174 References 178 Index 179