Economic inequalities have become increasingly prominent in public debate in the last decade as sluggish economic growth, declining or stagnant incomes, high unemployment, and state policy regimes orientated towards austerity dominate many core capitalist regions, often with extreme turbulence in the political arena. Debate over these issues unfolds in both the public sphere and within the academy, with the conversation developing from two disciplinary areas in particular: economics and political economy, and journalism and communication studies. Economic Inequality and News Media brings these fields together. In this interdisciplinary volume, Andrea Grisold and Paschal Preston build on a unique multi-country research project exploring how news media cover and frame issues of economic inequality. Taking media coverage of Thomas Piketty's best-selling Capital in the Twenty-First Century as a case study, this book addresses important blind-spots in the relationship between mainstream media and economics. It interrogates both the failure of economists' to engage with the evolving role of the media as well as journalists' tendency to overlook key aspects of economic processes and power that are politically relevant and of public interest. Grisold and Preston tackle this disconnect and argue for a multi-disciplinary approach in which they acknowledge the crucial role the mass media plays in creating and disseminating economic information. The book explores important questions such as: How do new forms of economic inequality, power, and privilege relate to prevailing theories and conceptualizations of the media? What roles do new trends and forms of economic inequality play in the typical narratives of mediated communication? How do we construct the story of inequality? This eye-opening and transdisciplinary book sheds new light not only on the relation between news media and economic inequality, but also on economic issues more broadly. In an evolving world experiencing the rise of ultra-nationalism, populism, and rampant economic uncertainty, Economic Inequality and News Media is a crucial investigation of the nuances of economic news media.

About the Author
Andrea Grisold is Professor of Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria, and head of the Institute for Heterodox Economics. She is author of numerous papers and books on the interrelations of economics and mass media, and focused on the comparative political economy of the media throughout visiting professorships, e.g. at Trinity College Dublin, University of New Orleans, and Harvard University. Paschal Preston is Professor Emeritus in the School of Communication, Dublin City University (DCU). He is author or editor of multiple books, including The Handbook of European Communication History (2019) and Making the News: Journalism and News Cultures in Europe (2009).

Reviews
...especially significant * Journal of Economic Literature. Vol. 59, No. 2 *
Few issues are as pressing-or as misrepresented in our news media-as economic inequality. Grisold and Preston's highly original and timely intervention is empirically rich, drawing from both qualitative and quantitative analyses to illuminate the often-neglected intersections of economics and media. A critical, but ultimately hopeful book, this is essential reading for anyone interested in how media help obfuscate economic relationships-and what can be done to change it."-Victor Pickard, author of Democracy without Journalism?
How is mainstream news media contributing to the problem of, or a solution for, economic inequality? Grisold and Preston's multidisciplinary team answers this essential question with an extraordinary mastery of economics, media, and linguistics. A must-have volume."-Nuria Almiron, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
This timely and rigorous collection provides an absorbing examination of how, in the wake of Piketty's high-profile book, news media frame discussions about one of the most significant unfolding socio-economic developments of recent times: wealth inequality. It represents an indispensable resource for scholars both of economics and media around the world."-Gillian Doyle, Professor of Media Economics, University of Glasgow



Book Information
ISBN 9780190053901
Author Andrea Grisold
Format Hardback
Page Count 276
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 160mm * 241mm * 20mm