Ángel Arrese

The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by an infodemic in which trust in news played an essential role. This article analyzes how this trust can be divided into two components, institutional and non-institutional, which are differentially related to beliefs about COVID-19 and perceptions of receiving misinformation and disinformation. Based on a survey conducted in three European countries (Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom), the study confirms that higher levels of institutional news trust (the trust dimension correlated more with trust in the news media, government, politicians, national and global health organizations, and scientists) are a good predictor of both better knowledge of COVID-19 myths and misstatements, and lower perceptions of being surrounded by false and misleading information about the virus. The research also highlights the special role of media and political sources in strengthening the institutional dimension of news trust.

Several traditions of economic journalism have been shaped over time worldwide, depending on economic and political systems, and on journalistic practices in different countries. Although Anglo-Saxon media have constituted an almost universal reference point in the practice of business journalism, historically, three journalistic approaches have guided the growth of this news subfield: the British (United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries), with a strong emphasis on information about financial markets; the European-continental (Central Europe, Mediterranean and Nordic Countries, etc.), with a greater emphasis on the economy and its interrelation with politics; and the approach in the United States, where corporations dominate economic life. Likewise, the practice of economic journalism has been very different (and continues to be so today) in countries with democratic regimes (in addition to those mentioned above, big countries such as Brazil, India, etc.) as opposed to countries with more authoritarian systems (China, countries of East and Southeast Asia, Russia, some Latin American countries, etc.). Finally, the different degree of economic and political development – as has happened and is happening in many African countries – also conditions the role and development of a fully professional economic journalism. This chapter analyzes how these different circumstances and journalistic traditions affect the practice of business journalism in three main subfields: economic news, business news and financial news. The chapter also analyzes how these differences translate into ethical dilemmas, professional challenges and journalistic styles that remain very varied worldwide.

The news and economic activity are two closely related phenomena. Ever since writing helped human beings to manage in society, the recording and transmission of relevant information about events related to their economic and commercial activities have been essential tasks. However, it was not until the sixteenth century, one hundred years after Gutenberg developed the use of movable type, and during a period of great commercial expansion resulting from the discovery and exploitation of the New World, that we can speak of the creation of stable and advanced systems for the dissemination of economic news. Since then, the development of economic journalism has been marked by the intersection of historical events in several interrelated fields: the history of economics and finance, the history of economic thought, the history of technology, and the history of media and journalism. This chapter examines this evolution in five stages, coinciding with the development of commercial capitalism (price currents), industrial capitalism (economic magazines), financial capitalism (financial newspapers and business magazines), state capitalism (economic newspapers, business sections in general dailies, and the first audiovisual business news), and popular capitalism (popularization of business and economic news and development of multimedia content). In all of these phases, economic and financial booms and busts, the struggle between new and old economic ideas, certain social and political changes, the emergence of new professions, and the implementation of technological advances have been the key factors in the configuration of economic and business journalism.

The image of a country conveyed by the international media is increasingly important in a globalised and interdependent world. Some of these international outlets have a special role to play in this process, and the British weekly The Economist is certainly one of them. For more than a century and a half, the publication founded by James Wilson in 1843 has been a reference for politicians, opinion leaders and businessmen around the world. For this reason, it is of particular interest to understand the magazine’s special way of contextualising news events in different latitudes from the perspective of each country’s ‘national character.’ From this perspective, we analyze the image of Spain offered by The Economist throughout its history from the understanding of the interest that has always had for the professionals of the British weekly the interpretation of current affairs in the context of the so-called ‘national character’ of a country. After the thematic analysis of nine supplements on Spain published by the weekly between 1972 and 2018, six features have been highlighted that would consistently configure the ‘national character’ of this country for the weekly. These six traits are: a country in transition; a diverse country; a festive, hospitable and tolerant country; a country with an inefficient administration; a country with a weak economy; and an artistic and unscientific country. A better understanding of these stable features can be of great importance for better managing a country’s international projection.

[Abstract] This article analyzes the extent to which certain cultural dimensions explain the intensity with which citizens of different countries perceive the presence of fake news in their daily lives. The research is based on the Flash Eurobarometer survey conducted in 2018 about fake news and disinformation online in 25 European countries, and adopts the Hofstede cultural dimensions as a model of cultural analysis. The study uses multilevel regression analysis to test individual and macro-level indicators that explain variations in perceptions of fake news. The findings reveal a clear, direct relationship between uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and fake news exposure, as well as an interaction of these cultural dimensions with age, but not with the other individual and media use related variables. These results have theoretical and practical implications, especially from the point of view of the design of public policies to fight disinformation in the European Union (EU).

La diversidad de los consumidores no es nueva y el marketing se maneja bastante bien con los tipos de diversidades más "populares". Sin embargo, la incorporación plena al consumo de las personas con discapacidad es una tarea todavía pendiente. Para que el marketing auténticamente inclusivo sea una realidad solo se necesitan convencimiento y creatividad.

This article argues that the logic of data journalism has been a driving force in journalism since its beginnings, particularly in the case of economic journalism. Economic journalism has historically integrated five central aspects of data journalism: working with data and databases; the development of a conceptual infrastructure for data analysis and storytelling; the regular use of visualization tools; the application of new technologies to the peculiarities of economic data; and the integration of different professional profiles in the newsrooms. By analyzing economic journalism - the first among equals of data journalism - the article argues that data journalism can extract some lessons from economic news in order to improve the extension of data stories to every news beat. Four recommendations are drawn: the importance of a balanced management of data exuberance, their newsworthiness, and the analytical and conceptual tools used to interpret them; the aim of visualization should be more conceptual than descriptive, in order to simplify and clarify complex issues, and relationships between data, to make the explanation of current affairs more relevant and understandable; data journalism needs a harmonious integration of investigative projects with day-to-day coverage; and data journalism should avoid the perils of technological determinism.

– Is economic journalism always dependent on elitist news sources or are there particular situations that can mitigate this pattern? The economic crisis of 2008 has specific characteristics that distinguish it from the issues usually covered by economic journalism, so a different pattern in the use of sources could be expected, especially if we consider the changing economic and political circumstances throughout the crisis. To explore this question, we conducted a content analysis of the crisis coverage of representative Spanish newspapers between 2008 and 2015. The results show that the political and economic elites were the dominant sources, meanwhile, other non-elite agents had little presence. This imbalance is not modified by the ideological and geographical profiles of the newspapers, or by the different phases of the crisis. However, we found intra-elite alterations over time: the actors with more decision-making power at each period had more presence as sources. RESUMO – Será o jornalismo econômico sempre dependente das fontes de elite ou existem determinadas situações que podem mitigar este padrão? A crise econômica de 2008 tem caraterísticas específicas que a distinguem dos assuntos habitualmente tratados pelo jornalismo econômico, pelo que poderia ser esperado um padrão diferente no uso de fontes de notícias, especialmente se considerarmos as diferentes circunstâncias econômicas e políticas ao longo da crise. Para explorar esta questão, realizamos uma análise de conteúdo da cobertura da crise de jornais representativos do caso espanhol entre 2008 e 2015. Os resultados mostram que as elites políticas e econômicas foram as fontes dominantes, enquanto outros agentes não elitistas tiveram escassa presença. Este desequilíbrio não é alterado pelos diferentes perfis ideológicos e geográficos dos jornais, nem pelas diferentes etapas da crise. No entanto, encontramos alterações intra-elite ao longo do tempo: os atores com maior poder de tomada de decisões em cada período, tiveram mais presença como fontes. RESUMEN – ¿Es el periodismo económico siempre dependiente de las fuentes elitistas o existen determinadas situaciones que pueden mitigar este patrón? La crisis económica de 2008 tiene características específicas que la distinguen de los asuntos habitualmente tratados por el periodismo económico, lo que permitiría esperar un patrón diferente en el uso de fuentes, especialmente si consideramos las diferentes circunstancias económicas y políticas durante la crisis. Para explorar esta cuestión, realizamos un análisis de contenido de la cobertura de la crisis de periódicos españoles representativos entre 2008 y 2015. Los resultados muestran que las élites políticas y económicas fueron las fuentes dominantes, mientras otros agentes no elitistas tuvieron escasa presencia. Este desequilibrio no es alterado por los diferentes perfiles ideológicos y geográficos de los periódicos, ni por las diferentes etapas de la crisis. Sin embargo, encontramos alteraciones intra-élite a lo largo del tiempo: aquellos actores con mayor poder de decisión en cada período tuvieron más presencia como fuentes.

Taking the case of Spain as example, this article aims to answer the question about the degree to which the problems and concerns of ordinary citizens were included in the press coverage on the boom and the crash of the real estate bubble, and around the economic problems related to the euro crisis. The objective is to determine whether people were a main actor -as agent and/or victim- in the coverage of the crisis, and the degree to which the different nature of the crises and the diverse orientations of the newspapers affected this coverage. In contrast with the idea of a rise of ordinary people as actors in everyday news coverage, the content analysis confirms the hypothesis that people played a very marginal role in the journalistic coverage of both crises. It also confirms that the “silence” of people in the economic coverage did not depend on the ideological or thematic focus of the newspapers under research. The findings also contextualize the ignoring of “people” in the journalistic coverage of economic crises within the silence of traditional media on the connection between the economic crisis and the intense social indignation, which was the breeding ground for political populisms.