Front Page Economics

Suttles Gerald D., Jacobs Mark D.

In an age when pundits constantly decry overt political bias in the media, we have naturally become skeptical of the news. But the bluntness of such critiques masks the highly sophisticated ways in which the media frame important stories. In "Front Page Economics", Gerald Suttles delves deep into the archives to examine coverage of two major economic crashes – in 1929 and 1987 – in order to systematically break down the way newspapers normalize crises.

Poring over the articles generated by the crashes – as well as the people in them, the writers who wrote them, and the cartoons that ran alongside them – Suttles uncovers dramatic changes between the ways the first and second crashes were reported. In the intervening half-century, an entire new economic language had arisen and the practice of business journalism had been completely altered. Both of these transformations, Suttles demonstrates, allowed journalists to describe the 1987 crash in a vocabulary that was normal and familiar to readers, rendering it routine.

A subtle and probing look at how ideologies are packaged and transmitted to the casual newspaper reader, "Front Page Economics" brims with important insights that shed light on our own economically tumultuous times.

About the Author

Gerald Suttles is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Chicago and adjunct professor of sociology at Indiana University.

Mark Jacobs is associate professor of sociology at George Mason University.

Reviews

"News stories are called 'stories' for a reason: they have plots and characters, scenes and metaphors – just like works of fiction. 'Front Page Economics' is a splendid evocation of the stories that journalists have told during economic crises. In a painstaking comparative analysis of economic news in the crashes of 1929 and 1987, Gerald Suttles brilliantly reveals how popular economic storytelling was transformed in twentieth-century America" – David Paul Nord, Indiana University

"While the economy is well covered by the news media, that coverage has not been subjected to the level of scholarly scrutiny warranted by its importance as an aspect of public affairs. Carefully researched and clearly written, 'Front Page Economics' offers an insightful analysis of the business beat and the explanatory strategies its journalists employ" – James S. Ettema, Northwestern University

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