The impact of the economic crisis on media corruption: A comparative study in South and North Europe

Abstract

Although extensive research has been conducted into the role of the media in fighting corruption, media organisations and journalists themselves are not immune to it. The issue of corruption in the media remains understudied and has thus far mainly focused on case-studies of specific countries characterised by corruption as a core societal characteristic, as well as of under-developed and developing countries. This study focuses on the issue of media corruption in Europe, based on a comparative analysis between countries of the South and North, investigating the impact of the global economic crisis on media corruption. The research presents clear evidence of increased indications of media corruption in the North of Europe in comparison to the media systems of the European South, the area most affected by the global economic crisis.

Do media systems matter? A comparative study of editorials on the migration crisis in the UK, German and Greek traditional press

“…Relevant findings were identified by recent research on European media systems as regards the Great Recession after 2008 (e.g. Maniou and Ketteni, 2022). In line with Nechushtai (2018) who tested the US case, we argue that the UK seems to be drifting away from the Liberal model into a hybrid category of "Polarised Liberal", which could become the focal point of convergence in the future.…”

“…This finding implies that terrorist acts, upon which the literature relies, are very specific kinds of events and do not compare easily with other kinds of disruptive events, such as the refugee crisis, that have a longer time span and trigger media contestation over antipathy/solidarity towards vulnerable groups. Media coverage of more recent crises, such as the Great Recession after 2008, seem to be more closely related to these findings (see Maniou and Ketteni, 2022), while the 2022 Ukrainian refugee crisis may have conformed to predictions of consensus-based coverage, because it did not trigger media contestations over antipathy/solidarity towards Ukrainians fleeing their country.…”

“…Bruggemann et al (2014) distinguish state interventionism that complements private media with public media, state measures that directly support private media, and measures that restrict media. Especially with the advent of Web 2.0 and the rise of digital media, state intervention may come in various forms and produce a series of effects that can curtail press freedom, such as public security laws or health and safety restrictions introduced after the onset of the 2020 global pandemic crisis (Clark and Grech, 2017; Maniou and Ketteni, 2022).…”

Newswork in crisis: Sourcing patterns during COVID-19 through a ‘lived experience’ perspective

“…The present study focuses on Greece and Cyprus which are rather distinctive cases of the Mediterranean or ‘polarized/pluralist model’ (Hallin and Mancini, 2004) with high levels of political parallelism and strong ties between media owners, journalists and political elites (Iosifidis and Papathanasopoulos, 2019; Maniou and Ketteni, 2022; Milioni et al, 2017). Both countries, being small media markets, exhibit high ownership concentration, hyper-competition while viability issues in the digital era is a major concern.…”