Andrea Grisold and Hendrik Theine, both of Vienna University of Economics and Business, have reviewed the extant research on reporting economic inequality. Their meta-analysis suggests the number of stories is increasing, but their qualitative nature is not: economic inequality is largely covered in an episodic manner, and by placing blame on individual rather than societal reasons.

Further, Grisold and Theine noticed a relative lack in research: they were able to find only 11 studies on the matter published since the year 2000. Since the few available studies suggest that “the watchdog may be evolving into a lapdog”, further in-depth analyses are badly needed, the authors conclude.

The article “How Come We Know?” was published by the International Journal of Communication. It is freely available on the publisher’s website (open access).

Picture: Untitled by Paolo Trabattoni, licence CC0 1.0.