The Swedish press used a more market-oriented, neoliberal discourse in covering an economic crisis in 2011 than in 1977, writes Diana Jacobsson, of Gothenburg University. The author compared the coverage of the automotive crisis of 2011 and the textile industry crisis of 1977 in two Swedish newspapers, Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet.

In covering the 1977 crisis, the papers presented a broader array of voices, including ones critical of capitalist mechanics, Jacobsson writes. Instead in 2011 the newspapers relied on a narrow selection of business elite members – thus neglecting the perspective of the labour force. Journalism today fails in critical examination of the hegemonic ideology, and in providing platform for pluralistic dialogue, the author suggests.

The article Business Elite Competition or a Common Concern? was published by the journal Journalism Studies. It is available online (abstract free).

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