The role of economic journalism in political transitions

Abstract

Due to its peculiar nature, the economic and financial press, throughout history, has had a particular liberty of action in times of tight media controls imposed by the authorities. Both the type of content that it spreads – technical information useful for markets and businesses – and its limited public visibility – with tiny, but influential, audiences – have facilitated this media’s carte blanche to influence elite public opinion in moments of profound political and economic change. This phenomenon can be analysed in some detail around the processes of the political transitions experienced in many authoritarian and totalitarian regimes in the last third of the 20th century. As discussed in this article, economic publications played an important role in changing the mindset of the ruling classes in Argentina, Spain, Russia, China and South Africa, before and after political changes, during times when freedom of the press was restricted for other media.