Introduction

I have always believed that the media is much more important in influencing people that many imagine. In Post 7.2 I outline the basis for that view, which is reinforced by some basic ideas in economics. Post 7.10 provides some clear evidence to support that view, surprisingly coming from empirical work by economists. Given the importance of the media, it is necessary to know when and why things go wrong.

Sometimes politicians can put direct pressure on journalists, as Post 7.1 recounts. It also explains why claims that a government has achieved record employment growth when output growth is weak is actually praising failure. Post 7.6 outlines the evidence we have that the majority of economists opposed austerity, and how this majority opinion is seldom heard because the subject is so politically charged. Post 7.4 looks at another potential problem with how journalists report key economic issues, which is their reliance on City economists. Post 7.5 wraps these ideas up in the context of ‘mediamacro’.

Unfortunately there are equally serious problems in the way the media reports politics. Post 7.3 discusses how the media, in an attempt to turn voters against leaders whose politics they dislike, may in turn encourage charismatic leaders who are totally unfit for office. This became all too true in the Clinton–Trump election campaign, which I comment on in Posts 7.7 and 7.8. Post 7.9 shows that many of these issues are far from new.

7. 1

Behaving Like Luddites

Sunday, 14 July 2013

The Luddites were 19th-century English textile artisans who protested against newly developed labour-saving machinery from 1811 to 1817. Activists smashed Heathcote’s lacemaking machine in Loughborough in 1816. At the time, the BBC said that the increase in employment that would result from destroying the machinery ‘was of course good news’, but there was a concern that output might fall as a result. However, some experts proclaimed that, thanks to the Luddites, we should celebrate that Britain was now leading the way in employment creation. A prominent politician who supported the Luddites accused the BBC of being hopelessly biased, and ‘peeing all over British workers’. The BBC Trust subsequently held a seminar on impartiality and economics reporting.