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The Role of the Media in Sustaining Ireland's Housing Bubble

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  • Julien Mercille

Abstract

This paper examines Irish mainstream media coverage of the housing bubble that burst in 2007 and plunged Ireland into economic and financial crisis. It is shown that news organisations largely sustained the bubble until the property market collapsed. As such, news stories reflected the views and interests of the Irish corporate and governmental sectors, which had adopted neoliberal policies during the 'Celtic Tiger' years (1990s to 2007). A political economic conceptualisation of the Irish media outlines four factors explaining why this is so: (1) news organisations have multiple links with the political and corporate establishment, of which they are part, thus sharing similar interests and viewpoints; (2) just like elite circles, they hold a neoliberal ideology, dominant during the boom years; (3) they feel pressures from advertisers, in particular, real estate companies; and (4) they rely heavily on 'experts' from elite institutions in reporting events. The last section presents a detailed empirical analysis of Irish media coverage (newspapers and television) of the housing bubble that confirms the above claims. It is shown that prior to the bubble's collapse, the media made little mention of it, remained vague about it or tried to refute claims that it even existed, thus sustaining it.

Suggested Citation

  • Julien Mercille, 2014. "The Role of the Media in Sustaining Ireland's Housing Bubble," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 282-301, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:cnpexx:v:19:y:2014:i:2:p:282-301
    DOI: 10.1080/13563467.2013.779652
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kelly, Morgan, 2010. "Whatever Happened to Ireland?," CEPR Discussion Papers 7811, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mikler John & Rajendra Sundran & Elbra Ainsley Dianne, 2016. "Perceptions of the global financial crisis in the US, UK, Canada and Australia: a comparative editorial analysis of the legitimacy of finance," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 1-25, April.
    2. Julien Mercille, 2017. "Media Coverage of Alcohol Issues: A Critical Political Economy Framework—A Case Study from Ireland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-13, June.
    3. Campbell-Verduyn Malcolm, 2016. "Merely TINCering around: the shifting private authority of technology, information and news corporations," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 143-170, August.

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