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Article published In: The political impact of metaphors
Edited by Julien Perrez and Min Reuchamps
[Metaphor and the Social World 5:2] 2015
► pp. 205–222

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Media rhetoric plays the market

The logic and power of metaphors behind the financial crises since 2006

 | University of Antwerp
Published online: 28 September 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.5.2.02del
This article examines the logic and power of financial news metaphors in the current economic climate. The sequence of global financial crises starting in late 2007 led to a particular discursive phenomenon in financial news. Newspapers constructed, with vivid imagery (e.g., toxic loans, nervous markets to be calmed down), a globalized register for talking and writing about the crises. The empirical study of 3,730 Dutch and Flemish-Belgian financial news articles (2,042,596 words) investigates how during 2006–2013 metaphor power (De Landtsheer, 2009) interacts with financial-economic indicators. It is suggested, on the basis of the case study, that financial news articles generally may be more metaphorical during crises; metaphor power significantly correlates with Eurostat financial-economic indicators in either a positive direction (unemployment rates, public debt) or a negative one (gross national product, consumer confidence).
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