This article was downloaded by: [Akdeniz Universitesi]On: 15 October 2014, At: 20:51Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: MortimerHouse, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UKJournal of Global EthicsPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjge20The media's presentation of human rights during thefinancial crisis: framing the issuesMona Chalabi aa International Affairs , Sciences Po, Paris, FrancePublished online: 06 Dec 2010.To cite this article: Mona Chalabi (2010) The media's presentation of human rights during the financial crisis: framing theissues, Journal of Global Ethics, 6:3, 255-272, DOI: 10.1080/17449626.2010.524798To link to this article:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17449626.2010.524798PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLETaylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the Content) containedin the publications on our platform. 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Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditionsThemediaspresentationofhumanrightsduringthenancialcrisis:framingtheissuesMonaChalabiInternationalAffairs,SciencesPo,Paris,FranceAsformsofemployment andmigrationchanged, thenancial crisiswhichbeganin2007affectedthehumanrightsof individuals, particularlythoseindevelopingcountries. Howthe media reported on these consequences is essential in understanding howand whypublicandpoliticalperceptionsoftheimportanceofhumanrightsmayhavechangedsincethecrisisbegan.UsingquantitativeandqualitativeanalysisofmajornewspapersintheUKandtheUSA, thispaper seekstounderstandthewaysinwhichthemediapresentedtherelationshipbetweenthenegativechangesintheeconomyandhumanrights. Theanalysisof the ndings uses framing theory to understand how the text in news articlescommunicates the relevance of human rights to readers before concluding with somefurtheravenuesforresearch.Keywords: humanrights;nancialcrisis;framingtheory;mediaGiven their frame of understanding of what it is that is going on, individuals t their actions to thisunderstandingandordinarilyndthattheongoingworldsupportsthistting(Goffman 1986)IntroductionThenancialcrisishasincreasedboth relativeandabsolutepoverty.Relatively,asdevelopingstates, strugglingalreadyfromsoaringfoodandfuel prices, werecut faster anddeeper bythecrisis andabsolutelydeepenextremepoverty asinternational aidbudgetscomeunderincreasingpressure(UNNewsCentre2009).Sincethenancialcrisisbegan,34millionmorepeople globally have become unemployed, making the number of those not in work 212million, according to the latest report from the ILO (2010). Surprising as these gures are, theyfail to reveal the full impact of the crisis as forms of employment are changing with more precar-ious working conditions increasing the insecurity of even those who manage to remain in work.Inordertorevealthefullimpactofthenancialcrisisonindividualsworkinglives,twonotionsarerelevanthere.Therstofthese,vulnerableemployment,isdenedbytheILOasthesumofown-accountworkersandcontributingfamilyworkers.Theemploymentoftheseindividuals is described as vulnerable because of their lack of formal work arrangementsmeaning that they are more likely to lack elements associated with decent employmentsuch as adequate social security and recourse to effective social dialogue mechanisms.Far removedfromtheassociationsof self-employment withgreater independenceandexi-bility, for most individualsvulnerableemployment isaccompaniedbyinadequateearnings,lowproductivity and difcult conditions of work that undermine workers fundamentalrights and is thus a last-resort form of employment (ILO 2010). The most conservative estimateoftheILOplacesthisformofemployment at 49.4%oftheglobal workforce, equivalent toISSN1744-9626print/ISSN1744-9634online# 2010Taylor&FrancisDOI:10.1080/17449626.2010.524798http://www.informaworld.comEmails:mona.chalabi@sciences-po.org;monachalabi@gmail.comJournalofGlobalEthicsVol.6,No.3,December2010,255272Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 1.48billionvulnerableworkersworldwide.Asfortheimpactoftheglobalnancialcrisisonvulnerableemployment, asimilarlyconservativeestimatebytheILOclaimsthatthenumbermayhaveincreasedby41.6millionbetween2008and2009.Thelessconservative(andtheyclaimmoreprobable)predictionoftheILOsuggeststhisincreasewasinfact 109.5million.Yet again, vulnerable employment is not a trend which is tobe found in equal measurearoundtheworld. In2008, 75.5%oftheworkforceinSub-SaharanAfricawasinvulnerableemployment, agurewhichmayhaverisentoasmuchas79.6%in2009. Meanwhile, theshare of individuals in developed economies and the European Union in vulnerable employmentwas9.7%in2008andincreasedbyatmostat1%duringthenancialcrisis(ILO2010).The second notion that is essential in revealing the full extent of the nancial crisis is that ofworking poverty. Individuals classed as the working poor are those who earn $2 a day while forthose in extreme working poverty, the level of earnings is only $1.25 a day. Between 2008 and2009 it is suggested that 5.9% of workers were likely to be added to those who earn just $2 a day.Over the same period, an additional 7% of workers fell into extreme working poverty, amountingto 215 million workers. Once again these global trends obscure the fact that anticipated rises aregreater in South-East Asia, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (ILO 2010). These developmentscontravene severalof the economic, social and cultural rights [of an individual] indispensablefor his dignity and the free development of his personality according to the Universal Declara-tion of Human Rights (1948). Not least of these is Article 23 which states under paragraph 1 thatEveryone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditionsofworkandtoprotectionagainstunemployment.As the global economy is slowing down, states are also adopting more restrictive immigrationpolicies fearing the nancial burden of the poor while the rising cost of living is forcing many toreturn to their countries of origin (Schuman 2009). These twin push factors threaten the economicand social security of individuals. Those who leave diminish remittance ows which, surpassingworld aid, have come to be viewed as the sine qua non of development (International Fund forAgricultural Development 2007). For those who stay, they face the possibility of rising discrimi-nationandxenophobia, reductionsin wages,poorerworkingconditionsand joblossestherebyincreasing the social threats to individuals (IOMPolicy Brief 2009). Moreover, it is notsimplythedirectionofmigrationwhichmaychange.Somearguethatthetypeofmigrationisevolving and will continue to evolve. Zetter (2009) argues that the numbers of forced migrants,refugees, asylum seekers and IDPs may rise, though the gures demonstrating this may fall. Thesuggestion is that when states close their doors, individualsexploit shadow and sub-systems tosustain the possibility of mobility. By using these obscure, unaccountable means of movement,they increase their vulnerability to immediate and long-term threats. This is without even begin-ning to discuss the impacts on education nor on health following worsening chronic hunger.Itisessentialtoestablishwhetherthesehumanrightsconsequenceswerediscussedinthemedia for several reasons. Firstly, inorganisingthe images anddiscourses throughwhichpeople make sense of the world, the media has a central role in shaping conceptions of societalchanges, not least thosebrought about bynancial crises. Thisisparticularlythecasewithrespect to the notion of rights since the media inuences the exercise of citizenship. For individ-uals to translate rights from high sounding rhetoric into an everyday reality, they require accessto information, advice and analysis as well as a broad range of interpretation and debate so thatpeople can know their rights as well as be aware of how to pursue them effectively (Murdock andGolding inCurranand Gurevitch2005).Thus themediais importantnotonly indisseminatingthe discourse of human rights but also in encouraging the right conditions for the agency that isneededtoguaranteethem.Asidefromthissociological character, themediaisalsoanatural focusfortheissueofhuman rights during the nancial crisis because of its economic character. Not only are256 M.ChalabiDownloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 mediaoutletseconomicactorsintheirownright, employingvastnumbersofindividualsandcontributing to export ows but they also play a central role in the functioning of theeconomy. Moreimportantly, advertisingwhichmatchesconsumer demandstoproductionislargelycarriedout inthecommercial media, andas such, themediahas cometorelyontheserevenuesfortheirsurvival.Thesesocial andeconomictraitsof themediahaveledmanywriterstofocusonsometendencies of the press which are relevant to the analysis presented here. Given the assumptionthatthepublicismoreinterestedinnegativeratherthanpositivestoriesandtheneedtosellnews, manymedia researchers have discussedthe medias inclinationtoproduce negativenews(Soroka2006). Thiswouldleadtotheassumptionthat thedownturnintheeconomy,whichcreatedthe negative consequences for social andeconomic rights discussedabove,would provide a gold mine of articles for media outlets and the opportunity to increase revenuesbyfocusingonthisconnection.Theaimof thispaper isthereforetoexaminetowhat extent themediadiddiscusstheconnection between the nancial crisis and human rights, howsuch a connection was representedand why this was the case. In this endeavour, framing theory is extremely important. When pre-sented with any communicating text, framing theory offers a way to describe the power within it.The authors need not consciously shape and use this power and so framing theory is not reducibleto a type of conspiracy theory since framing need not be accompanied by intention. Rather, it isconcernedwiththe waythat informationis transferredtohumanconsciousness producinginuence.FramingTheseframes, particularlywithrespect tonews texts, canbeunderstoodastheimprint ofpowerbecausetheyregistertheidentityofactorsorintereststhatcompetedtodominatethetext(McQuail2002). ThiscanalsobeunderstoodwithinaFoucauldianframeworkwherebyframes are comparable tothe notionof commentary whichconstitutes a secondarytextwhichactsasalensthroughwhichtheprimaryoneissimultaneouslyreiedandmodied(Koller 2005). Thus it is the frames withinthe news rather thanthe news itself whichiscapableofreinforcingexistingstructuresofpower.Frames, or schemata, areproducedthroughrst selectingsomeelementsof aperceivedreality and then making them become salient in a communicating text. These processes of selec-tion and salience promote a particular problemdenition, causal interpretation, moral evaluationand/ortreatmentrecommendationfortheitemdescribed(McQuail2002).Frames,therefore,performmultipleactivities, sincetheydenewhat theproblems are(determiningwhat thecausal agent is doing with what costs and benets, usually measured in terms of common culturalvalues), theydiagnosethecauses(identifyingtheforcescreatingtheproblems), makemoraljudgements (evaluatingcausal agents andtheir effects) andsuggest remedies (offeringandjustifying treatments for the problems while predicting their likely effects) (McQuail 2002).Given its preponderance as well as its accessibility, print and online press provide an excel-lent opportunity to evaluate these frames during the nancial crisis. Guided by the same criteria,the Financial Times (or the FT as it is known) was the initial focus of this research since it farsurpassedanyotherBritishpublicationintermsofthenumberofarticlesitpublishedonthenancialcrisiswhichwerereadilyavailable.1Themethodologyusedforndingandinvesti-gating these frames was both quantitative and qualitative. Taking the FT as a point of departure,searches were conducted for key terms using the Factiva database.2Articles were searched for arange of terms relating to the nancial crisis and human rights from the beginning of 2005 untilthe endof May2010. This time frame, beginningover 2years before the nancial crisisJournalofGlobalEthics 257Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 crystallisedinthepublicmindset, wasusedinordertobesurethatanyclaimsmadeaboutachangeinthediscoursewouldbejustied. ThissearchwasextendedtocomparetheresultsfoundintheFTwiththosefoundforTopUKnewspapersandTopUSnewspapers.3Afteranalysingover 250,000articles whichcontainedtheseterms, qualitativeanalysis was thencarriedoutonaround100articlesinordertotakeacloserlookatissuesoftoneandstructurewhichFactivaalonemaynothaverevealed.The quantitative ndings will rst be presented, demonstratingthe vocabularyusedtodescribethenegativechangesintheeconomyandhowinturnthesetermswerejuxtaposedwithhumanrights. Inasecondpart, thequalitativendingswill bediscussedaswell astheinterpretationof theframesthat werepresent inthetextswhichwereanalysed. It ishopedthatthequantitativendingsmayhelpinrevealingtheactofselectionintheframe,whilethequalitativeanalysiscanhelpinrevealingissuesof salience. Beforeconcluding, reasonsareofferedastowhythenancial crisiswaspresentedasitwasandtheimplicationsofthisforthefuturediscourseandpracticeofhumanrights.Quantitativeanalysis:mediaselectivityofhumanrightsduringthenancialcrisisNarrationUnsurprisingly, between2005and2006, fewarticles makingreferencetonancial crisis,recessionoranyoftheirrelatedtermsappearedintheFT. What issurprising, however, isthat despite the fact that US lenders began foreclosure proceedings, the top ve US investmentbanksreportedrecorddebtsandhouseholdwealthbegantoplummetin2007, theFTdidnotdemonstratealargeincreaseinitsuseofnegativeeconomicvocabularyuntil2008.From 2008, there was what can only be described as an explosion of these terms. The phrasenancial crisis which appeared in just 841 articles in 2007 was used in 6971 articles the follow-ingyear.Similarly,useofthewordrecessionclimbedfrom1605articlesin2007to9356in2008. Theseexpressionswereemployedevenmorein2009but earlyindicationsfrom2010suggest that their usageis nowdeclining.4Twofeatures of theuseof this vocabularyareworthmentioninghere.Firstly, aside from recession and nancial crisis, other terms used to understand the econ-omic phenomena during this period are perhaps best described as fad terms. For example, theexpressioncredit crunchgrewfrom1210articlesin2007to6546in2008. But, ratherthancontinuingtogrow, by2009, usagehaddroppedbackdownto3125. Similarresultsarealsofound for the expression economic slowdown.5Secondly, this evolving narration of economiceventsprovided by the FT bears a remarkable resemblanceto other mediaoutlets. Whencom-pared individually against The Economist and then against a list of Top UK Newspapers as pro-vided by Factiva, the growth or decline in the use of these expressions is proportional to the totalnumber of articles published and occurs at similar times. This similarity even holds true when thecomparison is extended to Top US Newspapers. This repetition of certain expressions is impor-tant for frames since Gamson observes that a frame can exert greater social power when encodedinaterm(EntmaninOliver2009).Onceaterm(inhisexample,afrmativeactionbutherenancial crisis) is widely accepted, to use another is to risk that target audiences will perceivethe communicator as lacking credibility or will even fail to understand what the communicator istalkingabout(Figures13).Bringinginhumanrights:evolutionofthetermsseparatelyAgainst this backdrop of economic vocabulary, it is interesting to consider now the way that thediscussionofhumanrightsevolved. Asastartingpoint, searcheswereconductedforarticles258 M.ChalabiDownloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 Figure3.Useofthetermcredit crunch.Figure2.Useofthetermnancialcrisis.Figure1.Useofthetermrecession.JournalofGlobalEthics 259Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 which mentioned the term human rights to consider how the focus on this may have changedovertheperiodunderanalysis.Fromaconsistentlevelofusein2006and2007,of1548and1545articlesrespectively, in2008thetermhumanrightstookasignicant drop, featuringin 1268 articles while use of the term nancial crisis increased by over 700% from the previousyear.Althoughthenumberofarticlesmentioninghumanrightssubsequentlyincreasedagainin2009, therehavebeenconsiderablymorearticlesmentioningnancialcrisiseversincethiseclipsein2008. Onceagaintheresults areextremelyconsistent whentheFTis comparedwith theEconomist, andFactivasgroupofTopUKNewspapersandTopUS Newspapers.In all cases, the number of articles mentioning nancial crisis exceeded those which referred tohuman rights in 2008. Moreover, this coincided with a drop in the number of articles on humanrights just as with the FT with the exception of Top US Newspapers, where this phenomenonoccurred in 2007.Whenhuman rightswere disaggregated,similarresultswere foundwherebythere was a severe dip in 2008 in articles mentioning specic forms of rights most notably withrespecttosocialandlabourrights.What might becalledthedipandreboundinthenumberofarticlesmentioninghumanrights leads tosome interestingobservations. Firstly, the dip wouldsuggest that there islimitedspacewithinthepagesofthepressandlimitedcapacitywithintheorganisationofthenewsoutletstodiscussmultiplesignicantissuesatonce.Itwouldthereforebeeasytocon-cludethatarticlesrelatingtohumanrightswerecrowdedoutby information onthenancialcrisis.Howeverthesubsequentreboundin2009wherearticlesdiscussinghumanrightsandarticlesdiscussingthenancial crisisbothincreasedwouldcontradict thenotionof atrade-offbetweenthetwo(Figures47).Thisleadstothequestionofwhetherthesubsequentincreaseinarticlesrelatingtohumanrights were nowbeingassociatedwiththe nancial crisis for all of the consequences onsocialandeconomicrightsdiscussedabove. Inordertoaccuratelyassessthis, itisnecessarytoturnawayfromthebroaddepictions providedbyquantitativeanalysis towards thenerdetailavailableinqualitativeanalysis.Qualitativeanalysis:media,thenancialcrisisandthesalienceofhumanrightsInorder to restrictthe numberof texts for qualitative analysis, a numberof further lters wereused to reduce the large stock of articles which contained the terms nancial crisis, recessionor humanright.6The rst of these involvedsearchingfor articles whichincludedbothFigure4.TheFTuseofthetermsnancialcrisisandhumanright(s).260 M.ChalabiDownloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 nancial crisis and human rights within 50 words of one another. Twenty-four such articleswere published by the FT between 2005 and June 2010, all of which were read. The same processwas repeated for articles with recession and human rights appearing within 50 words of oneanother,generating19sucharticlespublishedbytheFToverthesameperiod.Figure5.TopUKNewspapersuseofthetermsnancialcrisisandhumanright(s).Figure7.TopUSNewspapersuseof thetermsnancialcrisisandhumanright(s).Figure6.TheEconomistuseofthetermsnancialcrisisandhumanright(s).JournalofGlobalEthics 261Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 Reading these articles highlighted a number of features of the texts which were not immedi-atelyclearfromquantitativeanalysisalone. Themostobviousfeaturewasthatwherehumanrightsandnancialcrisiswerementionedtogether, thesewereoftencitedastwoissuesforcertaincountries;mostnoticeablyChina,aboutwhomthetwotermswerementionedtogetherin7articles7but similar references werealsomadetoRussia, theUAE, Indonesia, KenyaandTurkey.Theseresultschangedslightlywhenthetermnancialcrisiswasreplacedwithrecession withfour articlesappearingonChina, andsinglearticlesonRussia, Kenya, andimportantlyonearticlediscussingtheUSAandtwoontheUK.Another feature that stoodout inthese articles fromthe FTwas that frequently, theyimplicitlyreducedhumanrightstopoliticalrights.ThefollowingcomesfromanarticlefromtheFTreportingontalksbetweenChinaspremier andJose Manuel Barroso, theEuropeanCommissionpresidenton30January2009:The nancial crisis, recession, climate change, Tibet and human rights were among the themes of thetwo leaders talks, but the most concrete outcome was the signature of a new EU-Chinese accord onstrengtheningintellectualpropertyrightstocombatcounterfeitingofgoods.8This statement carries the assumption that human rights can be equated to a more restricted de-nitionrelatingtotortureandpolitical imprisonment. Thequoteisalsoindicativeof anotherfeature present in many of the texts, namely the place of human rights in the text relative to nan-cial crisis. Reference to human rights often came at a later point in the body of the article than amentionof humanrights. This is important withrespect tothe widelypractisedinvertedpyramidofnewsmethodofwritingarticleswherebythehierarchyofinformationinastoryis reected in whichever statements appear rst. Put simply, journalists write the most importantfactsrst ontheassumptionthatthenumberofreaderswillbefewertowardstheendofthearticlethanatthestart.Moreover, even where human rights were mentioned before the nancial crisis, this often didlittletoaccordthemsignicanceastheseextractsfromanarticlepublishedon20February2009demonstrate.HillaryClinton, USsecretaryofstate, saidonFridaythatdisputeswithChinaoverhumanrightsshouldnot derail talksonkeyissuessuchasthenancial crisisandclimatechangewheretherewasachanceofmakingprogress.We have to continue to press them [on human rights] ... But our pressing on those issues cant inter-fere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises. We havetohaveadialoguethatleadstoanunderstandingandco-operationoneachofthose.The interpretations behind these statements are heavy in terms of social meaning. Not onlydo they neglect the fact that the nancial crisis may impinge on human rights, but they also seemto make the more loaded suggestion that these are two separate issues, capable of being treatedindependently of one another. The claim goes even further than this implicit depiction of reality.Infact,thewritermakestheclaimthatthetwoissuesshouldbetreatedindependentlyofoneanother because dealing with both at the same time is likely to be to the detriment of at least one.Suchanormativeclaimisbasedinpartatleastonpragmatism,asobservedinNovember2009, Whenitcomestohumanrights, too, theUSseemstohavedrawntheconclusionitisnot good policy to badmouth its chief creditor.9However, it seems that the claimgoesfurtherthansuggestingthat thisisthebest ofall possibleapproaches, ratherthat alternativeapproachesarefutile, asdemonstratedbythearticleentitled, Obamaknowschest-thumpingandChinadont mix.10Theimageof chest-thumpingimpliesasenseof moral indignationwhichistothebenetofnooneandeffectivelydiscreditsthenotionofprotest.Thisdemon-strateshowthepowerofnewsframescanbeself-reinforcing. Anycritiquetranscendingtheremediesinsidetheframebreachestheboundsofacceptablediscourseandishenceunlikely262 M.ChalabiDownloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 to inuence policy. Going beyond the quantitative analysis presented earlier which showed thattheframesinFTarticlesrarelyselectedhumanrights,theoverallimpressionthereforegainedfromqualitative analysis of the FTsuggests that the frames found in their news do notpresenthumanrightsasasalientissue.The qualitative analysis of the FT is thus highly revealing. It demonstrates that infringementsofhumanrightswithrespecttothenancialcrisisaremoreoftenoverthereratherthanathome. Crucially, noeffortwhatsoeverwasmadetosuggest that thedegradationofone(i.e.theeconomicsituation)couldleadtoadegradationoftheother(i.e. theprotectionofhumanrights). Moreover, boththenancial crisis andhumanrights arepresentedas policyissueswhicharenotonlycapableofbeingseparatedbutshouldbeseparatedtoavoidstalemateandensureprogress.Theimportanceofthiscleavagebetweenhumanrightsandnancialcrisisisnot only of interest as a historical glance back at the media during the height of economic uncer-tainty. This is more than an academic exercise. So long as the functioning of the global economyis severedfromhumanrights infringements, thegrowingdiscourseof recoveryis likelytocontinuetodothesame. As such, thenotionof aresponsiblerecovery whichtakes intoaccount issues suchas unemployment, vulnerableemployment, workingpovertyandsocialsecurityforall oftheirhumanrightsconsequencesislikelytoremainequallyoffthemediaandpolicyagenda.Before turning to possible reasons why human rights and the nancial crisis were juxtaposedastheywere,itisworthwhiletorepeatthisqualitativeanalysisfortheFTwithanotherpubli-cation in order to see if the consistency which was found between the publications in the quan-titativeanalysisalsoholdstruequalitatively.RatherthanchoosinganotherofFactivasTopNewspapers, thiswasseenasanopportunitytoexplorethepresentationofhumanrightsandthe nancial crisis in the mass media. As Britains most widely read newspaper, and more aston-ishingly the English publication with the second highest circulation gures in the world (after theTimes ofIndia),11TheSun seemed to be the obvious choice.At rst glance, one would expectlittle if any similarity between the approaches of TheSun and The FT, coming as they do fromsuch different perspectives. While The Sun, widely referred to as the peoples paper, relies onpopularismusingthesloganweloveit,theFTreliesonthemoresobercatchphraseNoFT,NoComment. Infact, theFTactivelyavoidsanappeal-to-allapproachasitseditor-in-chiefLionel Barberstatedin2008, What wecant doissaywevegot tobeaccessible. Thatsaeuphemismfor dumbingdown (TheGuardian, 2008).12Thesedifferencesbetweenthetwopublications will be of importance later on when analysing why such differences inrepresentationweremade.And their representations were indeed different although it is possible to begin with a simi-larity. For The Sun, like the FT, there was a greater readiness to focus on national issues when thetermrecessionwasusedratherthannancialcrisis. UnliketheFThowever, humanrightswere not collapsed into political rights for The Sun; in fact, very little effort was made to disag-gregate human rights whatsoever. Rather, human rights were political in the sense of being a toolused by groups for political gain and were treated with heavy scepticism. Thus, often the notionof human rights remained an idea with relevance abroad as in the case with the FT. However incontrastwiththeFT,forTheSun,humanrightswereforeigninthesensethattheywerepre-sentedasadiscourseusedtothebenet offoreigners. ThusTheSunreports, Ournationisswampedbyimmigrants includingSomali gangs. Humanrights laws meanwecannot kickout convicted terrorists13and Immigrants who came to Britain during the boom years are unli-kely to return home because of the recession, ministers were warned yesterday. This may rep-resentaneffortbyTheSuntoreectapublicsentimentofimmigrantspresentingathreat athreat tonational security, tonational identityanda threat tojobs. Feelings whichlikelybecameevenmoreheightenedinBritainduringthenancial crisis. Thusonereader writes,JournalofGlobalEthics 263Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 sort theEasternEuropeanbenet cheatsout. Oraretheirhumanrightsmoreimportant?.14HumanrightsarethereforepresentedinTheSunasanobstructiveconcept. JustasintheFTthey can present an obstacle in progress in foreign relations in The Sun, human rights are actuallyseen asan obstacle to justice.WhenTheSun reported inFebruary 2009that Gordon BrownsbidtostopbankersgettingbillionsinbonuseshasbeenderailedbytheHumanRightsActLabourbrought in.thepaperviewedtheeffectsofhumanrightsprinciplesashighlyironic,counterproductiveandperhapsevensomethingtobetreatedwithderision.This qualitative comparison between The Sun and the FT therefore demonstrates both simi-larities and differences in their representations of the nancial crisis. One possible explanation isthat it seems that they focus on different aspects of their roles as media outlets. The FT may seeits responsibility as one to interpret and analyse information for their readers, whereas TheSunmay see its place in society as being a medium through which its readers are able to voice theirconcerns, namely those relating to migration. It may then be possible to say that The Sun, ratherthanfulllingits role totranslate highsoundingrhetoric intosomethinggraspable andanimpetusforactionpositsitselfasthenarrativevoiceofitsreaders(itssloganisThePeoplesPaper) andthusdismisseshumanrightsasmererhetoricinorder tomaintainitsresonancewiththepublicmindset.Once again, the differing perceptions of these news organisations as to where theirresponsibilitiesliemaybebasedontheeconomiclogicofnewsproduction. Inanarticleforthe Independent in2006, the chief development director of The Suns advertisingagencystated,forTheSunwehavedevelopedcreativetemplatesthatmakealltheircommunicationsstronger,moreownable,morememorable,moredistinctiveandinstantlyrecognisable.Inthesamearticle, themarketingdirector of theFTpositedadifferent objectivetoconveythemessagethat theFTis anessential dailybusiness tool andwill helpreaders stayaheadofthecompetition.15Theneedtogenerateprot fromadvertisingthus alsoshapes thetextsproducedbynewsorganisations.AnalysisIdentifying these frames is, in itself, insufcient. It is important to understand the mechanism bywhich certain frames successfully emerge from the multiple competing interpretations availablein order to ascertainhow it might be possible that a framewhichdoes selecthuman rights andemphasisetheirsaliencecouldemerge.In reaching such an understanding, it is useful to consider the organisation of news. The rstaspect of such organisation relates to the way that thecontent of news is organised. Journalistsand academics use several categories for classifying news products. After speaking with journal-ists, Tuchmandifferentiatesbetweensoft news, hardnews, spot news, developingnewsandcontinuing news. These classications may provide a clue as to why human rights werepresented in the way that they were during the nancial crisis. Hard news concerns factual pre-sentationsandassuchis tobe distinguished fromsoft newswhichcontainswhatisknownashumaninterestpieces.Thismaybeuseful inunderstandingthemediasrepresentationofhumanrightsandthenancial crisis because it seems to suggest that these topics are not placed in the same categoryfor journalists. The nancial crisis was presentedas somethingconcrete, statisticalisable,which could only be understood through hard analysis. By contrast, human rights are often per-ceived as esoteric. In order to read about human rights issues, it is assumed that the reader musthave a prior interest whereas reading about nancial crisis is necessary in order to be informed.In short, hard news is described as concerning information people should have to be informedcitizens while soft news concerns the texture of our human life (Tuchman in McQuail 2002).264 M.ChalabiDownloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 However, even this observation may merely add a further layer of detail in how the nancialcrisis was presented as distinct from human rights. In order to understand why it is important totakeabroaderperspectivesinceasFishmannotesthehardnessandsoftnessofnewsisnotinherentineventsthemselvesbutinthedecisionsofnewsworkers. Thesameeventmaybetreatedas either ahardor asoft news story indeedfrequentlytwopapers will takethesameeventandonewillpresentitashardwhiletheotherwillportrayitassoft. Tosaythatthe decisions of news workers are a central element in understanding why the human rights con-sequencesofthenancialcrisiswerenotrepresentedinthepressisnotaconcealedefforttodress a conspiracy theory. Rather it is an effort to understand the conditions under which journal-istsdeneeventsasworthyoftheirattention.Accordingto Fishman,the way that reporterssenseevents (i.e. their methods for seekingthe newsworthiness of occurrences) are based on schemes of interpretation originating from andused by agency ofcials. The latter bears a remarkable resemblance to the denition of framesasprovided by Goffman, as he states denitions of asituation are built up in accordancewithprinciplesoforganisationwhichgovernevents(Goffman1986).Understandingthislogicallyinvolvestakingastepbackwardstoobservetheconditionsbefore the journalists act of selection. That is to say, understanding the way journalistsdene news is a precursor to making sense of the quantitative analysis that has been presented.This is because prior to selecting their stories, journalists must of course determine what consti-tutes an event, where these can be found and how they can be told as stories. Yet events do notexist in discrete and organised patterns, which make up the world so that journalists must simplynoticeandchoosethem. Andevenonceselected, events donot haveinherent qualities ofsalience that tell journalists howto deal with them. Instead these events are constitutedwhiletheyarebeingnoticed, selectedandtheirdifferentaspectsarebeingmadesalient. Itisthereforepossibletoseehowevents, liketheframesaroundthem, areabletomodify, reifyandreinforcetheworld.From ongoing activities, journalists must be able to carve out events. These practices allowjournaliststobeefcientandeffective, selectingeventsfromastreamofexperienceandseetheseinrelationtooneanotherasachainofevents.Arguably,thenancialcrisishadmoreof a coherent narrative quality than did its consequences for human rights. The story ofhumanrightsdeteriorationorinfringementshasalessclearnarrativethanthebeginning,middle and end of the nancial crisis and was therefore more amenable to journalists selection.Thejournalists perceptionprocess goes further thansimplyorganisingexperienceintoevents. These events are further categorised. According to Fishman, mere occurrences are hap-peningsthat participantsandobserversattendtoduringanongoingactivitybut theyarenotnecessarilyhappeningsabout whichoneisinterestedinformulatinganaccount foroutsiderstothescene.16Since the human rights consequences of the nancial crisis when discussed were presented asbeing relevant to a limited number of people, it would seemthat these consequences fall under thelabelofmereoccurrences. Crucially, thejournalistandthenewsmediamorebroadlyhasthepower totransformmere occurrences intopublic events, that is occurrences about whichaccounts are constructed for the consumption of some wider public. Once these mere occurrencesare shaped and presented as public events, they become a resource for public discourse (MolotchandLester1975inBerkowitz1997,212).Assuch,itseemsobviousthatthenotionofpublicevents in the news media is so essential for human rights being on the public and policy agenda.Whywasnosuchtransformationmadeinthecaseofhumanrights?Tuchmanpresentsafurthercategoryofmereoccurrencewhichmaybeevenmorerelevant, thatisthecategorynon-events. Non-eventsareby-productsoftheschemesof interpretationbywhichwemakesense of the happenings around us; they are not simply mere occurrences that go unpublicised.JournalofGlobalEthics 265Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 Rather they are those that are or could be conceived as events worthy of public attention. Thusthe term non-events, denotes that which cannot be seen under a certain scheme of interpretation,but canbeseenunder adifferent one. It isarelational concept referringtoadiscontinuitybetweenperspectives.It is thereforepossibletounderstandhow reporting canreinforceexistingpowerstructuressincenon-eventsareseenasout ofcharacter withintheinstitutional settingsinwhichtheyoccur. Importantly, Fishmansaysthat theyaretreatedasillegitimateoccurrences becausethey violate or challenge the procedural basis on which all routine business is transacted in thesetting.Non-eventsmakethischallengebecausetheyrevealthetaken-for-grantedbackgroundfeaturesofsocialsettingsthatreportersdependonfortheirsenseofevents. Thisillegitimatequality of non-events is closely related to Goffmans (1963) notion of spoiled social identity.Likethestigmatisedperson, thestigmatisedevent isshunnedbecauseit possessesattributesthat are out of character with the setting in which it is found. Thus the human rights consequencesofthenancialcrisispossesscharacteristicsthatmeanthey arestigmatisedbecausewedonotassociate these characteristics withour economic settings. Nonevents have the qualityofbeing morally seen but professionally unnoticed (Fishman in Berkowitz 1997).Understandingtheroutinesofjournalistscanalsohelptorevealwhyitisthatsomemereoccurrencesbecomepublicevents(e.g.aworldcupfootballmatchorthemarriageofCharlesand Diana) while others become non events (e.g. the human rights consequences of the nancialcrisis).Theseroutinesareareectionofboththesociologicalandeconomiccharacteristicsofthemedia. Theyconstitutethedailyexpressionofanorganisationalculturesincetheyareanacceptedwayofproducingnewsinaparticularmediarm.Theseroutinesalsoreectmarketlogicsincetheyaretherationalmeanstoefciency.AccordingtoFishman(1980),thestructureprovidedbybureaucraciescanhelpjournalistsovercome two major practical problems in their worknamely, how to know when somethingnew is happening and how to distinguish important events from trivial ones. The need for newsto be new is of course patently obvious. Bureaucratic structures provide key signals to journalistsofthisnewnessbecauseaneventcanoccurwhenacasecrossesaboundaryandmovesintoanewphaseinitsbureaucraticcareer. Thesebureaucraticdevelopmentscanhelpjournaliststojustifytheirclaimthat anevent hastakenplaceaswell asprovidinganewshookfortheirarticles.Thetaskofjournalistsisfurtherfacilitatedbybureaucraticstructures;theycreatethepossibility of preplanning coverage since it is possible to anticipate the consequences of progressthroughoutthebureaucraticstructure.Withregardstotheimportanceofnews,bureaucraticstructurescanalsoprovidesignpoststo journalists since they contain implicit schemes of relevance. A bill, for example, is thereforemore likely to become an event when it reaches the voting stage rather than when it is initiallybeingdebated. Thismeansthat oftenthesocial conditionsthat giverisetothesechangesinbureaucratic structures are rarely discussed in detail. Rather, when written about by journalists,these happenings become the material of editorial opinion, news analysis and human inter-eststories.Thatistosay,theconditionsthatcreatethebureaucraticstructuresandpropelthemovement ofacasethroughthemaremoreoftenconsideredappropriateforsoft ratherthanhardnews.At the content level, this bureaucratic dependence can be seen in the use of quotes in texts.When writing stories, journalistic norms require selection of the most signicant quotes from themost relevant sources. If reporters drawtheir owninferences fromavailableaccounts, theycannot report themas facts. If somebody else draws the inferences and usually thissomeone else is an ofcial empowered to do sothenthe journalist can treat these inferencesashardfacts. Bureaucratsareseenascompetentknowersbyvirtueoftheirsocial structuralpositioni.e.theirofcialassignmentoverajurisdiction.Thustheyhaveasocialwarrant,they266 M.ChalabiDownloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 areentitledorauthorisedtoknowcertainthings(TuchmaninMcQuail 2002). AccordingtoBecker,bureaucraticauthoritiesconstitutehierarchiesofcredibilityforjournalists(Fishman1980). Thisisnot tosaythat journalistsnevercriticisetheseauthorities, ofcialscanindeedbe negatively sanctioned for not doing their job. But they are predisposed to treat these bureau-cratic accounts as factual for several reasons. Firstly, it is highly convenient for journalists to doso.Theeconomiclogicofnewsroomsdictatesthattheyminimiselabourwhilemeetingdead-linesandstoryquotas.Relianceonofcialsourcesallowsnewsorganisationstoachievethis,becomingmoreeconomicallyefcientastheycompetewithoneanotherinthemarketplace.ThusTuchmandescribestheinvisiblebureaucraticsubsidyofnewswhichiscreatedbytheheavyuseofofcial statements. Belowthisorganisational level, bureaucraticdependenceisalsoapractical necessityfortheindividual journalist. Reportersarenot entitledtoknow(inthe sense of hard fact) what competent sources will not or do not tell them. This helps the jour-nalist demonstrate his competencewhen asked what did you do today? they are able to replywentandspoketoxyzgovtministries. Moreover, usingofcialvoicesoffersaready-madedefencefor whatever is printed. Journalists constantlyoperateunder thethreat of criticismandbias;thereforeusingbureaucraticaccountsallowsthemtorespond:theministertoldmeso,sheoughttoknowsoifsheswrongthenitshermistakeandnotmine.Finally,politiciansalsohaveaninterestinmaintainingthisstatusquobecauseindoingsothey are able to gain publicity and legitimacy for their roles. The result is that routine news legit-imatestheexistingpoliticalorderby disseminatingbureaucratic idealisationsofthe world andbylteringouttroublesomeperceptionsofevents(Fishman1980).We now have a series of mutually supporting explanations for the quantitative ndings (i.e.the rare selection of human rights as a story) and the qualitative ndings (i.e. the de-emphasis ofhumanrightsasasignicantissue).Theseincludethedistinctionbetween hardandsoft news,the competing rationales of market logic and journalistic norms and the distinction between non-events, mere occurrencesandpublic events. Inallcases,it seemsclearthat journalismreectsandreinforcesthepowerrelationsinthebureaucraticstructuresofsocietymoreoftenthanitchallenges or modies then. Taken together, we now have a better understanding of the impor-tanceofpolitical elitevoices, bureaucraticinstitutionsandroutinesinjournalisminmakingsenseoftheseframes. However, onepieceofthepuzzleseemstoremainabsent, namelytheroleofthepublic.ToddGitlinarguesthattheconventionsofnewswriting, helpmakeculturallyconsonantmessages readable and culturally dissonant messages unsayable. Gitlin nds that these literaryconventionscovertheevent, not thecondition; theconict, not theconsensus; thefact thatadvancesthestorynottheonethatexplainsit. Inshort, publicculturereinforcesatendencytoneglectthatwhichisperceivedasthebackgroundfactorsinnewsstories(1980).Therefore, it wouldseemthat theclaimthat thenancial crisiscreatednegativeconse-quences for human rights is culturally dissonant. Perhaps our current cultural context nolonger nds such a connection compellingin terms of its urgency (as reected in the noncha-lant frames used by the FT) or credibility (as reected in the dismissive frames used by The Sun).These organisations, it seems, struck a chord with the public mindset. The FT was the onlymajor British newspaper to not experience a continuing decline in its circulation gures in 2008.The Sun too did not witness declining readership that was as severe as that of other British pressorganisations(Figure8).ConclusionAquantitativeand qualitativelook at theBritish and Americanmedia between2005and 2010reveals many aspects of their presentation of human rights during the nancial crisis as well asJournalofGlobalEthics 267Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 providing clues as to why such frameswere used. Quantitativesearches demonstrate that jour-nalistsrarelyselectedtheissueofhumanrightswhendiscussingnancialcrisis.Insuchcaseswherehumanrightsandnancial crisisdidappeartogether, afurtherselectionwasmadebyauthorsproducingaframewhichsuggestedthathumanrightswerenotonlylargelypoliticalbut alsoconcernedonlya handful of states, inparticular China. The quantitative ndingssuggestthataframethatselectstheeconomicoverthehumanitarian,thatfocusesonnancialproblems over human rights infringements emerged in 2008 and is likely to remain the dominantparadigmfor2010inboththeUKandtheUSA.Thequalitativeanalysesshedlight onthewaythat thesalienceof issueswaspresentedwithin these frames. For the FT, human rights were presented as obstructive to securing the inter-nationalcooperationurgentlyneededtoemergefromthenancialcrisis. Meanwhile, forTheSun, emphasis was placedonissues of immigrationandthedomesticjobs market bothofwhich were seen as best served by dismissing the counter-productive rhetoric of nancial crisis.How, it is now necessary to ask, were these frames made possible? It seems clear that all theconditionsnecessaryforaframetocompetewithotherswerepresent inthiscontext; it wasconvenientforjournalisticroutines, consistentwithbureaucraticaccountsandresonatedwiththeculturalcontext.Thesefactorsdemonstratethatthemediadoesindeedreinforceandreifyprevailingdiscoursetoalargeextentsincetheframesalreadyexistedwhichmadejournalistsseethehumanrightsconsequencesofthenancialcrisisasamereoccurrenceorworsestillasanonevent. Sohowmightitbeseenasapublicevent?Or, torepeattheexpressionusedbyMolotchandLester, howcanwemakethehumanrights consequences of thenancialcrisisaresourceforpublicdiscourse?Furtherresearchcouldinvestigatetherelativeimportanceofthefactorswhichhavebeenidentiedinthisproject. Itwouldbepossibleto, forexample, attempttomeasurehowmuchof anincreaseindiscoursefromkeypolitical actorsisneededtopropel anincreaseintheFigure8.Britishdailynewspapercirculation(2008).268 M.ChalabiDownloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 Table1.ComparisonofFactivasdenitionoftoppressandcirculationgures.TopUKNewspapers(accordingtoFactiva)TopUKNewspapers(byreadership)TopUSNewspapers(accordingtoFactiva)TopUSNewspapers(byreadership)BritishBusinessMonitor(abstracts)TheSunTheArizonaRepublicTheWallStreetJournalTheBusinessDailyMailTheArkansasDemocratGazette(LittleRock)USATodayCitywireDailyMirrorTheAtlantaJournalConstitutionTheNewYorkTimesTheDailyExpress(UK)DailyStarTheBaltimoreSunLosAngelesTimesDailyMail(UK)DailyTelegraphTheBostonGlobeTheWashingtonPostTheDailyTelegraph(UK)DailyExpressBostonHeraldDailyNewsTheEconomist(UK)TheTimesBuffaloNews(NY)NewYorkPostEveningTimes(Glasgow,Scotland)FTCharlotteObserver(NC)SanJoseMercuryNews/ContraCostaTheExpressonSunday(UK)DailyRecordChicagoSun-TimesTimes/TheOaklandTribuneFTPrintandOnline(availablethroughthirdpartysubscriptionservices)TheGuardianChicagoTribuneChicagoTribuneFT(availablethroughThirdPartySubscriptionServices)EveningStandardTheChristianScienceMonitorHoustonChronicleFT(availabletoacademicsubscribersonly)TheIndependentTheCincinnatiEnquirerTheArizonaRepublicFT(FT.Com)(availablethroughthirdpartysubscriptionservices)Express&StarTheColumbusDispatch(Ohio)ThePhiladelphiaInquirer/PhiladelphiaDailyNewsFT(FT.Com)(availabletoacademicsubscribersonly)TheCourier-Journal(Louisville,KY)NewsdayGuardian&ObserverprintandonlineDailyNews(NewYork)ThePahrumpRumormillTheGuardian(UK)TheDallasMorningNewsStarTribuneGuardianUnlimited(UK)DenverPostSt.PetersburgTimesTheHerald(Glasgow,Scotland)DetroitFreePressChicagoSun-TimesTheIndependent(London)TheDetroitNewsThePlainDealerIndependentOnSunday(UK)TheFortWorthStar-Telegram(Texas)TheOregonianTheMailonSunday(UK)TheHartfordCourant(CT)TheSeattleTimesTheObserver(UK)HoustonChronicleTheDallasMorningNewsPressAssociationNationalNewswireIndianapolisStarDetroitFreePressPressAssociationNewswiresAllInvestorsBusinessDailyTheSanDiegoUnion-TribuneTheScotsmanTheKansasCityStar(MO)SanFranciscoChronicleSundayHerald(Glasgow,Scotland)LosAngelesTimesTheStar-LedgerTheSundayTelegraph(UK)TheMiamiHeraldTheSundayTimes(London)TheMilwaukeeJournalSentinel(Continued)JournalofGlobalEthics 269Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 Table1.Continued.TopUKNewspapers(accordingtoFactiva)TopUKNewspapers(byreadership)TopUSNewspapers(accordingtoFactiva)TopUSNewspapers(byreadership)TheTimes(London)NewYorkPostTheNewYorkTimesTheNewYorkTimes(abstracts)Newsday(NY)TheNews-Gazette(Champaign,Ill)TheOklahomanOmahaWorld-Herald(Neb.)TheOrangeCountyRegister(Calif.)TheOregonianOrlandoSentinel(Fla.)ThePhiladelphiaInquirerPittsburghPost-GazetteThePlainDealer(Cleveland)TheSacramentoBeeSanAntonioExpress-NewsTheSanDiegoUnion-TribuneTheSanFranciscoChronicleSanJoseMercuryNewsTheSeattleTimesSouthFloridaSun-SentinelSt.LouisPost-DispatchSt.PaulPioneerPressSt.PetersburgTimes(Fla.)TheStar-Ledger(Newark,NJ)Star-Tribune(Minneapolis-St.Paul)TampaTribune(Fla.)TheTimes-PicayuneUSATodayTheWallStreetJournalTheWallStreetJournalprintandonlineTheWashingtonPostprintandonlineTheWashingtonPostWashingtonPost.comWSJGuides270 M.ChalabiDownloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 selectivity and salience from the media, i.e. when state leaders take up the issues discussed at UNmeetings does this make it more viable for the press to report on it? Or the same could be done bylookingat datafromopinionpollsandseeinghowmuchadecreaseinpublicscepticismofhuman rights changes the frames which the media uses (given the nature of some of the questionsposed in polls by companies like Ipsos Mori, provisional data on this would in fact be available).Themediawouldneverthelessremainanimportantlitmustestforthesedifferinglevelsofimportance.Wemayaskourselveswhatthealternativemaybeforindividualstobeinformedabout thesehumanrights consequences?Wouldit befor individuals toseekout economicand social statistics from WHO, IOM, ILO and seek to interpret them for themselvesperform-ing alone all of the actions of framesto see the problems, locate the causes and identify reme-dies?Wouldthis beunrealisticallydemanding, or worsestill, futilegiventhat theexistingculturalcontextmaydisinclinethemtodoso?To quote Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch, the language of rights can be a powerfulorganizingtool. Rothcontinues; thecoreof our methodologyisour abilitytoinvestigate,expose, andshame. Thisispreciselywhat themediaisabletodosinceit canidentifytheagentsandstructureswhichcausehumanrightsdegradations(Roth2004).In the FT, the frequency of the term economic recovery increased by over 680% in 2009.Anincreaseof660%oftheexpressionwasfoundforthetopUK Pressandover470%fortheAmericanpress.Giventhismassiveupsurgeofanarrativeonrecoveryinallpressoutlets,theneed to report on human rights does not diminishfar from itthese recovery plans need to beresponsible demonstrating respect to economic and social rights. Otherwise, healthy recoverymaycontinuesuccessfullywhiletheindividualswhowerepushedintoeconomicandsocialmiseryduringthecrisis arelikelytobeplungedintopoorer healthandworsestill, greaterobscurity.AcknowledgementThis paper wouldnot havebeenpossiblewereit not for thegenerous encouragement andwisdomofDrIvanManokha.Notes1. Given the fact that the FT produced 20,938 articles containing the expression nancial crisis between2007 and 2010, which far outnumbers other leading British and American newspapers over the sameperiod; 11,578 by the Wall Street Journal, 6554 by the Guardian, 4102 by the New York Times, 2234 bytheWashingtonPostand678articlesbytheEconomist.2. Factiva is not a perfectly intelligent source of software. When searching for labour rights for example,labourwasfrequentlyinterpretedasmeaningtheLabourparty. Ithereforeattemptedtolimit sucherrorsbyincludingsearchtermsasunambiguousphraseswherever possible. Thusalthoughusingthetermnancial crisis will potentiallyconceal someof thedebatebecauseit will not bringuparticleswhich may referto acrisisinthe nancialmarket, it also ensuresthat weare not includingarticleswhich talkaboutthenancialworriesduringamarriagecrisis!3. Factivas denition of Top UK Newspapers and Top US Newspapers is nevertheless something of anormativeone. Itdoesnotcorrelatewithlevelsofreadership(Table1).4. The expression nancial crisis subsequently decreased to 8194 articles in the FT in 2010 while reces-sion also fell from the previous year to 10,037 in 2010. However, these ndings for 2010 may reveal amethodological error in the way that the statistics for 2010 were created. The method used (taking thetotal number of articles which featured the search terms from January to May, dividing them by 5 andmultiplying them by 12) may be entirely unsatisfactory if news production occurs in annual cycles. Iffor any given topic, the amount of news output increases towards the later months of the year, then thismethodofadjustingtheresultsfromJanuarytoMaywouldbeinappropriate.JournalofGlobalEthics 271Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:51 15 October 2014 5. Which grew from 514 articles in 2007 in the FT to 2433 in 2008 before dropping back down to 619 in2009.6. SearcheswereactuallyconductedonFactivausingthetermhumanrightsoastocapturearticleswhichmentionedbothahumanright (aspecicdenial forinstance)aswell ashumanrightsmorebroadly.7. Amountingto 37%of all FTarticlesthatmentioned bothhumanrights andnancial crisiswithin 50wordsofoneanother.8. FT,16November2009.9. FT,16November2009.10. FT,24November2009.11. Accordingto2008circulationgurescompiled bytheWorldAssociationofNewspapers.12. TheGuardian,TheMedia1002008,14July2008.13. TheSun,5May2010.14. FeatureLetters,TheSun,31October2008.15. TheIndependent,InsideStory:Alltheslogansttoprint,17July2006.16. 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