Framing the State in Globalization: The Financial Times’ Coverage of the 1997 Thai Currency Crisis

Abstract

This textual analysis of The Financial Times’ coverage of the 1997 Thai currency crisis addresses how The Times framed the role of the Thai government within its coverage of that global financial crisis. In particular, the study shows that The Times, as an example of the finance press, relies on elite sources to serve an equally elite readership. In the present case, this structural orientation became apparent in the way that The Times embraced the International Monetary Fund and advocated dominant fiscal policies based on the free market liberalization of smaller state economies. Within this hegemonic power relation, The Times demonstrated and affirmed its position among global elites and, therefore, versus emerging states and their economies. More generally, the analysis considers The Times’ process of constructing the news as a way to understand how finance journalism functions within globalization.