T h e influence of neo-liberal assumptions on media treatment of political e c o n o m y in Ireland Sean Phelan (BA) Submitted for the award of Ph D in Communications Supervisor Dr Peadar Kirby School of Communications Dublin City University Submitted July 2003 I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Ph D in Communications is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged withm the text of my work Signed ID No Date 2 ^ j v /* / O ? Acknowledgements I would like to thank some of the people who formally and informally assisted me with this study since October 1999 Above all else, I would like to acknowledge the steadfast help and support of my supervisor Dr Peadar Kirby, who I approached with the germs of this research idea in early 1999 In short, this study would not be the coherent piece of work it hopefully now reads as without Peadar's rigorous - yet never mean spirited - attention to detail I would like to thank my external examiner, Professor Norman Fairclough, and my internal examiner, Dr Pat Brereton, for their helpful comments and flexibility m facilitating the PhD viva, and completion, process This study would not have been possible without the financial support of the DCU School of Communications I would like to thank the various individuals who have served as School Head during my time m DCU Professor John Horgan, Professor Farrel Corcoran and Brian Trench I would like to thank Farrel, in particular, for his timely, and robust, critique of an earlier draft of this study In addition, I would like to thank Dr Kirk Junker, who helped ground my understanding of rhetoric In the School of Communications, I was lucky enough to work with Dr Des McGuinness and Dr Helena Sheehan, who - along with the inspiration o f sharp, responsive students - gave me an encouraging introduction to the world of third level teaching The companionship of post-graduate research colleagues at the School of Communications was important, too In particular, I would like to thank Patrick Martin, who I was lucky enough to “find” in 2000 and work collaborativeiy with throughout 2001 and 2002 I would like to thank the staff of DCU library, particularly the Humanities Librarian Julie Allen who saved me an immense amount of time by introducing me to the powerful Lexis-Nexis database 3 Outside the formal world of academia, I was lucky enough to have a group of friends both interested and curious (I think*) about my work Thanks, in particular, to Syrena, Brian (especially for the proof-reading), Tom Me, Tom Pius, Mike, Tara, Liam, Julie Mae, Ger, Murph and Stack Finally, I would like to thank my family - including my brother Bryan and sister Elaine - for their love and support over the years In particular, I would like to thank my Mam and Dad for their affirmation of my various “career paths”, no matter how wayward or indolent some of them might have seemed Sean Phelan July 24th, 2003 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgments 3 Abstract 9 List of tables 10 List of abbreviations 11 Introduction - 12 PART 1 - NEO-LIBERALISM Chapter 1 An overview 18 1 1 Introduction ¡3 1 2 Neo-liberalism in discourse 19 1 3 Neo-liberalism as political economy doctnne 21 1 4 Neo-liberalism a short political history 26 1 5 Conclusion 37 Chapter 2 Ideology 38 2 1 Introduction 38 2 2 Conceptions of ideology 38 2 3 Neo-liberalism as ideology a suggested framework 43 2 4 Constructing hegemony the mass media selling and 50 promotion of neo-liberal ideology 55 2 5 Conclusion PART 2 - THEORIES & METHODS Chapter 3 Analysing media 57 3 1 Introduction 57 3 2 The American empirical tradition 58 3 3 Ideological critique 64 3 4 The sociology of media qualitative turns 73 3 5 Analysing media discourse 78 3 6 Conclusion 84 Chapter 4 Critical discourse analysis theoretical 85 5 fram ew ork 4 1 Introduction 85 4 2 Bourdieu’s social theory key concepts 86 4 3 Burke’s theory of action key concepts 88 4 4 Critical discourse analysis key theoretical tenets 89 4 5 Criticisms of critical discourse analysis 101 4 6 Criticisms of Bourdieu 104 4 7 Criticisms of Burke 106 4 8 Analysing neo-liberal influence theory and methods 108 4 9 Conclusion 114 PART 3 - MEDIA TREATMENT Chapter 5 European Union “economic reform” 117 5 1 Introduction 117 5 2 Methodological issues 118 5 3 The Irish Times and Lisbon 2000 122 5 4 Irish Independent and Lisbon 2000 133 5 5 The Irish Times and Barcelona 2002 138 5 6 Irish Independent and Barcelona 2002 145 5 7 The textual and the social world 153 5 8 Conclusion 156 Chapter 6 Neo-liberal assumptions and state intervention 157 6 1 Introduction 157 6 2 Methodological issues 158 6 3 The Irish Times and the launch of the National 161 Development Plan 6 4 Irish Independent and the launch of the National 173 Development Plan 6 5 The Irish Times and the launch of the SpecialSavings 179 Incentive Scheme 6 6 Irish Independent and the launch of the Special Savings 185 Incentive Scheme 6 7 The textual and the social world 189 6 8 Conclusion 193 Chapter 7 Editorialising on Eircom 195 7 1 Introduction 195 7 2 Methodological issues 196 7 3 Preparing for the Market 200 7 4 Market Fortunes 212 6 7 5 The implications of the Eircom sale 235 7 6 Different neo-liberalisms 243 7 7 Editorial distinction and the social world 246 7 8 Conclusion 249 Chapter 8 Talking “downturn” 250 8 1 Introduction 250 8 2 Methodological issues 251 8 3 Six-One News - RTE - November 7th 253 8 4 “End of the Celtic Tiger'?” The initial reportage and 254 framing of Governor O’Connell’ s comments 8 5 Six-One News discussion 258 8 6 Tonight with Vincent Browne - RTE - November 7th 262 8 7 Morning Ireland - RTE - November 8th 271 8 8 News At One - RTE - November 8th 275 8 9 The L a st W ord - Today FM - November 8th 280 8 10 This Week - RTE - November 11th 288 8 11 Neo-liberal assumptions and “the downturn” 294 8 12 Social and institutional imperatives 298 8 13 Conclusion 300 PART 4 - THEORY & PRACTICE Chapter 9 The media and political authority of neo-liberal 302 assumptions 9 1 Introduction 302 9 2 The discourses of neo-liberalism a hexadic formulation 302 9 3 Neo-liberal discourses and the Irish media field 308 9 4 Neo-liberal assumptions and the “order of discourse” 315 9 5 Structural constraints the limits of agency 320 9 6 Conclusion 323 Chapter 10 Neo-liberalism and practice 324 10 1 Introduction 324 10 2 The implications for media practice 324 10 3 Contribution to the literature 327 10 4 The implications for future research 328 10 5 The implications for political discourse and the critique 331 of neo-liberalism 10 6 Conclusion 334 BIBLIOGRAPHY 335 7 APPENDICES I Appendix A - The Insh Times and the Lisbon summit II sources and attributed sources Appendix B - Insh Independent and the Lisbon summit III sources and attributed sources Appendix C - The Insh Times and the Barcelona summit sources and IV attributed sources Appendix D - Insh Independent and the Barcelona summit sources and V attributed sources Appendix E - The Insh Times headlines National Development Plan V II Appendix F - The Irish Times and the NDP sources and attnbuted sources X Appendix G - Irish Independent headlines National Development Plan X V I Appendix H - Irish Independent and the NDP sources and attnbuted sources X V III Appendix I - The Insh Times and the SSIS sources and attributed sources X X I Appendix J - Irish Independent and the SSIS sources and attnbuted sources X X IV 8 A b s t r a c t This thesis examines how neo-liberal assumptions frame the way in which matters of political economy are represented and discussed in Irish media The structure of the thesis is fourfold The first part gives an overview of what is meant by neo-hberalism and drawing, in particular, on the work of neo-liberals Hayek and Friedman outlines its significance in terms o f political economy, political practice and ideology The second part presents an overview of analytical approaches to media analysis, and describes this study’s theoretical and methodological application of a sociologically engaged, critical discourse analysis framework The third, and most substantive, part analyses, and compares, the print, radio and television content of different Irish media This section examines print media coverage of two European Union summits, print media coverage of the launch o f the National Development Plan and the Special Savings Incentive Scheme, editorial comment about the privatisation of Telecom Eireann, and radio and television discussion (from November 2001) about the “downturn” in the economy Based on the empirical findings, part four offers a theoretically informed account of neo-liberal influence in an Irish media and socio-political context 9 List of tables The contours of neo-hberal ideology 49 Bourdieu and Wacquant’s “ideological schema” for neo- 49 hberalism Theoretical framework for examining the influence of neo- 109 liberal assumptions on media treatment of political economy in Ireland The Irish Times and the Lisbon summit an overview of sources 128 and attributed sources Irish Independent and the Lisbon summit an overview of 135 sources and attributed sources The Irish Times and the Barcelona summit an overview of 142 sources and attributed sources Irish Independent and the Barcelona summit an overview of 149 sources and attributed sources Summary of The Irish Times ’ headline framing o f the NDP 161 The Irish Times and the NDP an overview o f sources and 165 attributed sources Summary