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23 September 2011
JOURNALISM AND ECONOMICS
The relationship between economists and economic journalists should be symbiotic. They have much to learn from each other. The media are obviously an important source of economic information, and economists have a considerable amount of information about how the economy works that should be useful to journalists. In addition, it is particularly important for economists who are interested in influencing policy to have their findings effectively presented both to the public at large and to policy makers in particular. In principle, therefore, these professions are allies. Yet as Richard Parker convincingly demonstrates in this paper, their interaction works poorly.
Economists often find fault with the way in which economic information is reported. Sometimes they accuse the press of ignorance, distortion and a misplaced emphasis on recent numbers rather than trends. At other times, however, journalists are faulted for claiming trends without sufficient evidence. Journalists, for their part, find much of what economists do both incomprehensible and irrelevant. Many of the issues with which academic economists are preoccupied, appear remote from the concerns of average citizens.
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