Media rhetoric plays the market: The logic and power of metaphors behind the financial crises since 2006

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).