The current budget crisis in traditional visual media

Rezumat

The work I propose is part of a broader research approach aimed at the relationship between social policies and social equity in post-communist Romania. The respective approach, carried out in several stages, targeted policies in the field of pensions and salaries - including associated fiscal policies, policies regarding poverty and vulnerable groups. From the analysis of policies and their impact from the perspective of equity and social justice, I identified groups and categories constantly disadvantaged by these policies and groups constantly privileged - one of the ways of privileging these categories, analyzed in detail, being that of the so-called special pensions. The issue investigated is also of interest to the mass media, being widely reflected, both on social networks and in traditional media, in the written and audiovisual press. Although the themes are recurrent, in times of crisis, such as the current budget crisis in Romania, they gain increased importance, both in terms of weight and from the perspective of focusing on the dimension of social equity. The paper I propose will focus on analyzing how the issue of social equity and the relationship with social policies is reflected in the analyses and debates in traditional visual media in times of crisis, such as the current one. Starting from a content analysis that I conducted, from a similar perspective during the economic crisis 2010-2011, I propose a comparative analysis of media messages, the senders of these messages and the implicit or explicit interests behind them. The comparative analysis will target the period of the economic crisis - the measures taken during that period and the way they were reflected in the mass media - respectively, the period of the current budget crisis, from a similar analysis perspective. The main news and socio-economic and political analysis programs of the main news television channels in Romania will be targeted.