Two weeks ago I wrote about the difficult economic situation in United Kingdom, focusing on different aspects that are impeding UK to overcome the crisis and begin a process of full recovery; in past day in the major newspapers was published the European economics results that show good reaction from the crisis and give a positive impression for the future.
The Financial Times article is clear and straight forward transmitting all the key facts and figures to the reader in order to let them understand the topic: “Euro zone gross domestic product expanded by 0.4 per cent compared with the previous three months, after having previously contracted for five consecutive quarters, according to official figures on Friday”.
The first part is focusing on broad description of the results comparing Euro zone with United Kingdom and US: ” The US economy expanded by 0.9 per cent in the third quarter, although the UK was still in recession”. The main body of the article is describing the temporary factor that have brought European countries to this positive results: “So far the Euro zone recovery has been driven by temporary factors – less aggressive de-stocking by industry and emergency stimulus measures – as well as a pick-up in exports on the back of stronger global demand”. Another highly important issue raised in the article is the opinion and forecast from major macroeconomics bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, European commission; all these institution are warming from excess of positivism: “if the banking sector does not repair its balance sheet, the credit channel is likely to remain impaired, posing a major downside risk to the sustainability of the recovery”.
The Guardian s approach to the news is completely different, it focus more on the comparison between United Kingdom and Eurozone without explaining in deep and with accuracy the results.
Most of the article is based on interviews with different economists and politicians that are all explaining their point of view and forecast for the future; The Conservatives seized on the data to criticise government policies. "Far from 'leading the world out of recession' as Gordon Brown has claimed, the evidence shows how his economic policies have failed," said shadow chancellor, George Osborne or Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said the data was further evidence of how hard Britain has been hit by the financial crisis “"While in the short term the combination of a weak pound and a return to growth in the Euro zone is good for our exporters, consumers will feel the pinch from the increasing cost of imports”.
At the end there are some forecast from economists warning from celebration and to continue to work hard because “ The economy remains in a fragile state, and is recovering mainly because of government stimulus and temporary inventory effects. A sustained recovery is likely to require that consumer spending and business investment be the primary drivers of new economic activity."
The main difference with the financial times is the objectivity and awareness of communicating the news; the Guardian is not clear structured and does not appear to give a wide explanation of the fact. In my opinion it wanted to show the EU positives figures in despite of UK, therefore accuse Gordon Brown policies and strategies in order to arise in the reader a sentiment of anger and revenge; that strategy is a simple strategy to sell more copies.
The last article taken into consideration is from The Times that uses a third different approach to the news. It is focusing on the best country that has reacted to the crisis in order to analyze the facts and figures: “Germany, the zone’s biggest economy, confirmed its recovery, after exiting recession in the second quarter, when it said that GDP increased by 0.7 per cent in the third quarter. France also underlined its recovery, with 0.3 per cent growth.” The rest of article is mainly the same of the other two articles; using interviews to justify this result in comparison with the UK and to forecast future prospects.
Europe is recovering from the crisis thanks to the right strategies undertaken from the different governments and thanks to all the workers that in this period have worked double to help their countries to overcome this difficult period.
All of us are hoping that this is a sustainable recovery based on real economy and not just on stimulus packages and illusions. The governments have the chance to regain the trust of the citizens, are they working to do so? I really hope so.
Times:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6915468.ece
The Guardian;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/13/eurozone-growth-beats-uk-recession
The Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/08ab0f42-d02c-11de-a8db-00144feabdc0.html
Good comparison of different media sources, as usual. 7/10
RispondiElimina