Media and manias : news and economic decision-making

This paper proposes an interdisciplinary framework of mass communication and economic theory to examine the role of the media in economic decision-making. The recent expansion of business-financial news in the mass media and the development of specialized information sources for the general public is linked to the democratization of the stock market, which is related to the development of managerial capitalism. Speculative bubbles are also examined in this context of general economic transformation. Media coverage of the 2000 speculative bubble in France and Quebec illustrates the double trend of « economization » of media discourse and « popularization » of business-financial news