The Daily Telegraph

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe, Business on June 20th, 2010
Photo by GALLO/GETTY

Has the media exacerbated the eurozone crisis?

Sitting in Athens, that is a question I've asked myself many times in recent months.

Certainly, there are people close to George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, who complain bitterly about the reporting of Greece's economic woes by what they call "the Anglo-Saxon press" (which, in a pantheon of villains, is apparently right up there with greedy speculators and unscrupulous hedge-fund managers).

Their argument goes as follows: parts of the British press have always distrusted the euro and have repeatedly predicted the failure of the single currency. The eurosceptics have waited for this moment, and now they smell blood.

By Teymoor Nabili in Business on December 10th, 2009
Photo by EPA

There's been an interesting response to Britain's decision to tax bankers' bonuses this year.

Naturally, the more right-leaning of the UK press has been making some derogatory comments: The Daily Telegraph claims it will ruin the economy, calling it

"a 'not welcome here' message the Government has sent to international finance" 

The Daily Mail offers what appears to be a helpful guide to tax evasion, while even the left-leaning Guardian talks of fears in the financial industry that the 

"super-tax on bankers' bonuses will drive star City players overseas"