After making an inventory of how the media covered the events of this month marked by the downgrade of the top U.S. rating by the rating agency S & P because of the large debt of the country, it stands out the tendency of World Street Journal (WSJ) to minimize the importance of reducing the U.S. rating and the insistence on an alleged error in its calculations by S & P.
On another hand, the newspaper focuses on the problems facing Europeans to get out of debt crisis and the fact that Angela Merkel, German chancellor, risks losing control of the ruling coalition. Moreover, in a recent article, the publication suggests that a default is imminent in Greece, which would have “brutal” consequences for investors.
WSJ shows that the insistence of Finland to get guarantees in exchange for participation in helping the Greek state threaten the mechanism of the euro area aid, without which Greece will go bankrupt. “A default will hit European banks, already fragile”, writes the WSJ in an article entitled “Options for the EU: saves Greece save or save the banks”. Bloomberg has distinguished with an analysis showing that investors “demoted” S & P by buying U.S. bonds, although the rating agency revised down the U.S. rating.
Also, Bloomberg seems to insist on misunderstandings between Europeans on how to save Greece. In an analysis made on Tuesday, Bloomberg argues that the demand for securities by the Finnish leaves EU only two choices: accept the Finnish claims, in which case the rescue of Greece could fall, or accept the request, helping this way to come to power the Finnish Eurosceptics which have so far rejected the bailout plans.
British newspaper The Telegraph is setting apart by extremely pessimistic headlines of addressing general problems.
“Fears about a new recession in the West, while confidence is collapsing”, is the title of an article published on Tuesday.
Moreover, another British newspaper, Daily Mail, launched, in an article later admitted as being based on fictitious information, rumors that French bank Societe Generale and Italian UniCredit are on the brink of bankruptcy. These rumors have led to the collapse of stock markets this month and shares of European banks in particular.
In France, the main publications, Les Echos, Le Figaro, Le Monde, seem to be reluctant to apocalyptic comments resuming at publising the news, reports, explanations and interviews, such as the one with Laurence Parisot.