ABSTRACT
The previous two chapters considered ways that elite news media framed the past (crisis causes) and the future (the consequences of regulatory reform). This chapter will look at something that was conspicuous by its absence, namely news framing about moral issues as part of the regulation story. There is a long tradition in popular culture of viewing finance through a moral lens, and there were opportunities for more discussion about the moral implications of the regulatory response. Debate about bankers’ pay was an obvious example. Yet moral framing was sporadic in regulatory coverage. What little there was tended to be aligned with an interventionist paradigm, but it was the dearth of discussion that spoke volumes: It gave more space for arguments for a reduced role by the state.
