Defaulting to metalanguage: Financial concept negotiations in user comments as a case of mediatization

Abstract

On 30 June 2015, the euro crisis and its devastating effect on Greece culminated in the short term when two of Greece's bailout packages were set to expire. The deadline attracted an enormous amount of media coverage – and user engagement with it. This article analyses how the evening's main event was conceptualised in two ways – as Greece being 'in default' or 'in arrears' – and how the competing concepts were used in The Guardian Online's live blog reporting and the ensuing user comments. Tendencies regarding the concepts' usage and uptake are discussed through a close analysis of indicators of metapragmatic awareness (Verschueren, 1999). It is shown that the two terms were entextualized in distinct ways, and that this engendered specific and politically-motivated indexical links for some users in the commenting community. Drawing upon Agha's (2011) conceptualisation of mediatization, the article suggests a need to refocus investigations on the online audience's uptake of economic/financial news reporting.