“Trapped in horror transactions” : tabloid representations of the non-performing loans crisis and hardship defaults in Hungary

Abstract

As part of a process of non-performing loan crisis, Hungary has been experiencing a protracted foreign currency loans crisis since 2008. The crisis and the household management of problem debts were commonly discussed in popular tabloids, which play an important role in framing economic events for lay audiences. For this study, I selected relevant articles from the most popular Hungarian tabloid, Blikk, and used discourse analysis to understand how the crisis was narrated. The tabloid stories portray borrowers through metaphors and personal gossip stories of both celebrities and ordinary people. Debtors are usually portrayed in the media as financially illiterate or undisciplined subjects of lifestyle defaulters; however, the gossip stories in this Hungarian tabloid presented borrowers as financially struggling hardship defaulters and victims of creditors.