The information language of economic crises: How euphemisms hide economic reality

D. E. Konoplev ()

Voprosy Ekonomiki, 2026, issue 10

Abstract: Drawing on press coverage of the 1998, 2008, 2014, 2020, and 2022 economic crises, the article examines the phenomenon of replacing economic terminology with euphemisms that mask the substance of the financial problems under discussion. The year 2025 is examined separately as a control period. The article compares how frequently economic terms are used in their original meanings with how frequently euphemisms displace those terms in publications devoted to crisis phenomena in the economy. Content analysis and thematic analysis show that the use of economic euphemisms in Russian media grows with the duration of economic crises: the longer crisis phenomena persist in the Russian economy, the more likely periodicals are to use Aesopian language to describe them. The article concludes that euphemisms play a growing role in the information discourse of Russian periodicals, primarily to conceal specific manifestations of economic crises.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nos:voprec:y:2026:id:5694

DOI: 10.32609/0042-8736-2026-10-112-126

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