Auguren Des Geldes: Eine Kulturgeschichte Des Finanzjournalismus in Deutschland 1850-1914

The origins of "modern" financial journalism in Germany lie in the decades before the outbreak of World War I. Indeed the most crucial journalistic characteristics of the 20th century financial coverage emerged in that period: professions such as the stock market reporter, specific forms of journalistic presentation and practices of daily life in interaction with bankers and economic leaders, as well as a strong code of ethics that all financial journalists should adopt. In particular, it was the disastrous stock market crash of 1873, which had exposed the inglorious role of financial reporters during the previous period of economic boom, that triggered a public and politically charged debate about the "rules of game" in financial coverage. In this sense, it was primarily the politicization of financial journalism that professionalized it, giving journalism its pivotal impulse towards "modernity".