Who is responsible for the state of the economy? Media narratives on responsibility attribution during the Eurozone crisis in Ireland, Portugal and Spain

Abstract

This study examines who the media holds responsible for economic issues in a multi-level setting, particularly during the 2009 economic crisis. Despite the burgeoning research on responsibility attribution and the likely effect of the media in giving credit and blame, little attention has been paid to this role of the media. To address this gap, our objectives are to assess (1) the extent to which the media attributes responsibility to national governments and the EU for the economy, (2) how responsibility was assigned during the 2009 crisis and (3) underlying differences across political actors and countries. We examine media coverage of economic issues in Ireland, Portugal and Spain between 2002 and 2016, corresponding to a total of 672 news stories. Results show a pattern of greater responsibility attributed to the European level compared to the domestic level, which decreases with the crisis and is more accentuated in Ireland.