National or Supranational responsibility? The media narratives in the attribution of responsibility during the Eurozone crisis in Portugal, Spain and Ireland

Attributing responsibility might shape the public understanding of who is responsible for a specific economic issue. However, in a multilevel structure such as the EU boundaries between national and supranational levels are often blurred. This paper considers a constitutive policy issue, the economic crisis in Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Through the analysis of more than 600 economic articles published in two major newspapers of each country during 14 national elections, the main goal is to test whether national media present a convergent media narrative, attributing the main responsibility to European level rather than to domestic level. There is a convergence in Portugal and Spain: national media tend to nationalise the attribution of responsibility, while in Ireland the tendency is to supranationalise it. Yet, the critical moments of national economy, such as the outbreak of the Eurozone crisis tended to amplify the presence of national actors in the three countries considered.