Ríos Rodríguez, Raúl2025-12-222025-12-222020-10-26Rios Rodríguez, R. (2022). Framing austerity in Spain: the influence of sources and economic policies over the media discourse. Journalism Practice, 16(6), 1100-1116.1751-2786https://hdl.handle.net/10347/44668This is the author accepted manuscript of an article published in Journalism Practice. The Version of Record of this manuscript has been published and is available in Journalism Practice, 2020/10/26 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17512786.2020.1834870, DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1834870European countries responded to the economic crisis of 2008 by adopting austerity policies that deeply transformed their economic and social model, leading to a general decline in welfare. This study attempts to demonstrate how the media contributed to legitimise this kind of policies by portraying them as the only possible alternative, focusing on the Spanish press. To this end, we carry out a Content Analysis of the frames used by two Spanish newspapers to address the policies applied in response to the crisis between 2008 and 2015. Additionally, this article links through a Z-test the frames reproduced by the media with the type of sources that promoted them, a dimension of the crisis coverage that remains largely unexplored. It also analyses the evolution of the media discourse throughout the crisis. The results show how coverage was dominated by frames that legitimised austerity by presenting it as the only existing option. In a relevant way, both elitist and alternative sources mostly promoted frames that legitimised austerity, although in a different way. On the other hand, the legitimisation of austerity was exercised more intensely in the crisis periods in which these policies were being applied more stronglyeng© 2025. Taylor and FrancisEconomic journalismEconomic crisisAusterityFramingIdeologySpanish MediaCascading activation model530706 Fluctuaciones económicas590206 Política económica591002 Medios de comunicación de masas5910 Opinión públicajournal article10.1080/17512786.2020.18348701751-2794open access