In this paper, we analyze a combination of social and semantic networks extracted from news media articles on the recent European debt crisis. While most network research, so far, has focused on either social networks or semantic networks, we combine networks of entities (i.e., organizations and actors) and semantic networks to identify the discursive frames used to characterize these different entities. The use of socio-semantic networks in the analysis of discursive fames is a novel approach in network research.

Media reporting of the financial crisis in the United States has been widely investigated by communication researchers, but the same does not apply to the European debt crisis. Since the end of 2009, several Eurozone member states were unable to repay or refinance their government debt or to bailout over-indebted banks under their national supervision. Spillover effects of the financial situation in the United States and the rising sovereign debt of several Eurozone states contributed to high financial instability in Europe. In reporting these events of the Eurozone debt crisis, the media makes use of frames to make their reports more prominent and/or popularize the issues discusses. The importance of frames in media reports stems from their ability to highlight some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient, while at the same time hiding other aspects. By employing frames to characterize or describe the financial situation of the Eurozone, media reports have the potential to influence perceptions surrounding the crisis, to motivate action, or to potentially create panic among their audiences.