ABSTRACT:
Framing theory explains how media shape public perceptions by selecting and interpreting social events. This study examines how the adoption of the euro was framed in Croatian online media during both the pre-adoption (December 2022) and the transition periods (January 2023). A total of 236 articles from leading online news portals and specialised business media were analysed. Findings indicate the dominance of a technological and administrative frame and statistically significant differences in frame distribution across the two periods. Sentiment is mostly neutral, with positive sentiment slightly more common in the economic frame and negative sentiment in the social and political frames. These two frames show an interconnected dynamic, as narratives about public dissatisfaction extend into political blame attribution. Informative headlines prevail, although sensationalist elements are sometimes used to dramatize technical content. Lexical patterns form thematic clusters that function as linguistic markers of specific frames.
KEY WORDS:
content analysis; euro adoption; framing theory; media framing; online media
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34135/communicationtoday.2026.Vol.17.No.1.15