This introductory chapter sets the conceptual landscape for the empirical findings we present across this book which chart a disrupted communications circuit in respect of media and the cost of living crisis. We document how a series of inter-related developments in the socio-economic, political and technological landscape have brought us to this moment that is characterised by the cost of living crisis in the UK. We detail the shifts from the widespread consent to the programme of austerity post-2008 to the current contestation of the Labour government’s attempt at welfare reforms and their ‘iron clad’ commitment to fiscal stringency. We also chart the changing media landscape, from one dominated by mainstream media organisations, to one more defined by the emergence of Big Tech, which sees new mechanisms for the circulation, representation and control of information. We explore the impacts on public trust and consent to the current system of politics of alternative forms of ‘news’ delivered by influencers and content creators. Characterising the cost of living crisis as one without ‘cause’, we discuss the competing explanations and solutions put forth to remedy it by the political class in the UK. Finally, we outline the structure of the book with summaries of the chapters which provide a holistic understanding of mediations of the COLC, and offer broader insights into changing forms of media power.