In keeping with the thematic analysis employed in previous GUMG research, this chapter examines the competing explanations for the cost of living crisis (COLC) that were widely available to journalists. We present data from political speeches and debates, from think tanks and from charitable and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), outlining how the crisis was framed and interpreted in terms of its drivers and impacts alongside policy proposals for solutions. This data forms the basis for the content analysis in this book where we identify which voices and perspectives are amplified or silenced within contemporary media ecosystems. This chapter thus adds to the extant literature critiquing the relationship between the media and the primary institutional definers of controversial social issues (Hall et al., Policing the Crisis: Mugging, The State and Law and Order, London, Macmillan, 1978).