Mediated constructions of crisis

Abstract

Patrona and Thornborrow examine the discursive constructions of crisis on television evening news and current affairs programmes during the EU Parliament elections of 2014. They focus on the economic crisis referred to as ‘austerity’, and the political crisis caused by the rise of populist parties and agendas in member states. Adopting a discourse and conversation analytic approach, Patrona and Thornborrow examine how the tensions at work across Europe during the 2014 elections were discursively constructed in national news narratives and in mediated debate through diverse representations of crisis. These situated constructions of crisis variously framed the stakes of the elections with respect to the attribution of responsibility and blame in different national contexts, and also helped to legitimize, or, conversely, to downgrade, the European project.