Authoritarian Populism and the Challenges for News Journalism: A Discourse Approach
London: Routledge (2025), viii, 175 pp.
Contains index
Series: Politics, Media and Political Communication
ISBN 978-1-032-48665-9 (pbk); 978-1-003-39015-2 (ebk)
"This book traces key challenges for news journalism when reporting on authoritarian populism, or on topics (such as immigration and terrorism) that are typically leveraged by far-right actors and platforms as a way of attracting media attention and boosting their popularity with national electorates. It also offers in-depth analyses of how these challenges are responded to by news journalists in the actual, day-to-day practices of news production, as evidenced in the discourse of news. By placing qualitative, critical analysis of discourse at the heart of the systematic inquiry into authoritarian populism in the news media, this book applies a broad methodological framework for studying a. political performances and their mediated representations, b. the complex, and, often contradictory, normalizing processes at work in the news media, and c. the attendant challenges and critical tasks for contemporary news journalism. Based on detailed analyses of political and news discourse in various European contexts, and in the US, spanning a decade (2014-2024), this book makes a timely and relevant contribution - as liberal democracies could be facing a new turning point in the global rise of authoritarian populism." (Publisher description)
1 News discourse as the object of study, 7
PART 1: THE FAR RIGHT DELEGITIMIZATION OF MAINSTREAM JOURNALISM
2 The disruption of journalistic authority and institutionalized relationships in political interviews, 29
3 The discourse of alternative news: between factual reporting and political propaganda, 47
PART 2: THE PERFORMANCES AND PROPAGATION OF FAR RIGHT POPULISM IN THE NEWS
4 The styles of populist political performances, 63
5 Reporting the unsayable: authoritarian provocations and their recontextualization in the news, 82
PART 3: THE NORMALIZATION OF FAR RIGHT DISCOURSES IN THE NEWS MEDIA
6 Media populism and the construction of ‘the people’ in political news interviews, 101
7 The normalization of far right politics in routine news events and political interviews, 118
8 The politics of fear in political performance and news coverage, 135
PART 4: CONCLUSION
9 Inside the vortex of authoritarian populism: news discourse and the challenges for journalism, 157
PART 1: THE FAR RIGHT DELEGITIMIZATION OF MAINSTREAM JOURNALISM
2 The disruption of journalistic authority and institutionalized relationships in political interviews, 29
3 The discourse of alternative news: between factual reporting and political propaganda, 47
PART 2: THE PERFORMANCES AND PROPAGATION OF FAR RIGHT POPULISM IN THE NEWS
4 The styles of populist political performances, 63
5 Reporting the unsayable: authoritarian provocations and their recontextualization in the news, 82
PART 3: THE NORMALIZATION OF FAR RIGHT DISCOURSES IN THE NEWS MEDIA
6 Media populism and the construction of ‘the people’ in political news interviews, 101
7 The normalization of far right politics in routine news events and political interviews, 118
8 The politics of fear in political performance and news coverage, 135
PART 4: CONCLUSION
9 Inside the vortex of authoritarian populism: news discourse and the challenges for journalism, 157