Authoritarianism on the Front Page

Abstract

This volume offers a critical discursive-argumentative framework that scrutinizes the discursive construction and, moreover, the argumentative justification of authoritarian attitudes on newspaper front pages in highly polarized times of multiple ‘crises’ in Greece. At the same time, it aspires to outline novel research avenues for scholars working in the fields of critical discourse and argumentation studies, multimodality and communication studies, that go beyond the study of the meaning potential of multimodal artifacts and focus on the study of the argumentative inferences that are triggered by multimodal discourses in polarized contexts. It frames the theoretical discussion based on concepts such as Nikos Poulantzas’ ‘authoritarian statism’ as well as Antonio Gramsci’s ‘hegemony’ and ‘intellectuals’. Methodologically, it draws on the agenda of multimodal critical discourse analysis, integrating principles and tools from social semiotics and (multimodal) argumentation studies with a particular focus on inference in argumentation.

The front page as a canvas for multimodal argumentation: Brexit in the Greek press

“…It also contributes to CDS/MCDA by focusing on a concrete political event that has up to this day repercussions not only for the UK but also for Europe and Greece, and accounts for the role that media played in terms of how it was represented and argued about. The proposed integrated micro-argumentative approach can be used in order to move beyond the study of meaning potential at large and pave the way toward the systematic study of the argumentative potential realized in multimodal media texts (see Serafis, 2023).…”

“…Our study is grounded on approaches belonging to MCDA and argumentation theory. Although Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) have incorporated tools from argumentation studies (see Reisigl and Wodak, 2001;Richardson, 2007;Fairclough and Fairclough, 2012;Boukala, 2019), a systematic integration of discourseanalytical and argumentative tools through the prism of MCDA remains overlooked (see, however, Richardson and Wodak, 2009;Serafis et al, 2020;Serafis, 2022Serafis, , 2023. Our study aims to contribute to this direction.…”