Although the Eurozone crisis is typically identified by a singular term, it actually consists of a series of interrelated economic crises that have generated public discontent and exacerbated conflicts within the European Union (EU) leading to questions about the social and political future of European integration. Anti-austerity protests have been a recurring trait across all EU member states throughout the crisis. What are the discursive constructions of these anti-austerity protests in the news? How do media hegemony and resistance co-exist in representing conflicting economic, political and social interests? Juxtaposing portrayals in news and social media of three anti-austerity protests in Cyprus, Greece and Spain respectively, this book compares and contrasts media constructions of social justice and citizen agency in their political, national and communication contexts. It deconstructs discursive manifestations in news media in of economic, political and social conflicts that give rise to three national anti-austerity protests, particularly focusing on contestations over the selection, emphasis and elaboration of grievances. By taking a comparative approach the book explores how dissent is articulated or suppressed, amplified or redirected in times of crisis.

About the Author

Tao Papaioannou is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Communications at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. She has published many journal articles and book chapters in areas of digital media and political and civic participation, social media and youth practice and media literacy and education. She co-edited (with Suman Gupta) Grievances, Identities and Agency: Media Representations of Anti-austerity Protests in the EU (Routledge, 2017) and special journal issues of Cyprus Review on media representation and the 2013 Cypriot financial and political crises (Spring 2015) and Media Studies on critical insights in European media literacy research and policy (December 2012). Finally, she has served on advisory boards and management committees of European Union funded research actions and projects including, most recently, the Cypriot expert panel for FRANET (the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) and the Expert Advisory Board of the Horizon Project Europe. Vasiliki Triga is Assistant Professor at the Cyprus University of Technology, Department of Communication and Internet Studies. She holds a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute in Florence. She is also a research coordinator at the e-Democracy centre (e-DC) in Zurich since 2006. Her research interests lie in the field of ICT/internet based applications and political processes. More specifically, she focuses on the use of online media by social movements as well as the design and effects of online Voting Advice Applications (VAAs). She has published her research in various journals such as IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, Policy & Internet, International Journal of Electronic Governance, Revista de Ciencia Politica, Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans etc. She is co-author of the book Referendums and the European Union: A Comparative Inquiry, published by Cambridge University Press in 2014. Miguel Vicente-Marino is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology and Social Work at the Universidad de Valladolid, Spain. He is currently the Vice-Chair of the Audience Section of the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and an Executive Board member of the European Communication Research and Educaction Association (ECREA). His main research fields are environmental communication, audience studies, public opinion and political communication, and qualitative research methods and software, leading to more than 30 scientific publications. During the last years he has participated in diverse regional, national and European research projects and networks, having completed research periods in European universities like Leicester, Westminster and Braga.