Acknowledgments

The idea for this book was ‘born’ in late 2014 in Athens (Greece) and ‘traveled’ across Europe before being finalized in Lugano (Switzerland) in late 2022. I owe my gratitude to several institutions for hosting my research throughout these years, all the while unreservedly providing me with the necessary means and the intellectual home that facilitated the development of different stages of the research presented in this publication project. In particular, my gratitude goes to the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Greece), the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), the USI – Università della Svizzera italiana (Switzerland), the University of Malta (Malta), and the University of Liverpool (United Kingdom).

I am also grateful to the following institutions for funding the research projects I have developed, led, and delivered since 2014, which are closely related to the topics treated as well as the methods interwoven in this book: the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (via the “Erasmus+ Scholarship”; 2014–2015), the University of Neuchâtel (via the scheme “Bourse de Fonds des donations de l’Université de Neuchâtel”; 2016), the Sophie Afenduli Foundation, Switzerland (via the “Sophie Afenduli Scholarship”; 2017–2020), and the Swiss National Science Foundation – SNSF (via the “SNSF Postdoc.Mobility Fellowship”; 2020 to date).

In addition, I would like to thank the owners of the newspapers Kathimerini, Ta Nea, and To Vima for granting me permission to reproduce the front pages under analysis for the purposes of this study. Grating permission was not possible in the case of the newspaper Ethnos: as I was told by representatives of the new owners that the previous owner, although having gone bankrupt and thus transferred the ownership, did not pass on the rights to the newspaper’s archive to the new owner. Therefore, no one was able to grant me permission to reproduce the front pages analyzed from this newspaper. Hence, for this case, I present copies of these front pages; the originals can be found at the Directorate of the Parliament Library, Department of City Library, and Library Systems Management.

Throughout this journey, I was honored to study and work in the company of scholars who strengthened my profile and this research outlook. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to Marianna Psylla, Thierry Herman, Argiris Archakis, and Sara Greco, who offered – and are still offering – valuable input, unfailing guidance, support, and encouragement, all the while teaching me to rigorously navigate the fields of political sociology and political communication, discourse analysis, argumentation, and rhetoric, as well as patiently working with me as colleagues.

I am also indebted to those colleagues who patiently read, and constructively commented, on different chapters of this book. In particular, I owe my thanks to Stavros Assimakopoulos, Roberta Borg-Parnis, Petre Breazu, Sara Greco, Giorgos Kalampokas, Dima Mohammed, Neda Salahshour, Federico Giulio Sicurella, Assimakis Tseronis, Emma van Bijnen, and Janina Wildfeuer. I am also grateful to two anonymous reviewers who agreed to evaluate this manuscript. Their insightful comments advanced the research presented in the book at hand. Needless to say, any omissions or inaccuracies are mine.

I would also like to warmly thank Salomi Boukala, Jolanta Drzewiecka, Chiara Jermini-Martinez Soria, Maria Kakavoulia, E. Dimitris Kitis, Marianna Kondyli, Josephine Convertini, Sofia Koufou, Sofia Lampropoulou, Eirini Maniou, Martha Michailidou, Dionysis Mitropoulos, Elena Musi, Steve Oswald, Anna Piata, Kay L. O’Halloran, Rudi Palmieri, Chiara Pollaroli, Giorgos Polymeneas, Elena Psyllakou, Carlo Raimondo, Andrea Rocci, Louis de Saussure, Lyndon Way, Franco Zappettini, and Giannis Zisimopoulos, for accompanying me over the years in my scholarly endeavors, offering valuable thoughts and/or working with me on several topics that my research deals with (i.e., topics such as racism, hate speech, populism, and authoritarianism in several contexts of ‘crisis’ in Greece and Europe). Debating with them sharpened my research outlook. Of course, I also owe thanks to countless researchers, all of whom contributed to many inspiring discussions in the public fora I have participated in in recent years.

I wholeheartedly thank my friends in Athens, Patras, Milan, Neuchâtel, Lugano, Malta, and Liverpool who discussed with me the multiple ‘crises’ that Greece has faced in recent years, as well as relevant topics in this context, and, most importantly, protested with me against social injustices and inequalities in these difficult years when every single certainty that we had before 2009 seemed to collapse almost every day in front of our eyes. This is also my apology to them for the times I was not there participating in our common struggles. Last but not least, I owe a big ‘thank you’ to you, for everything; you know whom you are.

This book is dedicated to my family for their unconditional love and support throughout these years. It goes without saying that I owe them everything.