Λία Νιώτη & Μαρίζα Γεωργάλου: «Αν το σενάριο εξυπηρετεί, τότε γίνεται ‘είδηση’»: Αναλύοντας κριτικά ψευδείς ειδήσεις για τον Άλλο

The recent financial, institutional, political, cultural and ideological crisis has intensified xenophobic and racist discourse in Greece. At the same time, the European Union seems unable to cope with the evolving migration crisis within its borders. The development of digital technology and the emergence of new means of communication and information have led to the rise of a radical right-wing rhetoric, which, by targeting immigrants, has legalized fake narratives concerning the Other. The adoption and reproduction of this rhetoric by the dominant political discourse has normalized these hostile narratives in the public sphere. This paper critically analyzes online texts (news articles and reader comments), which either fabricate or attempt to deconstruct fake news about the Other, in order to explore the degree of integration and naturalization of xenophobic and racist discourse in these texts. The analysis reveals the ideological division of the Greek society, which consists of opposing parties constructing their own reality. In this reality, the presence of the Other is used as a means of evaluating the ideological dimension regarding the political practices of opposing parties, which do not seem to be concerned with immigrants’ actual needs, reproducing thus power relations and social injustice.