Narrating the ‘new normal’ or pre-legitimising media control? COVID-19 and the discursive shifts in the far-right imaginary of ‘crisis’ as a normalisation strategy

This article highlights how the recent discourse of ‘the new normal’ – re-initiated and widely used in context COVID-19 pandemic national international media political marks advent a approach to ‘crisis’ normalisation far-right populist politics. Drawing on example analysis ‘policy communication’ genres pre-legitimising Polish right-wing government’s actions aimed at curtailing freedom controlling opposition media, shows that, an undisputed crisis such as pandemic, imagination has gradually strategically altered its usual, highly ambivalent crisis. However, latter’s new, (quasi) ‘factual’ imaginary has, is shown, become tool further escalation strategies policies, especially with regard far right control systemic colonisation wider public sphere. Therein, shows, actors often resort very peculiar by now common adoption many pro-democratic arguments while ‘flipsiding’ them favour their own undemocratic politics exclusion.