Abstract
In March 2013 the Republic of Cyprus and the troika (EU, ECB, IMF) reached an agreement on a financial assistance plan that would 'save' the country from bankruptcy. The deal included EUR10bn of bailout loans in exchange for austerity measures, and the unprecedented decision for a 47.5% 'haircut' (slash) of all deposits above EUR100,000 in Cypriot banks.
This chapter, informed by the critical discussion on the ideological function of news, focuses on the legitimation discourse employed by mainstream domestic media in relation to the signing and implementation of the bailout agreement. The study shows that the legitimation mechanisms of objectivation and naturalisation, identified through the analysis, articulate a discourse where the hegemonic interpretations and policies over the crisis promoted by elite institutional actors, are objectified and naturalised by the mainstream media, as a reality beyond contestation, deprived of their ideologico-political dimensions.