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Telling the Unknown through the Familiar: Collective Memory as Journalistic Device in a Changing Media Environment

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On Media Memory

Part of the book series: Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies ((PMMS))

Abstract

Journalists are often faced with telling news of the unusual and unexpected, yet they must report on tight deadlines with little information. One device that journalists can draw on to get their job done is collective memory of society’s revered events and people. Collective memory allows news to gain a semblance of the familiar — journalists are able to tell their stories in a way that seems resonant to both news organizations and news audiences. In essence, through collective memory, their version gains authority as the version.

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Authors
  1. Dan Berkowitz
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netanya Academic College, Netanya, Israel

    Motti Neiger (Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication) (Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication)

  2. University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Oren Meyers (Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communication) (Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communication)

  3. Netanya Academic College, Netanya, Israel

    Eyal Zandberg (Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication) (Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication)

Copyright information

© 2011 Dan Berkowitz

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Cite this chapter

Berkowitz, D. (2011). Telling the Unknown through the Familiar: Collective Memory as Journalistic Device in a Changing Media Environment. In: Neiger, M., Meyers, O., Zandberg, E. (eds) On Media Memory. Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230307070_15

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