Structuring the Sacred: Media Professionalism and the Production of Mediated Holocaust Memory

Abstract

In this study, the authors explore the considerations that guide media organizations when they narrate the past. To operationalize this research interest, the authors interviewed 10 senior Israeli electronic media professionals about the production processes that shape the broadcasts of electronic media on Israel's Memorial Day for the Holocaust and the Heroism. The analysis of the interviews illuminates the constructed and negotiated (rather than natural and inherent) nature of media professionalism.

“Ketchup Is the Auschwitz of Tomatoes”: Humor and the Collective Memory of Traumatic Events

“…While these studies focus on the ways by which Holocaust memory "infiltrates" current political discourse and how the two shape each other, other studies focus on the media memory of Holocaust Remembrance Day as part of the national commemorative ritual. The findings are similar: daily newspapers (Zandberg, 2010), television newscasts (Zandberg et al, 2012), and prime-time programs (Meyers et al, 2009;Meyers, Zandberg, & Neiger, 2011) all construct a discourse dominated by the political establishment, one that continues the traditional conventions of conceptualizing Holocaust commemoration as a holy, inviolate subject-what LaCapra (2001) described as a "redemptive narrative." The dominance of this narrative is highly significant: from a political perspective: the redemptive narrative of the Holocaust indicates that society has yet to begin working through the trauma of the Holocaust.…”

The critical potential of commemorative journalism

“…Some of the journalistic practices that enabled the creation of the early cohesive narratives, such as publishing supplements in which journalists are not credited for their work, have become unacceptable with the professionalization of Israeli journalism. Moreover, on commemorative occasions, journalists negotiate the tension between repetition and renewal: on one hand, they view their commemorative coverage as an integral part of the national ritual; on the other hand, the journalists’ professional inclination requires them to constantly tell new stories, or at least offer new perspectives on familiar ones (Meyers et al, 2011). Hence, in the case of the more critical supplements, the tension between repetition and renewal was negotiated via the reuse of familiar themes and protagonists, while interpreting them in new, challenging ways.…”

When the private sphere hides from the public sphere: The power struggle between Israeli national identity and football fandom

“…Israeli law prohibits any form of ‘public entertainment’ on those dates, consequently banning sport channels (as per their licensing agreements) from featuring any type of broadcast on the eve of the Memorial Days. On Memorial Days, all major Israeli media outlets consciously turn their attention to the collective past, and focus on commemorating it (Meyers et al, 2011).…”

“…One has to realise that the Holocaust Memorial Day is scheduled in the annual Jewish-Israeli calendar as part of a larger Zionist ‘master commemorative narrative’ (Zerubavel, 1995: 12) manifesting a cycle of creation, death and regeneration. This emblematic continuum starts with the celebration of Passover, representing the birth of Jewish national identity (Meyers et al, 2011). On the other hand, a bona fide sports fan would struggle to turn his or her back on a chance to see such a pivotal high-profile match, mainly for wanting to be part of this enthralling experience along with all other members and followers of the sporting ‘religion’.…”