MANIPULAREA MEMORIEI COLECTIVE PRIN PRESĂ - EVOCAREA COMUNISMULUI SI A REVOLUTIEI DIN 1989 -
HANDLING JUSTIFICATION PRESSURE - COMMUNISM AND EVOCATION OF THE REVOLUTION OF 1989 -

Summary/Abstract: Mass-media start to play a crucial role in the construction and maintenance of a collective memory. Moreover, they replace the classical mnemonic agents, such as museums, history books or other commemorative entities. One problem develops when the media, as communication channel with best coverage, do not respect the criterion of objection compared to other disciplines that study collective memory. This type of interference of the media upon the collective memory was analysed in the Romanian newspapers. As methodology for our research, we appealed to Content Analysis, combined with interesting approaches from Critical Discourse Analysis, which offer an interdisciplinary perspective on the phenomenon. Mass-media have developed specific strategies for the remembrance of events, such as commemoration, historical analogy or historical context. In addition, we made use of theories on social representations of the collective memory, which reveal relevant clues for the case study of our research on remembrance of the communist era in Romania and of the 1989 Revolution. Between 15 and 31 of December 2006 we monitored three newspapers that brought into the public eye the Revolution and communism in Romania, but also some recent developments, since 2006 was the year when communism has been condemned in Romania, by a public presentation of the so-called “Tismăneanu Report”. The conclusions of our study showed that printed media paid a special attention to the event and, at the same time, put under scrutiny some Romanian political figures, blameable for decades of trauma the nation went through. December 2006 busted every myth still existing on Ion Iliescu as the hero of Romanian Revolution and the media reflected him as a bastion of communism in Romania.

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