Journalism’s Memory Work

Abstract

Since Marcel Proust first noted that the remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were, the question of how memories form has produced multiple answers. So too with the positioning of the platforms by which memory takes shape. Though the recognition of collective memory clearly implicates some notion of institutional presence, which institutions are central has never been clear. And though one of the most productive take-away points of collective memory studies is that institutions with no direct connection to memory in their remit are engaging in memory work all the time, journalism is nowhere in these discussions.