Kollektiivse mälu kujunemine ja muutumine tähtpäevaajakirjanduses küüditamiste näitel

Abstract

Development and change of collective memory in anniversary journalism: the example of deportations. The purpose of this paper is to examine how anniversary journalism has shaped the collective memory of a historical event and its transformation in time. In order to do so, I have chosen a very important yet painful example of deportations in Estonian cultural history. The reporting of historical events in journalism also affects the society’s sense of past, because remembering allows us to build a bridge between the present and the past. In order to evaluate how the press has formed the self-consciousness of Estonians through deportations remembrance, I have in the empirical part of the paper analysed the deportations related articles published in Postimees and Eesti Päevaleht in the re-independence period, years 1992-2011. The analysis of commemoration practice and its alteration also helps to create a presumption on how the collective memory of the event will change in the future. To appraise the above-mentioned process of change, I have analysed the frequency of publications, the distribution of rubric and genres, discussion approach, authors and sources, valuations and judgements, linking the topic to Russia and usage of visual materials in the articles. The main research method used is the content analysis, however in order to expand the evaluations I have also used qualitative method of content descriptions. In order for the collective memory of past events to persevere, it is important that the topic is constantly discussed from year to year. As a result of this paper, it came apparent that there is a clear decline in the quantity of publications on the deportation related articles during the last decade (2001-2011). This means that the interest in the topic is decreasing and that the collective memory is weakening. The quantitative downwards trend of evaluation of the articles is also notable. Nevertheless, the public opinion on what happened to the Estonian nation in the 1940s has generally remained unaffected during all these 20 years. The standpoint that deportations are one of the most tragic events in recent history of Estonia which have negatively affected the development of Estonian society and that it is important to remember these events carries on. On the other hand, it is also clear that besides the decline in the frequency of publications, the evaluations lack emotions. One of the reasons behind this is the distance in time from the actual event and in addition the tendency to use news flash instead of opinion stories and that itself limits the evaluations given to these events. The superficiality of the reflected topics using the news flash articles can also be connected to the increasing role of commemoration events in the deportation anniversary journalism. In the context of the collective memory however, this indicates to the narrowing of the memory, as the descriptions of the events concentrate less on the reasons and aftermaths and more on the reporting of these anniversary events. The recent trend of youth participation in the commemoration events is a sign of transformation of the collective memory discourse. Similarly, the discourse of memory in journalism has also converged to the younger generations, which has a great positive tendency from the aspect of the preservation of public interest and collective memory. The participation of younger generation renovates the collective memory of Estonians as deportation being a distant event fading away with the older generation. Therefore it is fair to conclude that regardless of news flash format decreasing the boundaries of collective memory, the focus on participation of younger generation in the memorial events somewhat balances the contraction process. In conclusion, there are several indicators which confirm the press created narrowing of the collective memory. The decrease in frequency of publications of deportation related articles in the last decade, the decrease in assessment and lack of emotions in them, but also the news flash format of reporting the memorial events being one of the main reasons. As the current practice of commemorating and the analysis of its transformation help to create a presumption on what would the future hold for the collective memory of Estonians, the tendencies are rather dark-toned. On the other hand, the youth focused memory discourse shows promise that the interest against deportation might increase once again. This in turn could bring along more analytical reporting and restrain the narrowing of the collective memory.