Social fields, journalism, and collective memory: Reporting on the Armenian genocide in legal, political, and commemorative field events

Abstract

Conflictual processes unfolding in legal and political social fields as well as commemorative events differentially shape social memories, including memories about genocides, in line with their rules of the game and institutional logics. News media subsequently process mnemonic struggles—carried out in law, politics, and commemorations—submitting them to the rules and norms of journalism before their messages reach the public. This article explores these processes for struggles pertaining to memories of the Armenian genocide. It is based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of 259 English language newspaper articles published in the United States that report about a court case, a legislative process, and commemorative events. Our analysis identifies distinct patterns of representations. Differences are in line with the institutional logics of the legal and political fields and the epistemic potential of commemorative rituals, even as they interact with the logic of the journalistic field that mediates those accounts.