‘Days of Mourning are Days of Reconciliation’: An analysis of the coverage of the death of controversial Israeli public figures

Abstract

This article examines the role journalists play in covering the death of controversial public figures and focuses on the tension between professional-journalistic practice and cultural norms. The death of controversial public figures provides the news media with an opportunity to readdress an unresolved social drama as part of a mediatized ritual of public grief. The rupture created in society as a result of the death of a prominent public figure is intensified by the rekindled public debate over society’s core values and norms. Based on an analysis of the coverage of the death of 12 Israeli public figures who died between 1972 and 2014, I suggest that journalists utilize various discursive means in channeling social dramas toward a closure. I further discuss the implications of this study for understanding the role played by journalists as both agents of collective memory and restorers of social harmony.