On the aspects of a regional mass media memorial content presentation

Abstract

The paper's subject is the culture of memory which represents a variety of different memory-related activities such as the shaping of memory, its preservation, interpretation, transition, etc. These activities are realized on different levels (state memorial policies or grass-root commemoration), as well as through a multitude of mnemonic agents: politicians, clergy, educational institutions, mass media).   

In recent decades due to their universal character, immediate features, and massive scale, a wide array of media has become influential mnemonic agents. Once put in the context of media, the memorial content is being shaped accordingly to a memorial narrative - a specific system of rules for producing texts and presenting the events of the past.

The cultural research conducted in Chelyabinskaya oblast' (Russia)has revealed the basic memorial narrative characteristics shaped in regional mass media on both official (state news agencies) and unofficial (social networks) levels: a prevalence of the military issues (The Great Patriotic War trivia) at the backdrop of a low level of demand for the memorial content; an impartial approach in its presentation; a lack of the memorial subject elaborate presentational strategy (in different media outlets, as well as across various cities of the researched area).

*Key provisions of the study were carried out within the framework of the grant program of the President of the Russian Federation for state support of leading young Russian scholars — doctors of science (Competition MD-2020), project "The Culture of Memory in Industrial Cities of the Russian Provinces: Memorial Strategies of Regional Identity."