DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Summary and Conclusions

            After reviewing the data collected in the research it is clear that media coverage of the 9/11 commemoration differed by news source as the hypothesis suggested.  Although there are distinct differences in how each media outlet covered the events it should be noted that fact that every article sampled could be coded in a relatively small bucket of categories says a great deal about the overall collective memory of the events.  What the data showed in aggregate is that neutral to positive articles, with limited media bias, focusing on emotional and personal stories about the commemoration, the victims and the attacks.  This highlights the fact that a fairly restricted perspective is represented by the media and distributed to the public.

          As evident in the literature news outlets play an integral role in how a group or society remembers its past.  The media perspectives being as homogenous as they are affect the shared memory as these representations begin to shape the collective identity and cultural memory over time.  Though it is very apparent that media outlets differ in how they choose to cover and portray historical events, they do so within the confines of a generalized collective conscience. Future research will need to be done to understand if this generalized storyline is created in response to the collective memory and as such creates a reinforcing cycle of representations or if it is a result of selective remembrance by an empowered few.

 

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.