Media studies, Vol. 5 No. 9, 2014.
Original scientific paper
Mass Media and Memory: The Communist GDR in Today’s Communicative Memory
Michael Meyen
orcid.org/0000-0001-6037-5574
; Department of Communication, University of Munich, Germany
Senta Pfaff-Rüdiger
; Department of Communication, University of Munich, Germany
Abstract
Using the example of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) the present study asks how mass media shape collective memory. How do reports in German media on the GDR affect communicative memory? To answer these questions, the present study is grounded in the theory of collective memory and relies on more than 20 focus groups in very different social settings. Today’s mass media content on the GDR is almost always about dictatorship. This is why some East Germans do not find their picture of the past within the media and do not feel at home in reunited Germany, yet.
Keywords
collective memory; collective identity; GDR; focus groups
Hrčak ID:
127712
URI
Publication date:
5.6.2014.
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