Abstract

Memory studies have long assigned journalism to the role of mere primary recorder of events, therefore denying its power to shape collective remembrance. Based on the assumption that collective memory results from the interdependent process between traditional representations of the past, memory makers and consumers, this study explores journalism as a concrete and abstract site of collective memory. As such, it contends that journalism is a material and institutional pool of knowledge built out of disparate yet collective memories, as well as an interactive and durable memorial site that lays the ground for social change. Applying a mixed methods research design, this thesis examines the impact of the French “journal of record” Le Monde in the collective remembrance of torture during the Algerian War (1954-1962). The study employs quantitative content analysis and critical discourse analysis to explore Le Monde’s 1957 and 2000-01 coverage of the use of torture in Algeria, two periods separated by official amnesty laws that crystallized the memory of the war in favour of the official narrative. The deployed discourses are compared and contrasted by opinion polls and interviews of historical, sociological and journalistic experts on State-sponsored torture. As such, this thesis goes beyond the hypothesis that journalism acts as a memory agent through the practice of commemoration by shifting the focus on institutional and narrative memory that collectively produce, disseminate and sustain memories over time.