Generating more inclusive media memory: the limits and possibilities of news archives

Abstract

Ideally, mediated collective memory of a society’s past should be both inclusive and communal. Documentaries commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots reveal that a film which relies primarily on mainstream journalism’s news archives tends to privilege the perspectives of social authorities. In contrast, films produced by those from marginalized communities create more inclusive mediated collective memory by altering the rationale for incorporating speakers and stories: from status, having social authority at a moment in history, to witness, the personal experience of history. These films use news archives to authenticate the presence of witnesses to events, authorizing them to speak yet fundamentally altering the story preserved in the journalistic archive because witnesses both talk about their experience and characterize the meaning of the event. Transforming narrative convention from having status to bearing witness allows perspectives to compete more equally, destabilizing social inequities that contribute to marginalization and building a more inclusive, communal collective remembrance via media.