Journalistic memory work and transitional justice in Chile: The case of the declassification of the Colonia Dignidad archives in Berlin

Abstract

Transitional justice measures – implemented by states to deal with the aftermaths of past wrongdoings – are covered by the media as news events. As such, they provide a suitable platform for studying interactions between the news media and the past. Nevertheless, journalism’s role as agents of memory in the midst of such processes has often been neglected. This study offers an analysis of how Chilean journalists perceived their roles when covering the declassification of Colonia Dignidad archives, a reparation measure carried out by the German government in 2016. The main results show that the interviewed journalists were aware of their role as agents of memory while also feeling this role being constrained by media routines, which made their coverage constrained and more superficial than they had wanted. This study provides a preliminary analysis of the factors intervening in the practices of news media and past human rights abuses and as such, illuminates the role of journalists into the construction of collective memory within transitional justice scenarios.