Media and Uncertainty| Connective Memory Practices: Mourning the Restructuring of a War Desk

Authors

  • Muira McCammon University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School

Keywords:

conflict reporting, newsroom restructuring, forever war, journalistic memory, Twitter testimonials

Abstract

This exploratory study is about what transpires when a newsroom restructures its war desk. Drawing on Hoskins’ notion of “connective memory,” I examine how a single newsworker’s tweets about the reorganization of a war desk provoke different responses among news consumers, journalists, veterans, active-duty military personnel, and others. Drawing on a case study involving At War, a section of The New York Times, I consider the ways in which Twitter draws readers and writers together and fosters memory work. Their responses: (1) seek to pinpoint what precisely is being lost; (2) object to the decision to reallocate journalistic labor to other beats; (3) express sadness for military communities facing unfulfilled information needs; (4) anticipate the likelihood of increasingly uninformed civilian audiences; (5) blame the “journalism industry” for defunding international conflict reporting; and (6) mourn the persistence of war.

Author Biography

Muira McCammon, University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School

Muira McCammon (@muira_mccammon) is a Ph.D. candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. She holds a Master’s in Translation Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Master’s in Law from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Her research interests include platform historiography, administrative law, and political communication. She can be reached at muira dot mccammon at asc dot upenn dot edu or muira dot n dot mccammon at gmail dot com.

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Published

2022-08-11

Issue

Vol. 16 (2022)

Section

Special Sections

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