Constructing the Berlin Wall on Television News, 1989-2009

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session I
  In Interactive Paper Session: Journalism Studies Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This study employs a close reading to examine how NBC Nightly News constructs the story of the Berlin Wall’s opening. It does so first by examining the network’s 1989 coverage and assessing the themes and ideologies circulated when the Berlin Wall’s opening was breaking news. These themes and ideologies are used as a baseline to assess anniversary coverage that aired from 1990 through 2009. In the process of this close reading, special attention is paid to images and spoken discourses and the circulation of World War II and Holocaust-related discourses. The implications for public memory are discussed.

Author

• Rachel Somerstein, SUNY New Paltz