Structuring the Sacred: Media Professionalism and the Production of Mediated Holocaust Memory

Abstract

In this study, the authors explore the considerations that guide media organizations when they narrate the past. To operationalize this research interest, the authors interviewed 10 senior Israeli electronic media professionals about the production processes that shape the broadcasts of electronic media on Israel's Memorial Day for the Holocaust and the Heroism. The analysis of the interviews illuminates the constructed and negotiated (rather than natural and inherent) nature of media professionalism.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Roei Davidson, Oren Livio, Maya Mazor-Tregerman, Anna Reading, Amit Schejter and the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of this article. They also thank the 10 media professionals interviewed for the article who agreed to share their thoughts and observations. This research was supported by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 291/07).

Notes

¹The prevalence of the present in routine media flow has also been challenged by studies looking at the use of speculations about the future in the news (Neiger, 2007).

²Israel's first television channel started broadcasting in 1968.

³Emphasis added by the authors; all translations were made by the authors.

⁴Following Jewish tradition, MDHH commences on the eve of MDHH and comes to an end on the following evening.

⁵The average ratings (1999–2004) for the airing of the Yad Vashem ceremony were 14.5%.

⁶The funding of the majority of Israeli electronic media is based—partially or entirely—on advertising revenues: commercial media outlets and Israel's civil public radio stations air commercials; the Israeli military radio and public television channels air commercial endorsements and advertisements for non-profit organizations. Public broadcasting is additionally supported by a state tax. Satellite and cable channels are funded via subscribers' fees.

⁷A mourning day commemorating the destruction of the first and second temples.

⁸There are no official data on the distribution of employees by gender in Israeli media. Studies of Israeli journalism estimate that around 40% of Israeli journalists are female. Yet, female journalists are still mostly employed in low-ranking positions (Lachover, 2000).

⁹All names were changed to preserve anonymity.

¹⁰A common abbreviation for MDHH.

¹¹For a discussion of the tensions between Holocaust commemoration and commercial broadcasting in the American context, see Cory (1980).

¹²Since 2006, local television channels have been issued some limitations on their ability to concentrate the airing of many documentary hours on specific days.

¹³An analysis of Channel 2's broadcasts on the eve of MDHH 1994–2007 demonstrated that 29% of the aired shows were documentaries. In comparison, during a regular week of 2008 prime time broadcasts, only 5% of the shows aired by Channel 2 were documentaries (Meyers, Zandberg & Neiger, 2009).

¹⁴MDFS has as ongoing significance to the lives of Israeli Jews because of Israel's continued involvement in violent conflicts and the fact that most Israeli Jews serve in the Israel Defense Forces.