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consensus, it is precisely because it is anchored in the present time.Thus, stereotypes of the past are less freezed than they appear to be: the standardisation
of the past by advertising reveals that mnemonic mediatisation is constantly evolving from a contemporary perspective. Then, we will explore the role
of the interrelationship between time and space in the process of mediatingmemories. In advertising, the past is crystallized through concrete temporal and
spatial points, that seem to shape each other. Memories are built on what we could call, following and pushing forward Bakhtin’s theory, chronotopes: we
consider the spatial and temporal embedding of human action depicted by Bakhtin as an enriching conceptual tool to rethink the framing of memories in
commercial exploitations of the past. Finally, we will study how advertising arises the feeling of belonging by referring to collective memory. When leaning
on commemoration or celebration of the past, advertising unfold specific ideas of collective identity and‘imagined communities’. It depicts the fictional nar‑
ratives of continuities with the past through its ordinary and playful mediation. Thus, the symbolic work of advertising on memories enriches stereotyped
cultural beliefs about the past by overlapping the feeling of belonging and the feeling of historical continuity.
PP 158
Setting the Collective Memory on 20 July 1944? A Long-Term Comparison of German Newspaper Coverage and Opinion Survey Data on
Stauffenberg’s Hitler Assassination Attempt (1954–2014)
F. Pröll
1
, M. Magin
1
, M. Krieg
2
1
University of Mainz, Department of Communication, Mainz, Germany
2
ZDF digital, Mainz, Germany
Mass media are not only responsible for information, opinion-formation and entertainment, but also re-establish the issue of the past (Wilke 1999). Thus,
one of their key functions is the renewal of memory (Hoskins 2007): The media confront us with the past, thereby reflect the present (Henning 2007:
233), and help us to place history into a context to itself and society—for example on occasion of extraordinary events (e.g., D-Day, outbreak of WW II,
Stauffenberg’s Hitler assassination attempt on 20 July 1944) and their commemoration days. This combination of the historical event and the present time
is a quality criteria of history journalism (Pöttker 1997). In doing so, media coverage on historical events might influence the collective memory—a term
coined by Halbwachs (1991)—on these events. Guided by the media’s agenda setting function, this long-term process has been labelled as collective mem‑
ory setting (Klein 1996). However, the mass media’s role for collective memory setting has been insufficiently investigated yet—among others since there
are only very few adequate long-term survey data on historical events available. This desideratum is the starting point of the current mixed-method study
that addresses two research questions: (RQ1) How did six national German newspapers cover and evaluate 20 July 1944 in the decennial commemorative
days from 1954 to 2014? To answer this question, a quantitative content analysis of the six newspapers is conducted (n=650 articles). (RQ2) Are there any
correlations between the newspaper coverage and the German population’s state of knowledge on and evaluation of the 20 July 1944 (collective memory
setting)? To answer this research question, the content analysis data are compared with representative survey data on the Germans’ state of knowledge
on and evaluation of 20 July 1944 that have been collected by the IfD Allensbach on a regularly basis since 1951. As far as we know, the current analysis is
the first long-term study of this type comprising a timespan of six decades. Addressing RQ1, three thematic foci can be identified employing a hierarchical
cluster analysis: articles on historical retrospectives on the assassination attempt, on contemporary events in celebration of the commemoration day, and
on controversies about the interpretation of the assassination attempt. Articles on controversies have become less and historical retrospectives have become
more important since 1984. This indicates that meanwhile a certain interpretation of the assassination attempt has gained acceptance in the collective
memory. Addressing RQ2, the results indicate that media coverage short-datedly improve the peoples’ state of knowledge on 20 July 1944, even though
there is not any simple, direct correlation between the amount of articles on the event and the people’s state of knowledge. Moreover, the evaluations
of the assassination attempt by the media and the people have developed similarly over time; both seem therefore to be correlated. Based on the current
research design, however, it has to remain open if the media’s evaluations have influenced the peoples’ evaluations or if both the media’s and peoples’
evaluations reflect the same long-term value change.
PP 159
Designing Radicalism: The Social Semiotic Analysis of the Genesis of Right Wing Radicalism in Hungary (1990–1998)
G. Szabó
1
1
Centre for Social Sciences- Hungarian Academy of S, Department for Political Behaviour, Budapest, Hungary
The right wing extremism and the radicalization of the public debates are amongst the key issues in the contemporary Hungary. It, however, did not
emerge from nowhere but in fact grew from the special meaning making efforts in discussing the questions of transition and change of regime in the early
years of political battles after the first free and competitive elections in 1990 to be held in the country since 1945. The objective of the proposed paper is to
investigate the semiotic configuration which was considered and communicated as ‘extremist’, ‘ultra right’, ‘nazi’, ‘chauvinist’by fellow politicians and public
intellectuals between the parliamentary terms 1990–1994 and 1994–1998. The theoretical and methodological background of the study is the social se‑
miotics as it was addressed by Theo van Leeuwen in his seminal work titled‘Introducing social semiotics’. First, I identify the key actors who were associated
by right wing radicalism in the public debates. Second, I systematically catalogue the semiotic resources and explore how these resources were used for
creating and designing radical right politics. The focus of the study is to grab and analyse the complex communicative efforts by scrutinising textual and
visual elements of commemorating the 1848 Revolution which aimed the independence of the Hungarian Kingdom from the Austrian Empire (March 15)
and 1956 Hungarian Upraising which was a revolt against the communist government and its Soviet-imposed policies (October 23). The research discovers
the semiotic configuration of emerging radical right in a specific historical and political context. It contributes to the academic discussion on radicalism by
proving solid empirical evidences on navigating between continuities and discontinuities of radical right politics.