Making memories matter

Abstract

The death of an eminent journalist prompts a flurry of memorializing discourse in the news media situating the deceased in a framework that makes sense of his or her accomplishments in the present both to working journalists and to news audiences. This article tracks the discourse in newspapers, magazines, and television following the deaths of television news anchor David Brinkley and newspaper columnist Mary McGrory. In these texts, journalists interpret the lives and work of McGrory and Brinkley in a manner that bolsters the cultural authority of journalists by acting on the collective memory of journalism's societal role. In this way, particularistic discussion of deceased journalists occasions a general discussion of the contemporary state of journalism.

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