Representation of collective memory and mass mourning in the media: The case of Soma mine disaster

Memory construction is important to enable communities to connect with the past and the present. The memories they have established or learned about the past are built around different information about individuals with different opinions and economic power. In this respect, mass media have a significant impact on society. The media often shape memory by building meanings / discourses in the framework of certain themes when building social memory. In the construction of these discourses, ideologies, needs and interests determine the broadcasting/ publishing policies of media organizations. For this reason, the discourses of media organizations with different ideologies, needs and interests also vary. The effect of death and the dead body is important in the construction of collective memory. The mourning that cannot be kept behind the mass deaths causes unacceptable ritual, trauma and melancholia. It is possible to analyze through news items newspaper reports whether the mourning has been followed and whether it is accepted in the public sphere or not. Therefore, analyzing collective memory and mass mourning and how media organizations represent / communicate the event provides important data. This research examines the role of media in the construction of collective memory and mass mourning by utilizing theme analysis within the case study of Soma Mine Disaster which has been registered as the biggest industrial "accident"/mass killing in the history of Turkey. The analysis of how Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet and Sabah newspapers with differing ideologies, produced discourse related to Soma Disaster one week after the event and how social groups shaped their collective memories in the aftermath constitute the purpose of this research. According to the data, it is seen that the newspapers, regardless of ideological orientation, have recognized the Soma Mine Disorder as a public mourning, and the discourses on the disaster are varied. Key Words: Collective Memory, Mass Mourning, Death, Media, Soma Mine Disaster, Theme Analysis.