Prof. Motti Neiger

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Media Memory

Prof. Motti Neiger has made a significant scholarly contribution to the field of Memory Studies, with a distinct emphasis on how collective memory is shaped and transformed through media. His work theorizes the role of journalism, popular culture, and digital platforms in constructing and negotiating collective remembrance, especially in the Israeli context. He is co-editor of the seminal volume On Media Memory: Collective Memory in a New Media Age (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), which helped define the media memory research agenda. His co-authored book Communicating Awe: Media Memory and Holocaust Commemoration (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) further investigates the role of media in shaping Holocaust remembrance, blending empirical analysis with conceptual innovation. Neiger has published extensively on the mnemonic function of television and radio broadcasts, social media, and popular music, and is a leading figure in exploring how digital platforms are reshaping Holocaust discourse. His recent ISF-funded projects, such as Exploitative Memory and Webs of Remembrance, critically examine the platformization and trivialization of memory on social media. His research offers a nuanced understanding of the interplay between memory, media, and identity in the digital public sphere.

 

Publications on Media Memory

Books:

  1. Neiger, M., Meyers, O., & Zandberg, E.  (Eds.) (2011). On Media Memory: Collective Memory in a New Media Age. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 300 pp. [Link to the publication]
  2. Meyers, O. PI, Zandberg, E. PI &, Neiger, M. PI (2014). Communicating Awe: Media Memory and Holocaust Commemoration. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [Link to the publication]

Articles

  1. Neiger, M., Ben-David, A., & Meyers, O. (2025). Holocaust Discourse on the X Platform between Protest and War. Kesher, 62: 235-259. [Link – Full publication in Hebrew]
  2. Ben-David, A., Meyers, O. & Neiger, M. (2024). How Social Memory Works on Social Media: A Conceptual and Methodological Framework. Memory, Mind & Media (Cambridge University Press) [Link – Full publication] doi:10.1017/mem.2024.18
  3. Neiger, M. & Neiger-Fleischmann M. (2024). "A Digital Safe Haven: Six Functions of Social Media for Second-Generation Holocaust Survivors." In Baumel-Schwartz J.  and A. Shrira (Eds.). Routledge International Handbook of Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Descendants of Holocaust Survivors (pp. 169-181) Routledge. [Link - Full publication]
  4. Neiger, M., Meyers, O., & Ben-David, A. (2023). Tweeting the Holocaust: Social media discourse between reverence, exploitation, and simulacra. Journal of Communication, 73(3): 222–234. DOI: 10.1093/joc/jqad010 Special issue – The good, the bad and the ugly of social media. [Link – Full publication]
  5. Neiger, M. (2020). Theorizing Media Memory: Six Elements Defining the Role of the Media in Shaping Collective Memory in the Digital Age.  Sociology Compass. 14(5), 1-11. [Link - Full publication]
  6. Neiger, M., Zandberg, E., & Meyers, O. (2014). "Reversed memory": Journalistic work between traumatic past and triumphal present. In Zelizer B. & Tenenboim-Weinblatt, K. (Eds.). Journalism & Memory. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [Link - full publication]
  7. Neiger, M. PI, Meyers, O. PI, Zandberg, E. PI (2011). Localizing collective memory: regional radio stations in Israel and the construction of "regional memory" In: Neiger, M., Meyers, O., Zandberg, E. (Eds.). On Media Memory: Collective Memory in a New Media Age (pp. 156-174). London: Palgrave Macmillan. [Link for the full publication]
  8. Neiger, M. PI, Meyers, O. PI, Zandberg, E. PI (2011). On media memory – an introduction. In: Neiger, M., Meyers, O., Zandberg, E. (Eds.). On Media Memory: Collective Memory in a New Media Age (pp. 1-24). London: Palgrave Macmillan. [Link for the full publication]
  9. Neiger, M. PI, Zandberg, E. PI, & Meyers, O. PI (2011). Tuned to the nation's mood: Popular music as a mnemonic cultural object. Media, Culture & Society. 33(7): 971-987.   [Link Full publication]
  10. Meyers, O. PI, Neiger, M. PI & Zandberg, E. PI (2011). Structuring the Sacred: Media Professionalism and the Production of Mediated Holocaust Memory. Communication Review, 14(3): 123-144. [Link - Full publication]
  11. Zandberg, E. PI, Neiger, M. PI, & Meyers, O. PI (2011). Past Continuous: Newsworthiness and the Shaping of Collective Memory. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 29(1): 65-79. [Link - Full publication]
  12. Neiger, M. PI, Meyers, O. PI & Zandberg, E. PI (2009). Songs to Remember: Popular Culture, Collective Memory and Radio Broadcasts on Israel's Memorial Day for the Holocaust and the Heroism. Megamot, 46(1-2): 254-280. [in HEB]   [Link to publication]
  13. Meyers, O. PI, Zandberg, E. PI & Neiger, M. PI (2009). Prime time commemoration: An analysis of television broadcasts on Israel's Memorial Day for the Holocaust and the Heroism. Journal of Communication, 59: 456-480. [Link - Full publication]

Refereed Monographs and Research Report   

Neiger, M., Zandberg, E. & Meyers M. (2007). The Public Role of Commercial Media: Television and Radio Broadcasts during Israel's Memorial Day for the Holocaust and the Heroism, 1991-2004. (97 pp.). [in HEB]

Entries in Academic Encyclopedias                                

Neiger, M. (2024). "Media Memory". In Pogačar, M. & Biett, L. (Eds.) Palgrave Encyclopedia of Memory Studies.  London: Palgrave Macmillan. [Link - Full publication]

 

Related Grants Prizes:

  1. 2023-2027, Israel Science Foundation [ISF 1670/23], Exploitative Memory: The Trivialization and Platformization of Holocaust Remembrance on Social Media [with Oren Meyers and Anat Ben-David]
  2. 2019-2023, Ministry of Science and Technology [MoST 3-16510], Webs of Remembrance: Holocaust Memory in the Age of Social Media [with Oren Meyers and Anat Ben-David]
  3. 2012     Top paper (1st. place) at the interactive session of the ICA conference, Boston, MA: Tuned to the Nation's Mood: Popular Music as a Mnemonic Cultural Object International Communication Association (ICA) [w/ O. Meyers & E. Zandberg]
  4. 2007-2010, Israel Science Foundation [ISF 291/07]: Collective Memory and Multi-channel Commercial Media: Television and Radio on Israel's Memorial Day for the Holocaust and the Heroism, 1987-2007 [with Eyal Zandberg & Oren Meyers, U. of Haifa].
  5. ISF grant for the international workshop (2009): On Media Memory - The Future of Mediated Collective Memory in an Age of Changing Media Environments.
  6. 2005, Israel Second Authority for TV and Radio, The public role of commercial media: The case of the Holocaust Memorial Day                  

 

 

 

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