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Witness as a Cultural Form of Communication

Historical Roots, Structural Dynamics, and Current Appearances

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Media Witnessing

Abstract

Radio and television (audiovisual mass communication) at the beginning of the twenty-first century broadcast multiple forms of witnessing, confession, and testimony in a variety of genres ranging from journalistic forms of reporting, eyewitness news, the recollections of historical events, public hearings, talk-shows, magazine programs focusing on advice and support, to advertisements, and so on. In order to analyze and interpret these phenomena, this paper adopts a specific analytical and hermeneutical perspective: Witnessing is viewed as a historically and evolutionary ‘successful’ cultural form of communication that can be analyzed, at least in part, through comparative work.

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Authors
  1. Günter Thomas
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communications and Journalism, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

    Paul Frosh (Senior Lecturer) & Amit Pinchevski (Lecturer) (Senior Lecturer) &  (Lecturer)

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© 2009 Günter Thomas

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Thomas, G. (2009). Witness as a Cultural Form of Communication. In: Frosh, P., Pinchevski, A. (eds) Media Witnessing. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230235762_5

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