Page 18 - Dark Shades of Istria
P. 18
Introduction
sumptions are, including those on (Istrian) memory and dark tourism in
the Upper Adriatic, was the commemoration of Il Giorno del ricordo (The
Day of Remembrance) in February 2019 in Bazovizza/Bazovica above Tri-
este, where Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, mean-
ingfully ended his speech with the words: ‘Long live Trieste, long live the
Italian Istria, long live the Italian Dalmatia’ (h rt, 2019; L. L., 2019). A
few days later he highlighted the positive achievements of the regime of
Mussolini and evoked further reactions (of the Slovenian and Croatian
political leaders, anti-fascist organisations, some European parliamentar-
ians). With all these acts, Tajani completely ignored the Resolution on the
Importance of European Remembrance for the Future of Europe (European
Parliament, 2019).
All these words and events, as well as many other history-centric ac-
tivities, were and still are interesting for the media, which report and
comment on them. Gamson et al. (1992, p. 385) summarise some authors
who established that, due to the presumed influence of the media, these
turn into a series of arenas where social stakeholders struggle over the
definition and construction of social reality – see also Nišić and Plavšić
(2014, p. 74). On the other hand, the media influence opinion (Črpić &
Mataušić, 1998, p. 673) and construct social reality through the expla-
nation and interpretation of information; they are a (not only neutral)
‘intermediary between the event and the observer, between the creators
and consumers’ (Nišić & Plavšić, 2014, p. 74). In this context, the media
also re- and co-construct memory with regard to discrete events (Edy,
1999; Kitch, 2002; 2008), can generate a culturally distributed collective
memory (Pavlaković & Perak, 2017, p. 301), and be the ‘site of memory’
(Mustapić & Balabanić, 2018, p. 439). Hence, the next relevant question
is, how are the media associated with dark tourism? On the basis of some
citations and claims of Simone-Charteris et al. (2018),¹² the following an-
swers can be highlighted:
• ‘the media transmits images of disasters throughout the world al-
most as they happen, this way creating a bond with viewers, who
then want to travel to these sites as they feel a connection to the
event’ (pp. 70–71, 73);
• ‘the media plays an important role in publicising disasters, where
they exploit peoples’ fascination regarding tragic events’ (p. 72);
• ‘the media plays a huge role when it comes to dark tourism as it
¹² See also Wise and Mulec (2014).
18
sumptions are, including those on (Istrian) memory and dark tourism in
the Upper Adriatic, was the commemoration of Il Giorno del ricordo (The
Day of Remembrance) in February 2019 in Bazovizza/Bazovica above Tri-
este, where Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, mean-
ingfully ended his speech with the words: ‘Long live Trieste, long live the
Italian Istria, long live the Italian Dalmatia’ (h rt, 2019; L. L., 2019). A
few days later he highlighted the positive achievements of the regime of
Mussolini and evoked further reactions (of the Slovenian and Croatian
political leaders, anti-fascist organisations, some European parliamentar-
ians). With all these acts, Tajani completely ignored the Resolution on the
Importance of European Remembrance for the Future of Europe (European
Parliament, 2019).
All these words and events, as well as many other history-centric ac-
tivities, were and still are interesting for the media, which report and
comment on them. Gamson et al. (1992, p. 385) summarise some authors
who established that, due to the presumed influence of the media, these
turn into a series of arenas where social stakeholders struggle over the
definition and construction of social reality – see also Nišić and Plavšić
(2014, p. 74). On the other hand, the media influence opinion (Črpić &
Mataušić, 1998, p. 673) and construct social reality through the expla-
nation and interpretation of information; they are a (not only neutral)
‘intermediary between the event and the observer, between the creators
and consumers’ (Nišić & Plavšić, 2014, p. 74). In this context, the media
also re- and co-construct memory with regard to discrete events (Edy,
1999; Kitch, 2002; 2008), can generate a culturally distributed collective
memory (Pavlaković & Perak, 2017, p. 301), and be the ‘site of memory’
(Mustapić & Balabanić, 2018, p. 439). Hence, the next relevant question
is, how are the media associated with dark tourism? On the basis of some
citations and claims of Simone-Charteris et al. (2018),¹² the following an-
swers can be highlighted:
• ‘the media transmits images of disasters throughout the world al-
most as they happen, this way creating a bond with viewers, who
then want to travel to these sites as they feel a connection to the
event’ (pp. 70–71, 73);
• ‘the media plays an important role in publicising disasters, where
they exploit peoples’ fascination regarding tragic events’ (p. 72);
• ‘the media plays a huge role when it comes to dark tourism as it
¹² See also Wise and Mulec (2014).
18
