Journalistik om et bebudet historisk øjeblik. Danske avisers blik på præsident Obamas indsættelse.

Resumé

Journalism about an Announced Historical Moment - Danish Newspapers’ Coverage of the Inauguration of President Obama

“We are just now witnessing an historical moment”; so exclaim the media from time to time. A statement which contains the expectation that we pause for a while and pay extra attention to the event, from which the historical moment arises. But what are these moments that claim the interest of their contemporaries as ‘historical’, how does journalism deal with these functions, and what may be the use of the invocation of history? The  inauguration of President Obama as the 44th President of the United States in January 2009 was if anything heralded as an historical moment. When the journalistic practice surrounding this media event is analysed, it becomes clear that the  invocation of the presence of history serves to underpin and legitimize the position of journalism as well as the tradition and authority of the social order, in which the historical moment is claimed to be played out.