ABSTRACT
What responsibilities do the living have for the dead-for the corpse and for the memory of the deceased? In a communication age, when both individual and mass deaths are shared publicly, what role does journalism play in articulating such responsibilities? John McGowan writes that "some people, though by no means all ... believe that they owe something to the dead and express that belief through a variety of words and deeds" (2002, p. 301). Those obligations, he notes, involve remembrance, acknowledgment of significance, rituals of burial and mourning, justice, forgiveness, continuity, and piety. Though McGowan argues "the dead gain nothing from our piety toward them even as the neglected living cry out for our attention," he does acknowledge that "piety is ... inescapable" (pp. 344-345).
