Little shop of …: Intersections of the 9/11 memorial museum gift shop, capitalism, and journalism

Abstract

Almost 13 years after the hijacking and destruction of the Twin Towers, the 9/11 Memorial Museum opened its doors. As stated in the museum’s mission statement, the memorial and accompanying artifacts stand to “bear solemn witness” and “honor the victims”. The Museum opened to a full house of nearly 10,000 tourists on opening day, yet despite the strong opening and resounding public interest in the museum, journalists covering its opening day directed their attention to a different facet of the space: the museum gift shop. Journalists and public alike were distraught over the “commercialization of the space”, citing the capitalist aims of the gift shop and the memorial aims of the museum as being at odds. Specifically, a few items in the gift shop, including a cheese board with hearts over the three hijacking sites, search dog stuffed animals, and jewelry were identified as aesthetically disparaging of the victims of the attack. Through a framing analysis of 100 of the most popularly posted and tweeted articles from the week following the opening of the 9/11 Memorial Museum (May 19, 2014-May 26, 2014), this study examines how the press framed the gift shop controversy and presented the debate about the memorial as a capitalistic space.