Eastern Bloc information dissemination was controlled directly by each country's Communist party, which controlled the state media, censorship and propaganda organs. State and party ownership of print, television and radio media served as an important manner in which to control information and society in light of Eastern Bloc leaderships viewing even marginal groups of opposition intellectuals as a potential threat to the bases underlying Communist power therein.
Circumvention of dissemination controls occurred to some degree through samizdat and limited reception of western radio and television broadcasts. In addition, some regimes heavily restricted the flow of information from their countries to outside of the Eastern Bloc by heavily regulating the travel of foreigners and segregating approved travellers from the domestic population.
Background
Creation of the Eastern Bloc
Bolsheviks took power following the
Russian Revolution of 1917. During the
Russian Civil War that followed, coinciding with the
Red Army's entry into
Minsk in 1919, Belarus was declared the
Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia. After more conflict, the
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was declared in 1920. With the defeat of the
Ukraine in the
Polish-Ukrainian War, after the March 1921
Peace of Riga following the
Polish-Soviet War, central and eastern Ukraine were annexed into the Soviet Union as the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1922, the
Russian SFSR,
Ukraine SSR,
Byelorussian SSR and
Transcaucasian SFSR were
officially merged as republics creating the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or
Soviet Union.
At the end of World War II, all eastern and central European capitals were controlled by the Soviet Union. During the final stages of the war, the Soviet Union began the creation of the Eastern Bloc by directly annexing several countries as Soviet Socialist Republics that were originally effectively ceded to it by Nazi Germany in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. These included eastern Poland (incorporated into two different SSRs), Latvia (became Latvia SSR), Estonia (became Estonian SSR), and northeastern Romania (became the Moldavian SSR).
By 1945, these additional annexed countries totaled approximately 180,000 further square miles, or slightly more than the area of West Germany, East Germany and Austria combined. Other nations were converted into Soviet Satellite states, such as the People's Republic of Poland, the People's Republic of Hungary, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the People's Republic of Romania, the People's Republic of Albania, and later East Germany from the Soviet zone of German occupation. The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was also considered part of the Bloc, though a Tito-Stalin split occurred in 1948 followed by the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Conditions in the Eastern Bloc
1975]]
Throughout the Eastern Bloc, both in the Soviet Socialist Republic and elsewhere, Russia was given prominence, and referred to as the
naibolee vydajuščajasja nacija (the most prominent nation) and the
rukovodjaščij narod (the leading people). Initially, Stalin directed systems that rejected Western institutional characteristics of
market economies, democratic governance (dubbed "
bourgeois democracy" in Soviet parlance) and the rule of law subduing discretional intervention by the state. The Soviets mandated expropriation and
etatization of private property.
The Soviet-style "replica regimes" that arose in the Bloc not only reproduced Soviet command economies, but also adopted the methods employed by Joseph Stalin and Soviet secret police to suppress real and potential opposition. The suppression of dissidence and opposition was a central prerequisite for the security of Communist power within the Eastern Bloc, though the degree of opposition and dissident suppression varied by country and period. emigration was effectively halted in the early 1950s, with the Soviet approach to controlling national movement emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. Furthermore, the Eastern Bloc experienced economic mis-development by central planners resulting in those countries following a path of extensive rather than intensive development, and thus lagging far behind their western European counterparts in per capita Gross Domestic Product.
Media and information restrictions
December 13, 1981 reports
Martial law in Poland ]]
Media and information control
In the
Eastern Bloc, the state owned and operated the means of mass communication. The ruling authorities viewed media as a propaganda tool, and widely practiced censorship to exercise almost full control over the information dissemination. Until the late 1980s, all Eastern Bloc radio and television organizations were state-owned (and tightly controlled), while print media was usually owned by political organizations, mostly by the local Communist party.
Youth newspapers and magazines were owned by youth organizations affiliated with the communist party. Eastern Bloc authorities viewed the dissemination and portrayal of knowledge as vital to the survival of Communism and thus stifled alternative concepts and critiques. Censorship institutions in the countries of the Bloc were organized differently. Unlike the rest of the Eastern Bloc, relative freedom existed for three years in Czechoslovakia until Soviet-style censorship was fully applied in 1948, Cultural products reflected the propaganda needs of the state During the Stalinist period, even the weather forecasts were changed if they would have otherwise suggested that the sun might not shine on May Day. The Soviet occupation administration (SVAG) directed propaganda and censorship policies to East German censorship organs through its "sector for propaganda and censorship". censorship became one of the most overt instruments used to manipulated political, intellectual and cultural developments in East Germany. Art societies and associations that had existed prior to World War II were dissolved and all new theatres an art societies had to register with SVAG. Art exhibits were put under a blanket ban unless censorship organs approved them in advance. provided that "censorship of the media is not to occur", both official and unofficial censorship occurred, although to a lesser extent during its later years. Thereafter, official East German censorship was supervised and carried out by two governmental organizations, the Head office for publishing companies and bookselling trade (Hauptverwaltung Verlage und Buchhandel, HV), and the Bureau for Copyright (Büro für Urheberrechte). The HV determined the degree of censorship and the method of publishing and marketing works. The Bureau for Copyright appraised the work, then decided if it or another publication was permitted to be published in East Germany or in foreign country. For theatres, a "repertory commission" was created that consisted of the Ministerium für Volksbildung (MfV), the ruling SED party, the applicable theatre union and the East German office for theatrical affairs.
No play could be accepted, rehearsed, or performed without prior ministerial approval. Nevertheless the East German authorities found it extremely difficult to prevent their citizens listening to Western radio stations and Western TV was available across most of the GDR. Technical and diplomatic considerations meant attempts at jamming Western Stations were (unlike in other Eastern bloc countries) soon abandoned.
In the Soviet Union, in accordance with the official ideology and politics of the Communist Party, Goskomizdat censored all printed matter, Goskino supervised all cinema, Gosteleradio controlled radio and television broadcasting and the First Department in many agencies and institutions, such as the State Statistical Committee (Goskomstat), was responsible for assuring that state secrets and other sensitive information only reached authorized hands. The Soviets destroyed pre-revolutionary and foreign material from libraries, leaving only "special collections" (spetskhran), accessible by special permit from the KGB. The Soviet Union also censored images, included removing repressed persons from texts, posters, paintings and photographs.
Prominent individuals
Throughout the Eastern Bloc, artists or those attempting to disseminate dissenting views were repressed, with a few of the more prominent victims including:
Gheorghe Ursu - a
Romanian poet who grew disillusioned with
Romanian communist doctrine after 1949, and was repeatedly sanctioned for disobedience In 1985, after being beaten for weeks on end by the
Romanian Police, he was transported to the
Jilava jail hospital, where he died of
peritonitis later in the day.
Night of the Murdered Poets - thirteen writers, poets, artists, musicians and actors were secretly executed on orders from Joseph Stalin.
Imre Nagy - former
Hungarian Prime Minister who had supported Hungary's withdrawal from the
Warsaw Pact during the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956, was later arrested by Soviet authorities after leaving the
Yugoslavian embassy, and then secretly tried, found guilty, sentenced to death and was executed by hanging in June, 1958. His trial and execution were made public only after the sentence was carried out.
Ion Valentin Anestin - His work centered on denouncing Stalin and the
Soviet Union, in a series titled
Măcelarul din Piaţa Roşie ("The
Red Square Butcher") published by the magazine
Gluma. Following the start of
Soviet occupation of Romania, Anestin was barred from publishing for a five-year period (1944–1949), and ultimately imprisoned. and died in a prison camp.
Vasile Voiculescu - A Romanian poet who was imprisoned in 1958, at the age of 74, spending four years in prison, where he became ill, and died of cancer a few months after his release.
Arno Esch - An East German political writer who was imprisoned by the Soviet NKVD in 1949, sentenced to death for "counterrevolutionary activities" and executed at the Lubyanka (KGB) prison in 1951.
Lena Constante - During repeated interrogations by the
Securitate, Constante tried to fend off false accusations of "
Titoism" and "
treason", but, the victim of constant beatings and torture (much of her hair was torn from the roots), and confronted with Zilber's testimony — which implicated her —, she eventually gave in and admitted to the charges.
József Dudás - A Hungarian political activist who spoke of a 25 point program ending Soviet repression in Hungary to a crowd during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and was executed the next year.
Enn Tarto - An Estonian dissident who was imprisoned from 1956 to 1960, 1962 to 1967, and again from 1983 to 1988 for anti-Soviet activity.
Anton Durcovici - A
Romania clergyman openly critical of the Communist regime, Durcovici was placed under surveillance in 1947, arrested by the
Securitate in 1949 during a congregation visit, died from torture and prison deprivation and was buried in an unmarked grave. Communist authorities subsequently attempted to erase all evidence of his stay in prison, and most documents were destroyed.
Media entities
In some countries, the press provided a significant source of income for the ruling Communist parties. Where the press was allowed more freedom, such as in Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, a national subtext and a significant element of entertainment flourished. Those agencies also provided the top publishing priorities, and would apportion paper used for printing to the various publications in accordance with those priorities.
{| class="toccolours collapsible"
|-
!
Notable National Media in the Eastern Bloc
|-
|
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: left"
|- bgcolor="#cccccc"
!style="text-align: left;background:#B0C4DE"|Media
!style="background:#B0C4DE"|Type
!style="background:#B0C4DE"|Country
!style="background:#B0C4DE"|Notes
|-
|align=left|
Pravda || newspaper ||
Russian SFSR || Official organ of the
Central Committee of the
Communist Party
|-
|align=left|
Zvyazda || newspaper ||
Byelorussian SSR || Official newspaper of the
Communist Party of Belarus
|-
|align=left|
Rudé právo || newspaper ||
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic || Official newspaper of the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
|-
|align=left|
Pravda (Slovakia) || newspaper ||
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic || Publication of the
Communist Party of Slovakia
|-
|align=left|
Laiko Vima || newspaper ||
People's Republic of Albania || Greek newspaper, organ of the
Party of Labour of Albania
|-
|align=left|Lidová Demokracie || newspaper ||
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic || Published by the
Czechoslovak People's Party
|-
|align=left|
Mladá fronta || newspaper ||
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic || Newspaper of the
Socialist Union of Youth
|-
|align=left|Práce || newspaper ||
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic || Published by the
Revolutionary Trade Union Movement
|-
|align=left|Svobodné Slovo || newspaper ||
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic || Published by the Czechoslovak Socialist Party
|-
|align=left|
Neues Deutschland || newspaper ||
East Germany || Official paper of the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
|-
|align=left|
Rahva Hääl || newspaper ||
Estonian SSR || Official newspaper of the
Communist Party of Estonia
|-
|align=left|
Neuvosto-Karjala || newspaper ||
Karelo-Finnish SSR || -
|-
|align=left|
Sovetskaya Latviya || newspaper ||
Latvian SSR || Official publication of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Latvia
|-
|align=left|Sovetskaya Molodëz || newspaper ||
Latvian SSR || Latvian
Komsomol daily
|-
|align=left|
Czerwony Sztandar || newspaper ||
Lithuanian SSR || Polish language newspaper to
Sovietized Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union
|-
|align=left|
Kauno Tiesa || newspaper ||
Lithuanian SSR || -
|-
|align=left|
Zëri i Popullit || newspaper ||
People's Republic of Albania || Propaganda organ of the
Party of Labour of Albania
|-
|align=left|
Rabotnichesko Delo || newspaper ||
People's Republic of Bulgaria || Propaganda organ of the
Bulgarian Communist Party
|-
|align=left|
Népszabadság || newspaper ||
People's Republic of Hungary || Organ of the
Hungarian Working People's Party
|-
|align=left|
Esti Budapest || newspaper ||
People's Republic of Hungary || Organ of the
Hungarian Working People's Party in Budapest
|-
|align=left|
Trybuna Ludu || newspaper ||
People's Republic of Poland || Official media outlet of the
Polish United Workers' Party
|-
|align=left|
Scînteia || newspaper ||
People's Republic of Romania || Official voice of the
Communist Party of Romania
|-
|align=left|Scînteia Tineretului || newspaper ||
People's Republic of Romania || Romanian
Union of Communist Youth newspaper
|-
|align=left|
Komsomolskaya Pravda || newspaper ||
Russian SFSR || Official organ of the Central Committee of the
Komsomol
|-
|align=left|
Pionerskaya Pravda || newspaper ||
Russian SFSR || Official organ of the
Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union
|-
|align=left|
Trud (newspaper) || newspaper ||
Russian SFSR || Mouthpiece for the
Soviet Labor Unions
|-
|align=left|
Borba (newspaper) || newspaper ||
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia || Newspaper of the
League of Communists of Yugoslavia
|-
|align=left|Czechoslovak Press Agency || press agency ||
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic || Controlled by the federal government through its Presidium
|-
|align=left|
APN || press agency ||
Russian SFSR || Under the
Soviet Information Bureau
|-
|align=left|
Radio Prague || radio ||
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic || Official international broadcasting station of Czechoslovakia since 1936
|-
|align=left|
Berliner Rundfunk || radio ||
East Germany || Radio station by
Rundfunk der DDR since 1946
|-
|align=left|
Deutschlandsender || radio ||
East Germany || Radio station by
Rundfunk der DDR since 1926
|-
|align=left|
Radio DDR 1 || radio ||
East Germany || Radio station by
Rundfunk der DDR since 1953
|-
|align=left|
DT64 || radio ||
East Germany || Radio station by
Rundfunk der DDR since 1964
|-
|align=left|
Radio Berlin International || radio ||
East Germany || International broadcaster for East Germany since 1959 (final broadcast bitter about "takeover")
|-
|align=left|
Latvijas Radio 1 || radio ||
Latvian SSR || Radio station by
Latvijas Radio since 1925
|-
|align=left|
Lietuvos radijas || radio ||
Lithuanian SSR || Started by
Lithuanian National Radio and Television In 1926
|-
|align=left|
Radio Tirana || radio ||
People's Republic of Albania || Started by
Radiodifuzioni Shqiptar in 1938
|-
|align=left|
Radio Bulgaria || radio ||
People's Republic of Bulgaria || Official international broadcasting station of Bulgaria since 1930
|-
|align=left|
Horizont (radio) || radio ||
People's Republic of Bulgaria || Since 1930 by the
Bulgarian National Radio
|-
|align=left|
Kossuth Rádió || radio ||
People's Republic of Hungary || First radio station by
Magyar Rádió in 1925
|-
|align=left|
Radio Polonia || radio ||
People's Republic of Poland || Official international broadcasting station of Poland since 1936
|-
|align=left|
Program 1 Polskiego Radia || radio ||
People's Republic of Poland || Easy listening by
Polskie Radio since 1926
|-
|align=left|Radio Bucuresti-România
Radio România Actualităţi || radio ||
People's Republic of Romania || Started by
Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company in 1928
|-
|align=left|Radio Bucuresti Programul 2
Radio România Cultural || radio ||
People's Republic of Romania || Started by
Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company in 1952
|-
|align=left|Radio Bucuresti Programul 3
Radio3Net || radio ||
People's Republic of Romania || Started by
Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company in 1963 and rebranded in 1973
|-
|align=left|
Radio Belgrade || radio ||
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia || started in 1929
|-
|align=left|
Radio Moscow || radio ||
Russian SFSR || Official international broadcasting station of the
Soviet Union
|-
|align=left|
TV-First (Belarus) || TV ||
Byelorussian SSR || TV channel by
National State Teleradiocompany (started in 1956
|-
|align=left|
ČST1 || TV ||
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic || Started by
Československá televize in 1953 (color 1975)
|-
|align=left|
ČST2 || TV ||
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic || Started by
Československá televize in 1970 (color 1973)
|-
|align=left|
DFF || TV ||
East Germany || By
Fernsehen der DDR starting in 1956
|-
|align=left|
DFF2 || TV ||
East Germany || By
Fernsehen der DDR starting in 1969 (in color)
|-
|align=left|
ETV 1 || TV ||
Estonian SSR || First Estonian TV station (1955) by
Eesti Televisioon
|-
|align=left|
LTV1 || TV ||
Latvian SSR || Started in 1954 by
Latvijas Televizija (color since 1974)
|-
|align=left|
Lietuvos Televizija || TV ||
Lithuanian SSR || Started by
Lithuanian National Radio and Television In 1957
|-
|align=left|
Televizioni Shqiptar || TV ||
People's Republic of Albania || Started by
Radio Televizioni Shqiptar in 1960 (color 1981)
|-
|align=left|
Bulgarian Television || TV ||
People's Republic of Bulgaria || Official Bulgarian TV since 1959 by the
Bulgarian Communist Party
|-
|align=left|
Efir 2 || TV ||
People's Republic of Bulgaria || Second Channel by
Bulgarian National Television (1974 start)
|-
|align=left|
m1 (TV channel) || TV ||
People's Republic of Hungary || First channel by
Magyar Televízió in 1957
|-
|align=left|
m2 (TV channel) || TV ||
People's Republic of Hungary || Second channel by
Magyar Televízió in 1971
|-
|align=left|
TVP1 || TV ||
People's Republic of Poland || First Polish TV channel (since 1952) by
Telewizja Polska
|-
|align=left|
TVP2 || TV ||
People's Republic of Poland || Second Polish TV channel (since 1970) by
Telewizja Polska
|-
|align=left|
TVR1 || TV ||
People's Republic of Romania || Started by
Televiziunea Româna in 1956
|-
|align=left|
TVR2 || TV ||
People's Republic of Romania || Started by
Televiziunea Româna in 1968
|-
|align=left|
Soviet Central Television || TV ||
Russian SFSR || Main
Soviet Union TV channel
|-
|align=left|
Soviet TV Channel 1 || TV ||
Russian SFSR || Main (of four)
Soviet TV channel (1938)
|-
|align=left|All Union Programme || TV ||
Russian SFSR || Second (of four)
Soviet TV Channel (1960)
|-
|align=left|Moscow Programme || TV ||
Russian SFSR || Third (of four)
Soviet TV Channel
|-
|align=left|Fourth Programme || TV ||
Russian SFSR || Fourth (of four)
Soviet TV Channel
|-
|align=left|
UT1 (Ukraine) || TV ||
Ukrainian SSR || Started by
National Television Company of Ukraine (1956–1965 start)
|-
|align=left|
TVB || TV ||
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia || first broadcast in 1958 in Belgrade; covered all of Serbia by 1971; started color in 1971
|-
|align=left|
Gosteleradio || TV/radio ||
Russian SFSR || The official TV and radio broadcaster of the
Soviet Union
|-
|align=left|
Belarusian Telegraph Agency || wire service ||
Byelorussian SSR || Affiliated with
TASS
|-
|align=left|
ELTA || wire service ||
Lithuanian SSR || Affiliated with
TASS
|-
|align=left|
Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union || wire service ||
Russian SFSR || Established by the
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union; Served 14
Soviet Socialist Republics
|-
|align=left|
Radio i Telewizja Polska || TV/radio ||
People's Republic of Poland || Governed TV and radio broadcasts by
Telewizja Polska
|-
|align=left|
Radio Television of Serbia || TV/radio ||
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia || Governed TV and radio broadcasts
|-bgcolor="#cccccc"
|}
|-
|}
Control of information flow out of the Eastern Bloc
Beginning in 1935,
Joseph Stalin effectively sealed off outside access to the
Soviet Socialist Republics (and until his death), effectively permitting no foreign travel inside the Soviet Union such that outsiders did not know of the political processes that had taken place therein. During this period, and even for 25 years after Stalin's death, the few diplomats and foreign correspondents that were permitted inside the Soviet Union were usually restricted to within a few miles of Moscow, their phones were tapped, their residences were restricted to foreigner-only locations and they were constantly followed by Soviet authorities. For many years after World War II, even the best informed foreigners did not know the number of arrest or executed Soviet citizens, or how poorly the Soviet economy had performed. Accordingly, activities in Romania remained, until the late 1960s, largely unknown to the outside world. Stalinist
Albania, which had become increasingly paranoid and isolated after
de-Stalinization and the death of
Mao Tse Tung, restricted visitors to 6,000 per year, and segregated those few that traveled to Albania.
Propaganda efforts
Communist leaders in the Eastern Bloc openly discussed the existence of propaganda efforts. Communist propaganda goals and techniques were tuned according to the target audience. The most broad classification of targets was:
Domestic propaganda
External propaganda
Propaganda of Communist supporters outside the Communist states
Communist Party documents reveal a more detailed classification of specific targets (workers, peasants, youth, women, etc.). Propaganda often worked itself beyond agit prop plays into traditional productions, such as in Hungary after the Tito-Stalin split, where the director of the National Theatre produced a version of Macbeth in which the villainous king was revealed as none other than hated (in the Eatsern Bloc) Yugoslavian Leader Josip Broz Tito. Regarding economic woes, debilitating wage cuts following economic stagnation were referred to as "blows in the face of imperialism", while forced loans were called "voluntary contributions to the building of socialism".
Communist theoretician Nikolai Bukharin in his The ABC of Communism wrote:
The State propaganda of communism becomes in the long run a means for the eradication of the last traces of bourgeois propaganda dating from the old régime; and it is a powerful instrument for the creation of a new ideology, of new modes of thought, of a new outlook on the world.
(regional channels
NDR,
HR,
BR and
SFB) . Areas with no reception (black) were jokingly referred to as "Valley of the Clueless"
(Tal der Ahnungslosen) while ARD was said to stand for "Außer (except) Rügen und Dresden" .]]
Some propaganda would "retell" the western news, such as the
East German television program
Der schwarze Kanal ("The Black Channel"), which contained
bowdlerized programs from
West Germany with added
Communist commentary. The name "Black channel" was a play on words deriving from the German language use of the term by plumbers to describe a sewer. The program was meant to counter ideas received by some from West German television because the geography of the divided
Germany meant that West German television signals (particularly
ARD) could be received in most of East Germany, except in parts of Eastern
Saxony around Dresden, which consequently earned the latter the nickname "valley of the clueless."
Eastern Bloc leaders, including even Joseph Stalin, could become personally involved in dissemination. For example, in January 1948, the U.S. State Department published a collection of documents titled Nazi-Soviet Relations, 1939–1941: Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office, which contained documents recovered from the Foreign Office of Nazi Germany revealing Soviet conversations with Germany regarding the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, including its secret protocol dividing eastern Europe, the 1939 German-Soviet Commercial Agreement, and discussions of the Soviet Union potentially becoming the fourth Axis Power.
In response, one month later, the Soviet Information Bureau published Falsifiers of History. The book claimed, for instance, that American bankers and industrialists provided capital for the growth of German war industries, while deliberately encouraging Hitler to expand eastward. Historical studies, official accounts, memoirs and textbooks published in the Soviet Union used that depiction of events until the Soviet Union's dissolution. claimed "[a]s far back as in 1937 it became perfectly clear that a big war was being hatched by Hitler with the direct connivance of Great Britain and France", blasted "the claptrap of the slanderers" and stated "[n]aturally, the falsifiers of history and slanderers are called falsifiers and slanderers precisely because they do not entertain any respect for facts. They prefer to gossip and slander."
In East Germany, the Soviet SVAG and DVV initially controlled all publication prorities. The practice was fraught with danger as harsh punishments were meted out to people caught possessing or copying censored materials. Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky defined it as follows: "I myself create it, edit it, censor it, publish it, distribute it, and [may] get imprisoned for it." One of the longest-running and well-known samizdat publications was the information bulletin "Хроника текущих событий" (Khronika Tekushchikh Sobitiy; Chronicle of Current Events), which contained anonymously published pieces dedicated to the defense of human rights in the USSR. Several people were arrested in connection with the Chronicle, including Natalya Gorbanevskaya, Yuri Shikhanovich, Pyotr Yakir, Victor Krasin, Sergei Kovalev, Alexander Lavut, Tatyana Velikanova, among others.
Magnitizdat (in Russian магнитиздат) is a term used to describe the process of re-copying and self distributing live audio tape recordings in the Soviet Union that were not available commercially. The process of magnitizdat was less risky than publishing literature via samizdat, since any person in the USSR was permitted to own a private reel-to-reel tape recorder, while paper duplication equipment was under control of the state. "Tamizdat" refers to literature published abroad (там, tam, meaning "there"), often from smuggled manuscripts.
Western media broadcasts
Western countries invested heavily in powerful transmitters which enabled broadcasters to be heard in the Eastern Bloc, despite attempts by authorities to
jam such signals. In 1947, VOA started broadcasting in
Russian with the intent to counter Soviet propaganda directed against American leaders and policies. These included
Radio Free Europe (RFE)),
RIAS (Berlin) the
Voice of America (VOA),
Deutsche Welle,
Radio France International and the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The Soviet Union responded by attempting aggressive, electronic
jamming of VOA (and some other Western) broadcasts om 1949. In January 1950, it obtained a transmitter base at
Lampertheim,
West Germany and on July 4 of the same year, RFE completed its first broadcast aimed at
Czechoslovakia Broadcasts were often banned in Eastern Europe and Communist authorities used sophisticated
jamming techniques in an attempt to prevent citizens from listening to them. In late 1950, RFE began to assemble a full-fledged foreign broadcast staff, and became more than just a "mouthpiece for exiles" who had fled Eastern Bloc countries. While RFE was cleared of charges that it gave Hungarian listeners false hope during the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956, its Broadcast Analysis Division was established to ensure that broadcasts were accurate and professional while maintaining the journalists' former
autonomy.
A 1960 study concluded that RFE possessed considerably more listeners than the BBC or VOA.
Notes
References
External links
Research on the History of Television Programs of the GDR
Library of Congress—The U.S. Naval Academy Collection of Soviet & Russian TV
Russian Museum of Radio and TV website
RFE Czechoslovak Unit Open Society Archives, Budapest
Translations of propaganda materials from the GDR.
Advice for East German propagandists on how to deal with the Solidarity movement
CNN Cold War Knowledge Bank - comparison of articles on Cold War topics in TIME Magazine and Pravda between 1945 and 1991
Censorship in the Soviet Union and its Cultural and Professional Results for Arts and Art Libraries
Radio Berlin International final English broadcast - Part 1
Radio Berlin International final English broadcast - Part 2
GDR Censporship regarding Literature
GDR Censorship of Literature
Category:Censorship
Category:Communist propaganda
Category:Eastern Bloc media
Category:East German television
Category:International broadcasting
Category:Propaganda organisations
Category:Soviet media
Category:Eastern bloc
Category:Cold War propaganda
