Cold War Broadcasting: Impact on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

Published by Central European University Press 2010

Cold War Broadcasting

Impact on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

Edited by: A. Ross Johnson and R. Eugene Parta

https://doi.org/10.1515/9786155211904

Overview
Contents

About this book

The book examines the role of Western broadcasting to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe during the Cold War, with a focus on Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. It includes chapters by radio veterans and by scholars who have conducted research on the subject in once-secret Soviet bloc archives and in Western records. It also contains a selection of translated documents from formerly secret Soviet and East European archives, most of them published here for the first time.

Author / Editor information

Johnson A. Ross :

A. Ross Johnson was a History and Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Senior Adviser at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Parta R. Eugene :

R. Eugene Parta is former director of Soviet Area Audience and Opinion Research at RFE/RL and of Media and Opinion Research at the RFE/RL Research Institute.

Reviews

"This volume is an exceptional contribution to the growing literature on the politics of the 'Cultural Cold War'. Fruit of a 2004 conference at Stanford University co-sponsored by the Hoover Intsitution and the Cold War International History Project, it features analyses by former broadcasters and academics as well as over two hundred pages of documents in translation from archives across the former Soviet bloc."

"In recent years, Cold War studies have undergone a modest revolution. In addition to the many political, diplomatic, and military books and articles on the Cold War, a few scholars have begun to focus on the importance of soft power in the confl ict. Cold War Broadcasting is a welcome addition to that small but growing body of scholarship... the articles and documents provide a wealth of new information that lays the foundation for a critical analysis of RFE/RL’s and other western broadcasters’ impact on the Soviet Union and its satellites in eastern Europe."

"One would not expect a scrupulously researched academic tome to read like a spy novel, but Cold War Broadcasting manages in places to do just that. Based to a very large extent on files from Soviet-era intelligence and security establishments, this book examines the impact of government-sponsored Western broadcasting on societies behind the Iron Curtain and the efforts made to counter that impact. The most fascinating study in the book, by István Rév of Budapest, is an introspecitve and philosophical tract. Rév alludes to the fact that both Washington and Moscow intently studied one another's messages and modified thier own messages accordingly - a subtle example of international meta-broadcasting. As pointed out in this intriguing study and attested to in the words of the political elites most adversely impacted by Western radio, funding for these efforts constituted the best imaginable bargain in combating Communism, given the pervasive effect such broadcasts had on the course of history. Even CIA analysts relied on information that could be provided only by the radio stations"

"Now we have this wonderful book to explain to us how the Voices functioned, what their problems and successes were, how jamming worked, and what the authorities were worried about. Here, in one thick volume, we have the inside story of so many issues that surfaced during the Cold War, when information beamed to this part of the world was arguably the West’s most dangerous weapon. Cold War Broadcasting does not read like a novel, although the material is dramatic and exciting enough for many novels."

"Cold War Broadcasting is a vital research tool, and will no doubt pave the way for further archive-based studies about Western radios’ impact on the populations behind the Iron Curtain."

"This collection of documents and scholarly analysis marks a major advance in the discussion, and furthers understanding the role of propaganda and reliable information in shaping the complex dynamics of the Cold War. Summing up: Highly recommended."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface A. Ross Johnson and R. Eugene Parta Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Foreword Timothy Garton Ash Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Introduction A. Ross Johnson Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
Part 1. GOALS OF THE BROADCASTS
CHAPTER 1. RFE ’s Early Years: Evolution of Broadcast Policy and Evidence of Broadcast Impact Paul B. Henze Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
CHAPTER 2. Goals of Radio Liberty Gene Sosin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
CHAPTER 3. The Voice of America: A Brief Cold War History Alan L. Heil Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
Part 2. JAMMING AND AUDIENCES
CHAPTER 4. Cold War Radio Jamming George W. Woodard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
CHAPTER 5. The Audience to Western Broadcasts to the USSR During the Cold War: An External Perspective R. Eugene Parta Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
CHAPTER 6. The Foreign Radio Audience in the USSR During the Cold War: An Internal Perspective Elena I. Bashkirova Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
CHAPTER 7. The Audience to Western Broadcasts to Poland During the Cold War Lechosław Gawlikowski and Yvette Neisser Moreno Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
Part 3. IMPACT OF WESTERN BROADCASTS IN EASTERN EUROPE
CHAPTER 8. Radio Free Europe in the Eyes of the Polish Communist Elite Jane Leftwich Curry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
CHAPTER 9. Polish Regime Countermeasures against Radio Free Europe Paweł Machcewicz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
CHAPTER 10. Radio Free Europe’s Impact in Romania During the Cold War Nestor Ratesh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
CHAPTER 11. Ceauşescu’s War against Our Ears Germina Nagat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
CHAPTER 12. Just Noise? Impact of Radio Free Europe in Hungary István Rév Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
CHAPTER 13. Bulgarian Regime Countermeasures against Radio Free Europe Jordan Baev Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Part 4. IMPACT OF WESTERN BROADCASTS IN THE USSR
CHAPTER 14. Soviet Reactions to Foreign Broadcasting in the 1950s Vladimir Tolz and Julie Corwin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
CHAPTER 15. Foreign Media, the Soviet Western Frontier, and the Hungarian and Czechoslovak Crises Amir Weiner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299
CHAPTER 16. Water Shaping the Rock: Cold War Broadcasting Impact in Latvia Peter Zvagulis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
Part 5. Conclusions
CHAPTER 17. Cold War International Broadcasting and the Road to Democracy A. Ross Johnson and R. Eugene Parta Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	345
Part 6. DOCUMENTS FROM EAST EUROPEAN AND SOVIET ARCHIVES
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	353
I. Regime Perceptions of Western Broadcasters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	355
II. Regime Countermeasures against Western Broadcasters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	439
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	563
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	565
Index: Notes are Indicated by N Following the Page Number Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	569

Language: English
Publisher: Central European University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 612
Keywords: Cold War; Eastern Europe; Media; Radio Free Europe; Radio Liberty; Soviet Union; United States

eBook

Published: August 20, 2010
ISBN: 9786155211904