Control - Mass Media And Propaganda Flashcards

1
Q

What does Lenin call newspapers?

A

‘Mouthpieces of the bourgeoisie’

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2
Q

Dates regarding banning newspapers

A

1917 = all non-socialist papers banned
Early 1920s = all non-Bolshevik papers eradicated

1917 = decree on the press

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3
Q

What were requirements for editors and journalists?

A
  • must be government employees
  • part of the ‘Union of Soviet Journalists’
  • party members
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4
Q

What must be done to all articles before publishing?

A

Approved by Glavlit:
- GPU put in charge of monitoring all books
- professional censors employed
- purged libraries of politically dangerous books

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5
Q

GLAVLIT

A

Censorship office
- by 1928 controlled all access to economic data

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6
Q

Pravda

A

‘Truth’ - Party paper

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7
Q

Izvestiya

A

‘News’ - paper of the government

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8
Q

Trud

A

‘Labour’ - newspaper of the workers unions (most popular)

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9
Q

Circulation of Pravda by 1983

A

10.7 million

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10
Q

Circulation of Trud 1983

A

13.5 million

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11
Q

How were papers made accessible?

A

CHEAP
- posted on boards
- at workplaces

Ensured high readership

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12
Q

What was the guiding principle of the soviet newspapers?

A

Partiinost = ‘party-mindedness’
- promoting the party / ‘party-spirit’
- views that are aligned with the party, praising the party and saying the party is always right

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13
Q

Main things conveyed by papers:

A
  • propaganda
  • soviet achievements
  • production target successes
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14
Q

Main things avoided/prohibited from papers?

A
  • natural disasters
  • plane crashes
  • mass emergencies
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15
Q

What was particularly prevalent in papers in the Stalin era?

A

Production targets and sucessed

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16
Q

Example of achievement boasted about by newspapers

A

Aviators flying over the northpole

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17
Q

Example of continued censorship under Khrushchev

A

Kyshtym disaster - 1957
Nuclear waste storage tank explodes
200 dead
27000 left in areas exposed to HIGH radiation

NEVER REPORTED ON

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18
Q

Example of delayed reporting under Brezhnev

A

1972 Moscow Fire

Reported on at least a month after fire put out

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19
Q

Local newspapers (more lenience under Khrushchev)

A

Allowed to criticise minor bureaucrats.
Criticisms of Party Leaders not allowed.
Limits on what could report on.

20
Q

How were magazines used?

A

Aimed at specific people (eg: farmers, teachers, children with specific hobbies)

Reported of specific topics - BUT had to carry govt. propaganda throughout

21
Q

Example magazine

A

Red Sport - 1924
Sovetskii sport replaced it after 1946

HUGE POPULARITY: honest and accurate but had to also carry political news

22
Q

Why was radio easy to manipulate?

A

It was a new development - no established normal or tradition of independent activity:

It was easy for them to manipulate.

23
Q

When was the first important use of radio by the soviets?

A

1917 revolution was broadcast on radio in morse code.

24
Q

When was voice radio invented

25
What did voice radio broadcast at first?
The SPOKEN NEWSPAPER OF THE RUSSIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY
26
How was radio made accessible?
Radios = EXPENSIVE So load speakers put in towns for group listening
27
How was radio controlled?
Commissariat for Posts and Telegraph
28
When and where was the first well-established telegraph agency?
Moscow 1922
29
Why was radio more effective at spreading govt. messages than newspapers?
65% of the population was illiterate
30
Example of great radio propaganda
German Invasion 1941: Stalin gives speech in Red Square, calls back to Revolution broadcast. Reassured and motivated the Russian people.
31
Example of expansive control by radio
New apartment blocks had radio reception and radios wired into the walls!
32
When did the choice of station expand?
Until 1964 = only ONE Under Brezhnev = choice of 3!
33
How did the government control radio propaganda
- Vetted by Commissariat for Posts and Telegraph - deliberately made low range for limited reception - threats of arrests (rarely carried out though) to deter tuning into foreign broadcasts
34
When did TVs prominence within propaganda increase?
1950 onwards as propaganda
35
Growth of access to TV
10,000 TV sets in 1950 —> 3 million by 1958
36
When was mass production of TVs?
1960s
37
Example of TV entertainment the Soviets would weave propaganda through:
- news - documentaries - cultural programmes (promoting soviet ballet and art) - children’s TV - feature films
38
Compare how life in Soviet Union was shown VS life under Capitalism
Life in SovUn = joyous Under Capitalism = rife with crime, homelessness and violence
39
When were the entertainment channels introduced?
1985 = 2 channels
40
What did all mass media have in common?
Heavy censorship and restriction, even when the govt had to adapt to changing technologies.
41
Example of soviet people seeing through propaganda:
‘A politburo member has heart issues’ - fall from favour Or Rising stars within the party get more recognitions, appearances and attention
42
How did use of media propaganda change?
- more distractions of declining lifestyles and realities of socialism - propaganda changes as technologies and interests change
43
Example of Lenin’s propaganda campaigns:
- against church - ‘Peace Bread Land’ - empowering women - posters featuring the achievements of the revolution to show the strength of the Bolsheviks - ROSTA (all Russian telegraph agency) produce short films about the revolution - Kronstadt sailors featured in media - Klutis photomontages to advertise the electrification plan - abstract art by Lissitsky - beat the whites with the red wedge - disapproved with propaganda with his image, after 1818 this rose though, especially after assassination attempt
44
Examples of Stalins propaganda campaigns:
- 1941 German invasion broadcast - posters and art (Socialist Realism) focused on idealised images, happy peasants, milder factories and farms - featured Stalin as the benefactor of human happiness so payed into the cult heavily
45
Propaganda under Khrushchev
- advertised achievements of the Space Race and Virgin land scheme - eg: a T-set with Lychas face on it :) - loosens censorship - minor cultural ‘thaw’ - only where it suits Khruschev though - compare Solzhenitsyn and Pasternak - however cartoons were allowed - even satire (Krokodil - men arriving at parades drunk and late or absent completely)
46
Stalin editing history:
- edited Lenin’s works to remove Stalin criticisms - edited his own work - removed links with purged officials - works of purged officials removed