Article
ID: CBB441884312

Listening Through the Iron Curtain: RFE and Polish Radio in the “Fog of War” (2019)

unapi
Methods of communication; media Propaganda Technology and culture Cold War Radio 20th century, late Poland

In Polish historiography on radio in the Stalinist period, the official propaganda broadcast by Polish Radio is very often juxtaposed with the free and unbiased broadcasting of Radio Free Europe (RFE), which can create the impression that RFE was the only source of information in Poland and tends to diminish the importance of Polish Radio. In fact, both broadcasting institutions were crucial players in Cold War warfare, which was described by George F. Kennan in terms of Clausewitz's “fog of war.” Indeed, both RFE and Polish Radio were listening to each other through the Iron Curtain because “white propaganda” (along with the intelligence obtained from political refugees) was one of the most important sources of information. The two broadcasting stations were more alike than we are willing to admit. For instance, the Polish section of RFE mimicked the post-war strategy of Polish Radio. While the latter pretended to be the continuation and successor of the pre-war institution, RFE's propaganda shaped the programme of Polish Radio for many years. Using this case study on RFE's attitude toward Poland's western borders along the Odra and Nysa Rivers, I show how these two opposing broadcasting stations functioned within an endless propaganda feedback loop.

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Article István Rév (2019) Neither Objective nor Subjective. Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (pp. 143-152). unapi

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Authors & Contributors
Petrinca, Ruxandra
Bruner, Justin P.
James Owen Weatherall
O'Connor, Cailin
Georgiev, Georgi
Rév, István
Journals
Cold War History
Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology
The Senses and Society
Research in the History of Technology
Research in Philosophy and Technology
Journal of Cold War Studies
Publishers
University of North Carolina Press
University of Nebraska Press
Routledge
Oxford University Press
McFarland
Cambridge University Press
Concepts
Radio
Methods of communication; media
Technology and culture
Broadcasting, radio and television
Cold War
Communication technology
People
Smith, John Maynard
Fortushenko, A. D.
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century, early
Modern
20th century
19th century
Places
United States
Crimea (Ukraine)
Jamaica (Caribbean)
Haiti (Caribbean)
West Germany
Weimar Republic (1919-1933)
Institutions
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
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