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Control of the people- media - Coggle Diagram
Control of the people- media
Timeline of developments in the media and propaganda
Nov 1917- ban all non-socialist newspapers
1921- development of voice radio in the USSR
1930s- Cult of Stalin develops
1958- mass production of televisions in the USSR begins
Newspapers
Lening viewed newspapers as the mouthpiece of the bourgeoisie
a decree in 1917 banned all non-socialist newspapers and by 1920s, all non-Bolshevik newspapers were elminated
All editors and journalists were employees of the government, members of the Union of Soviet Journalists and expected to be party members
approval from the censorship office Glavlit, was needed for every article written for publication
Newspapers carried details about the achievements of socialism, how production figures exceeded those of the previous 5 year plan
Stalin used newspapers when he pushed for industrialisation
natural disasters were a prohibited topic and in 1972 a fire in Moscow took one month to be explained to the public
Kyshtym in 1957- a nuclear waste tank exploded. There was 200 fatalities and 270,000 people being exposed to dangerous radiation levels. The government never reported on it and took two years to evacuate people to safe areas
daily newspapers included Pravda (truth) and Izvestiya (News). Pravda was the newspaper of the Communist Party and Izvestiya was the paper of the government
both were used as vehicles of propaganda to highlight the achievements of government and socialism
to ensure a high readership, the newspapers were cheap and widely available
Pravda had a circulation of 10.7 million in 1983
Radio
1917- fairly new development and easy for the Bolsheviks to control
The Spoken Newspaper of the Russian Telegraph Agency featured news and propaganda material
Bolsheviks installed loudspeakers in public places to get their message across to people
group listening resulted in a collective response that ensured everyone got the intended message
Control of radio communication was centralised through the Commissariat for Posts and Telegraph and the government funded new resources as they recognised the importance of radio
A helpful medium as It allowed the government to get their message across to 65% of the population who were illiterate
Stalin used Radio during WW2 to make a speech live from Red Square to commemorate the October Revolution and inspire the people
The government tried to restrict foreign stations by mass-producing cheap radio stations with a limited reception range.
Relied on jamming foreign broadcasters and threatened to arrest those listening to BBC
Television
by 1950s, TV became a key method for the government to get their message across to the population
in 1950, they had 10,000 sets. By 1958, this number had risen to almost 3 million
by 1960s, most of the rural population had access to television
government stations featured a mix of news, documentaries on the achievements of socialism and cultural programmes
life in the Soviet Union was presented as joyous but life was ripe with crime, homelessness and violence so Tv failed to spark enthusiasm
Stalin had one septic actor to play him in movies to portray himself as a hero
Impact
Censorship was heavily used but not always successfully
Soviet public began to read between the lines
as mass media changed, the government maintained the propaganda it fuelled society with and the government relied on the output that technology was a distraction from realities of socialism