NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARC H TITLE : THE PRESS OF CHANGE : MASS COMMUNICATIONS IN LATE COMMUNIST AND POST COMMUNIS T SOCIETIES AUTHOR : Owen V . Johnson Indiana University CONTRACTOR : Indiana University Foundatio n PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : Owen V . Johnson COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER : 803-1 3 DATE : October 1990 The work leading to this report was supported by funds provided by the National Council for Soviet and East European Research . Th e analysis and interpretations contained in the report are those o f the author . EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Press of Change : Mass Communications in Late Communist an d Post Communist Societie s Owen V . Johnso n School of Journalis m Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana 4740 5 This study investigated the history, theory and operation s of the communications system in the Soviet Union, Poland, an d Czechoslovakia, primarily during the period 1985-90 . Among th e subjects that were considered were the history of the press ; the institutions and interest groups who write the news ; factor s affecting the news, such as journalistic practice an d professionalism, technology, party interests, censorship and law ; the consumers of the news and their impact on the process o f communication, especially through public opinion ; and severa l other factors, including the international dimensions of th e process . Five years ago, the media of Eastern Europe, although clearly different from one another, nonetheless shared a numbe r of common attributes under a general label of "Soviet Communis t press system ." Today, these systems have far less in commo n except that almost all of them are facing serious economi c problems . The most important finding of this study is that wit h some exceptions the mass media during this period have no t themselves been independent agents of change . To some degre e they have been used by individuals or agents to help promot e change . In the majority the mass media themselves have bee n subject to the press of change . For the public at large, the mass media have magnified the process of change and they hav e legitimized the process . It was already clear to critical observers by the late 1970 s that Marxist-Leninist theories of the press were becomin g dysfunctional under conditions of a modern mass communication system in an already mobilized and urbanized society . Lenin' s theory of the press, especially as developed under Stalin, wa s simply a cover for state and party control . When the control s were removed, the theory collapsed . Yet the issue is mor e complex . It is misleading to separate theory from practice . The practice of journalism and propaganda not only was designed to create a new communist man and help carry out party policy, but it was also designed to repress political dissent and to involv e its participants as active supporters of the communist system . In the process journalists in varying degrees in these thre e countries developed a sense of professionalism that involved a commitment toward truth and the betterment of society . During most of Communist rule in these countries there wer e several means by which authorities could exert control, includin g censorship, self-censorship, personnel selection, rewards and guidance . More recently, modern methods of influence have bee n developed, particularly in the form of public relations , including the creation of information offices and pres s spokesmen . New methods of control have become available to thos e in a position to wield them . One of the most important is the allocation of supplies and equipment . Newsprint and printin g ii capacity are in short supply . Until recently they were a monopoly of the communist party in all three countries . In Poland that monopoly has been abolished and largely replaced by a free market . That has boosted prices ten-fold, but depresse d readership substantially, sometimes leading to bankruptcy . Most of the printing capacity and other technological infrastructur e remains backward . Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union are beginning to undergo the same process . Most Western assistanc e to these countries to date has been in the form of journalistic training . Far more important in the long run would be helpin g these countries address their material shortages . This coul d best be done through the development of joint investments b y Western companies designed to help provide the economi c wherewithal and the technical assistance to make East Europea n mass media competitive and resistant to foreign takeover o r control . This should be done through non-profit undertakings o r through arrangements designed to protect domestic editoria l independence . Tax credits should be provided to support thes e non-profit initiatives . The institutional composition of the printed press in thes e three countries has changed enormously during the last fiv e years, with the most extensive changes taking place in 1989 an d 1990 . Hundreds of new publications have sprung up, while simila r numbers have been forced out of business . The most important newspapers in each country are not the same ones they used to be . Pravda has not been totally superseded, but people pay equal o r iii more attention to Ogonek, Argumenty i fakty, Moscow News , Izvestia and other publications . Gazeta Wyborcza has replaced Trybuna ludu as the most important newspaper in Poland . In Prague, Lidove noviny has displaced Rude pravo as the most influential Czech paper . Several papers compete for the leadin g position in Slovakia . The content of the papers has expanded enormously with th e removal of almost all old taboos . History, economic and socia l issues have come in for more detailed examination . Foreig n affairs and defense issues have been discussed much less . Whil e not completely ignored, ethnic and national conflicts hav e received less coverage than other subjects, at least in th e central press . The communist party and KGB, while not immun e from criticism, still are not often the subject of news stories . Editors have also brightened the layout of periodicals and made them more graphically attractive . Television, the most visible and widespread of mass media i n these countries, has changed more slowly because until ver y recently it has remained a government monopoly, both i n production and distribution . Television's main role has been a s a barometer of the extent of openness . It validates the proces s of glasnost and verifies its agenda . Alternative sources of news, particularly samizdat, have no t disappeared despite the spread of glasnost . In Poland during th e 1980s they played a major role in forcing a more open officia l journalism . In the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, unti l iv recently, they were symbolic in a small way of a part of mas s communications independent of party control . The revolution i n Czechoslovakia has made their role immaterial . In the Soviet Union they have continued to grow because they provide a foru m for subjects for which the mainstream press has little room . Foreign broadcasting's impact in these countries has diminishe d substantially, especially in Poland and Czechoslovakia . The United States will soon have to face the reality of eithe r closing Radio Free Europe or incorporating it in Voice o f America . The mission of Radio Free Europe has been accomplished . Audience interest in the mass media has increase d substantially . So has the attention of the governing parties t o public opinion . Public opinion institutes have rapidly expande d their activities in order to inform both governments, politica l parties and the public . In a period of rapid change, however , they are less helpful in informing public policy, although the y serve a useful purpose in promoting public transparency . Journalists under the new conditions are defining new role s for themselves, some as politicians, others as reporters o r writers . Some are unemployed . Although still dependent o n changes in training and socialization, professionalism is likel y to assume greater importance . The economics of mas s communication in free market societies will diminish th e political role of journalism, a force which will help promot e journalistic professionalism . v The Press of Change : Mass Communications in Late Communist an d Post-Communist Societies ) Owen V . Johnso n School of Journalis m Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana 4740 5 In late September 1986, the Soviet press agency TAS S reported the attempted hijacking of a domestic airliner in Ufa . Two hijackers--TASS called them armed drug addicts--killed two policemen and two passengers before themselves dying "as a result of resolute measures taken by personnel of the stat e security police and the regular police ." The incident happened sometime on a Saturday . The TASS report came two days later . Most Western observers, especially reporters, found thi s "relative promptness" to be part of Mikhail Gorbachev's the n new policy of glasnost (openness) . But the story still came 4 8 hours after the even happened . As it did for a third to a hal f of the material in Soviet newspapers at the time, Only TAS S provided news of the hijacking . 2 The uncertainty about the meaning of glasnost' is one o f the reasons why it took the Western press a long time t o acknowledge that Gorbachev did not want the press to be a tightly-controlled agency of the party and government . Yet evidence of his thinking was visible even before Gorbache v became leader of the Soviet communist party in March 1985 . Speaking to the All-Union Scientific and Practical Conferenc e on ideology in December 1984, Gorbachev remarked tha t publicity, by which he meant "making things known," was "an 2 integral part of socialist democracy and a norm of all publi c life ." Wide, prompt, and frank information is evidence o f confidence in people and respect for their intelligenc e and feelings, and their ability to understand events fo r themselves .