Broadcasting Freedom

Broadcasting Freedom PDF Author: Arch Puddington
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 9780813171241
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
Among America's most unusual and successful weapons during the Cold War were Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. RFE-RL had its origins in a post-war America brimming with confidence and secure in its power. Unlike the Voice of America, which conveyed a distinctly American perspective on global events, RFE-RL served as surrogate home radio services and a vital alternative to the controlled, party-dominated domestic press in Eastern Europe. Over twenty stations featured programming tailored to individual countries. They reached millions of listeners ranging from industrial workers to dissident leaders such as Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel. Broadcasting Freedom draws on rare archival material and offers a penetrating insider history of the radios that helped change the face of Europe. Arch Puddington reveals new information about the connections between RFE-RL and the CIA, which provided covert funding for the stations during the critical start-up years in the early 1950s. He relates in detail the efforts of Soviet and Eastern Bloc officials to thwart the stations; their tactics ranged from jamming attempts, assassinations of radio journalists, the infiltration of spies onto the radios' staffs, and the bombing of the radios' headquarters. Puddington addresses the controversies that engulfed the stations throughout the Cold War, most notably RFE broadcasts during the Hungarian Revolution that were described as inflammatory and irresponsible. He shows how RFE prevented the Communist authorities from establishing a monopoly on the dissemination of information in Poland and describes the crucial roles played by the stations as the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union broke apart. Broadcasting Freedom is also a portrait of the Cold War in America. Puddington offers insights into the strategic thinking of the RFE-RL leadership and those in the highest circles of American government, including CIA directors, secretaries of state, and even presidents.

Broadcasting Freedom

Broadcasting Freedom PDF Author: Arch Puddington
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 9780813171241
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
Among America's most unusual and successful weapons during the Cold War were Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. RFE-RL had its origins in a post-war America brimming with confidence and secure in its power. Unlike the Voice of America, which conveyed a distinctly American perspective on global events, RFE-RL served as surrogate home radio services and a vital alternative to the controlled, party-dominated domestic press in Eastern Europe. Over twenty stations featured programming tailored to individual countries. They reached millions of listeners ranging from industrial workers to dissident leaders such as Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel. Broadcasting Freedom draws on rare archival material and offers a penetrating insider history of the radios that helped change the face of Europe. Arch Puddington reveals new information about the connections between RFE-RL and the CIA, which provided covert funding for the stations during the critical start-up years in the early 1950s. He relates in detail the efforts of Soviet and Eastern Bloc officials to thwart the stations; their tactics ranged from jamming attempts, assassinations of radio journalists, the infiltration of spies onto the radios' staffs, and the bombing of the radios' headquarters. Puddington addresses the controversies that engulfed the stations throughout the Cold War, most notably RFE broadcasts during the Hungarian Revolution that were described as inflammatory and irresponsible. He shows how RFE prevented the Communist authorities from establishing a monopoly on the dissemination of information in Poland and describes the crucial roles played by the stations as the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union broke apart. Broadcasting Freedom is also a portrait of the Cold War in America. Puddington offers insights into the strategic thinking of the RFE-RL leadership and those in the highest circles of American government, including CIA directors, secretaries of state, and even presidents.

Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty

Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty PDF Author: A. Ross Johnson
Publisher: Cold War International History
ISBN: 9780804773560
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
An examination of the workings of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty during the period in which the two broadcast organizations were covertly supported by the CIA.

Cold War Broadcasting

Cold War Broadcasting PDF Author: A. Ross Johnson
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9639776807
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 612

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Book Description
"It was not a matter of propaganda ... black and white ideological broadcasts ... What made [Radio Free Europe] important were its impartiality, independence, and objectivity."---Vaclav Havel "Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty were critically important weapons in the free world's competition with Soviet totalitarianism---and without them the Soviet bloc might even have not disintegrated ... The account in this book of their activities is therefore not only informative, but critical to understanding recent history."---Zbigniew Brzezinski "The studies and translated Soviet bloc documents published in this book demonstrate the enormous impact of Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Voice of America during the Cold War. By promoting democratic values and undermining the monopoly of information on which Communist regimes relied, the Radios contributed greatly to the end of the Cold War."---George P. Shultz "I know of no other mass media organization that has done more than RFE/RL to help create the Europe in which we live today---a Europe not divided into two opposing camps."---Elena Bonner 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.

Radio Free Europe's "Crusade for Freedom"

Radio Free Europe's Author: Richard H. Cummings
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786462078
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
From 1950 to 1960, millions of Americans participated in Radio Free Europe's "Crusade for Freedom." They signed "Freedom Scrolls" and "Freedom Grams," attended Crusader meetings, marched in parades, launched leaflet-carrying balloons, and donated Truth Dollars in support of the American effort to broadcast news and other programming to the peoples of communist-governed European countries. The Crusade for Freedom proved to be a powerful tool of the state-private network's anti-communist agenda. This book takes an in-depth look at the Crusade for Freedom, revealing how its unmatched pageantry of patriotism led to the creation of a dynamic movement involving not only the government but also private industry, mass media, academia, religious leaders, and average Americans.

Poland's War on Radio Free Europe, 1950-1989

Poland's War on Radio Free Europe, 1950-1989 PDF Author: Paweł Machcewicz
Publisher: Cold War International History
ISBN: 9780804792387
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"For the Soviet bloc, the struggle against foreign radio was one of the principal fronts in the Cold War. Poland's War on Radio Free Europe, 1950-1989 tells how Poland conducted this fight, a key part of the wider effort "to control the flow of information and ideas, which largely determined the Communist regimes' ability to command their societies and to meet their political and ideological goals, " according to Paweł Machcewicz. This is the first book in English to use the unique documents of Communist foreign intelligence operations so widely, and it also employs propaganda materials and personal interviews with Radio Free Europe people and with party and security functionaries. The English translation reflects further discoveries of documentation since the original publication in Polish in 2007." -- Publisher's description.

Cold War Frequencies

Cold War Frequencies PDF Author: Richard H. Cummings
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476678642
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
Published for the first time, the history of the CIA's clandestine short-wave radio broadcasts to Eastern Europe and the USSR during the early Cold War is covered in-depth. Chapters describe the "gray" broadcasting of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty in Munich; clandestine or "black" radio broadcasts from Radio Nacional de Espana in Madrid to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine; transmissions to Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Ukraine and the USSR from a secret site near Athens; and broadcasts to Byelorussia and Slovakia. Infiltrated behind the Iron Curtain through dangerous air drops and boat landings, CIA and other intelligence service agents faced counterespionage, kidnapping, assassination, arrest and imprisonment. Excerpts from broadcasts taken from monitoring reports of Eastern Europe intelligence agencies are included.

Living with a Scent of Danger

Living with a Scent of Danger PDF Author: Joanne Ivy Stankievich
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781432775865
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
RISKY ADVENTURES AT THE PARTING OF THE IRON CURTAIN... This memoir is an insider's view of the momentous events surrounding the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, pinpointing its effect on individual lives. The author and her husband, Walter Stankievich, participate in stealthy meetings with dissidents behind the Iron Curtain; and at a Congress in Minsk, where the Foreign Minister warns the emigres against demanding greater changes. Walter's work at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty motivates his actions, and takes them from suburban New Jersey to Munich and Prague. "Your memoir captures perfectly, in many details, and in an overall spirit, the period of time which I also lived through." - Jana Outratova, a statistician and IT manager, who founded the Prague International Women's Network; also the wife of a former Czech Senator. "This book is a living history. . . .You are in for quite a ride. Fasten your seat belts." - Alexander Lukashuk, Belarus Service Director at RFE/RL. Author Biography: Daydreams of exciting adventures in far-off places during a Depression-era farm childhood geared the author, Joanne Ivy Stankievich, to seek new experiences in life. Marriage to Walter Stankievich, a Belarusian activist, propelled her into realizing many of those dreams. Joanne's early journalism training motivated her to chronicle their years in Europe at the end of the Cold War so that this insider's story could later be shared with others. After those exhilarating years, she and Walter now stay active on the New Jersey Shore near their two sons; their travels are more often to the Caribbean, where they enjoy snorkeling.

Russia's Liberal Media

Russia's Liberal Media PDF Author: Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315300176
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
This book examines the challenges and pressures liberal journalists face in Putin's Russia. It presents the findings of an in-depth qualitative study, which included ethnographic observations of editorial meetings during the conflict in Ukraine. It also provides a theoretical framework for evaluating the Russian media system and a historical overview of the development of liberal media in the country. The book focuses on some of Russia’s most influential liberal national news outlets: "the deadliest" newspaper Novaya Gazeta, "Russia’s last independent radio station" Radio Echo of Moscow (Ekho Moskvy) and US Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The fieldwork included ethnographic observations of editorial meetings, long interviews with editors and journalists as well as documentary analysis. The monograph makes theoretical contributions to three main areas: 1. Media systems and terms of reference. 2. Journalism: cultures, role conceptions, and relationship with power, culture and society. 3. Mediatisation of conflict and nationhood.

War of the Black Heavens

War of the Black Heavens PDF Author: Michael Nelson
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815604792
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
International diplomacy and a changing global economy did not bring about the fall of the Iron Curtain. Radio did, and it was mightier than the sword. Based on first-hand interviews and documents from the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party, Michael Nelson shows that Western radio—principally, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and the Voice of America—were unrivaled forces in the fight against communism and the fall of the Iron Curtain. The Communists did everything in their power to prevent the infiltration of Western thought into their world, resorting to jamming radio signals, assassinating staff, and bombing stations. The Russians, for example, decided to stop the mass production of short-wave radios so that their citizens could not hear Western broadcasts. War of the Black Heavens reveals that, due to administrative incompetence, short-wave radio production continued, making worthless many of the billions of dollars spent on jamming. These radio programs introduced a forbidden, exciting culture to millions of eager listeners. Pop music, talk shows, news, and information about consumer goods all relayed a message of the good life, subtly undermining the values of the communist regimes. Western radio actively connected listeners with the cultures of Europe and North America. War of the Black Heavens describes an unheralded story of success and adds a new interpretation that helps us understand some of the most momentous political events of this century.

America's Other Voice

America's Other Voice PDF Author: Sig Mickelson
Publisher: Praeger Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description