Full Description
The story of Czechoslovak television is in many respects typical of the cultural and political developments in Central Europe, behind the Iron Curtain. Martin Štoll, with unprecedented access to the Military Historical Archives in Prague, provides contextual insights into the issues of introducing television in the whole Socialist Bloc (save China, Mongolia and Cuba), from the introduction of television broadcasting in Czechoslovakia in 1921 through to the 1968 occupation and the Velvet revolution in 1989 - encapsulating an important point in media history within two totalitarian states.
Television and Totalitarianism in Czechoslovakia examines the variability of political interests as reflected on television in interwar Czechoslovakia, including Nazi research on television technology in the Czech borderlands (Sudetenland), the quarrel over the outcomes of this research as war booty with the Red Army, the beginning of the Czechoslovak technological journey, and, finally, the institutionalized foundation of Czechoslovak television, including the first years of its broadcasting as a manifestation of Communist propaganda. Revised and expanded from the Czech to include broader contexts for an English-speaking audience, Štoll expertly elucidates the historical, cultural, social, political, and technological frameworks to provide the first comprehensive study of the subject.
Contents
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part One: Why Don't We Have Television?
1 - Radio Context: One Million Listeners
2 - Pioneers of Television
3 - Television as Political Matter
Part Two: Will Television be Based on Nazi Devices?
4 - In the Hands of the Military
5 - Post-war Uncertainty
Part Three: Television Should Serve Communist Ideology
6 - Context of Soviet Patterns in the Television Space of the Eastern Bloc
7 - TV Birth in Stalinism
8 - Experimental Broadcasting
9 - Television and Political Communication
10 - Birth of the TV Nation
11 - Occupation in 1968
12 - Television as the Last Instrument of Power
Part Four: Toward Public Service
13 - Television as a Participant of the Velvet Revolution
14 - Birth of the Public Broadcaster
Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
