"Transnationale Medienbeziehungen im Kalten Krieg" - Programmtransfer und Kulturelle Kommunikation durch Radio und Fernsehen 1945-1990

Since the introduction of electronic media, its transnational character as well as its contribution to “globalization” have been subjects of discussion In fact these discussions were accompanied by continuous political attempts to protect national territories against external influences and attempts to engage the media in the process of integration to nationally defined communities in the 20th century. With the establishment of television in Europe the active exchange of media programs and formats started, not only between the western countries but also across the “Iron Curtain”. Commercial radio broadcasting stations emerged next to political-ideologically orientated providers such as “Voice of America” and “Radio Free Europe”. Both were transnationally broadcasted and consumed. This highlighted the effects resulting from the cross-border dimension of radio and television broadcasting. Were elements of a common European media culture arising within the domain of entertainment and information or did national preferences and tendencies prevail? How did this exchange influence the East-West conflict and which political, medial and cultural pressures promoted or arrested this process? The focus of this conference is devoted to the tension between on the one hand the inherent transnationality of modern mass media and on the other hand the efforts to limit them politically. The initial assumption is that there is not only a conflict of wanted and unwanted medial representation (e.g. sports, political and social events transnationally broadcasted); but that conflict manifests also on the level of production and distribution.


Programme Flyer (pdf)


Programme
 

Friday, 28^th of November 2014
Location: ZZF Potsdam

9:30 a.m.
Jürgen Danyel (Potsdam): Begrüßung

NATIONAL, REGIONAL, TRANSNATIONAL: RADIO AND TELEVISION 1945-1990

Moderation: Jürgen Danyel (Potsdam)

Andreas Fickers (Luxembourg):
ASYMMETRICAL INTERDEPENDENCE: EUROPEAN COMMUNICATION SPACES OF THE COLD WAR

Christoph Classen (Potsdam):
ELEMENTS OF EUROPEAN MEDIA CULTURE? TRIES, ERRORS, AND PRELIMINARY FINDINGS OF A RESEARCH PROJECT

Jörg Requate (Bielefeld): Comment

Coffee Break (30 min.)

11:30 a.m.
DEFROSTING THE COLD WAR: COOPERATION AND ITS LIMITS

Moderation: Anna Jehle (Potsdam)

Thomas Beutelschmidt/Richard Oehmig (Potsdam):
PROGRAMME EXCHANGE EAST/WEST USING THE EXAMPLE OF GDR-TELEVISION BROADCASTING

Mari Pajala (Turku):
FRIENDSHIP POLITICS IN ACTION? EASTERN EUROPEAN CONNECTIONS IN THE FINNISH TELEVISION CULTURE FROM THE 1960s TO THE 1980s

Sabina Mihelj/Simon Huxtable (Loughborough):
THE TRANSNATIONAL SPACES OF STATE SOCIALIST TELEVISION: SOVIET UNION AND YUGOSLAVIA COMPARED

Jan C. Behrends (Potsdam): Comment

Lunchbreak (90 min.)

3 p.m.
TEST THE WEST: WESTERN RADIO AND TELEVISION IN EASTERN EUROPE DURING THE COLD WAR

Moderation: Katja Berg (Potsdam)

Franziska Kuschel (Berlin):
BETWEEN HOSTILITY AND CONCESSION. THE CONFLICT ABOUT WESTERN COMMERCIAL BROADCASTING IN THE GDR, 1985-1989

Trever Hagen (Exeter):
CALLING RADIO FREE EUROPE: THE CZECHOSLOVAK SERVICE’S ANSWERING MACHINE

Patryk Wasiak (Wroclaw):
WESTERN TELEVISION, SATELLITE DISHES AND POLISH AUDIENCES

Thomas Lindenberger (Potsdam): Comment

6:30 p.m. Dinner


Saturday, 29^th of November 2014
Location: ZZF Potsdam

09:30 a.m.
TRANSNATIONAL MEDIA IN THE WEST BETWEEN PUBLIC SERVICE AND COMMERCIALISATION

Moderation: Richard Oehmig (Potsdam)

Katja Berg/Anna Jehle (Potsdam):
THROUGH THE AIR TO ANYWHERE: RADIO LUXEMBOURG – A TRANSNATIONAL BROADCASTING STATION?

Christian Henrich-Franke (Siegen):
BROADCASTS FOR MOTORISTS: INFORMATION OF TRAFFIC JAMS FOR THE MOBILE EUROPEAN LISTENER

Alec Badenoch (Utrecht):
LAND, SEA, AND AIRWAVES: OFFSHORE BROADCASTING AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF TERRITORY IN COLD WAR EUROPE

Christoph Hilgert (Gießen):
MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT AN ASYMMETRIC COMPETITION. SCARED, STUNNED, AND STUBBORN PUBLIC RADIO IN WEST GERMANY AND GREAT BRITAIN (LATE 1940s AND 1950s)

Reinhold Viehoff (Halle): Comment

Coffee Break (30 min)

12:30 p.m.
FINAL DISCUSSION: TRANSNATIONAL MEDIA RELATIONS DURING THE COLD WAR

Participants: Lothar Mikos (Potsdam), Marsha Siefert (Budapest), Dana Mustata (Groningen), Andreas Fickers (Luxembourg), Maria Fritsche (Trondheim)
Moderation: Annette Vowinckel (Potsdam)

1:30 p.m.: End of Conference