Veranstaltung

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27.11.2014 - 29.11.2014 | Potsdam

International Conference: Transnational Media Relationships During the Cold War

The focus of the conference "Transnational Media Relationships During the Cold War. Programme Transfer and Cultural Communication through Radio and Television between 1945 and 1990" 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.
Organiser: Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam (ZZF Potsdam)

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.

From the beginning high levels of investment in productions and media infrastructure demanded international marketing strategies. Vice versa the high demand for media content quickly reached national production capacities. As a result both the dynamic network of market-compliant media strategies as well as the business rivalries developed all over Europe. This situation was in strong contrast the state claims of media monopolies. Presumably this also resulted in a tendency towards pop-cultural forms and a manifestation of hybrid cultures.

It is against this setting that transnational media connections in Western and Eastern Europe as well as those between the blocs during the Cold War will be equally discussed. How strong and sustainable were governmental attempts to regulate and in what way were they displaced and transcended by transnational media logics? In what way did economic pressures and the wishes of listeners and viewers influence the state or public claims of controlling radio and television broadcasting in Western and Eastern Europe? What role did foreign affairs and political axioms play in practical politics (e.g. the Western acknowledgement to the “Free Flow of Information”)?
Besides the issue of media production and distribution logics there is also the problem of the dovetailing between social and media changes. Ultimately the transnational competition had to take the needs of the recipients into account. It is assumed that in this regard the breakthrough of a modern consumer society in Western Europe was especially decisive since these societies were closely bound to an increasing spread of audio-visual media. How did these connections influence the national communities and their media structures as well as the international and cross-system levels? Were these consequences linked to cultural homogenization tendencies? Can one even speak of the development of a common “European media culture”? Did discourses on commercial consumerism and individuality undermine traditional collective, social and homogeneous ideas within and without the Eastern bloc?

Programme

Thursday, 27th of November 2014

(Location: Deutsche Kinemathek, Potsdamer Straße 2, 10785 Berlin)

7 p.m./ 19.00 Uhr

EVENING EVENT (in German language, no registration)

Von der Konkurrenz aus Luxemburg zum Dualen System: Privater und öffentlich-rechtlicher Rundfunk in der Bundesrepublik in den 1970er und 1980er Jahren
Podiumsdiskussion mit:

Claus Detjen (Former Chairman of Anstalt für Kabelkommunikation (AKK, Ludwigshafen), Jobst Plog (Former Chairman of NDR, Hamburg), Helmut Thoma (Former Chairman of RTLplus, Cologne), and Wolfgang Rumpf (Radio Bremen)

Moderation: n.n.

Friday, 28th of November 2014

(Location: ZZF, Am Neuen Markt 9d, 14467 Potsdam)

Please registrate. The conference will be held in English.

09:30 a.m.

Jürgen Danyel (Potsdam): Begrüßung

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

Jürgen Danyel (Potsdam): Moderation

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

Anna Jehle (Potsdam): Moderation

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

Katja Berg (Potsdam): Moderation

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, 29th of November 2014

(Location: ZZF, Am Neuen Markt 9 d, 14467 Potsdam)

09:30 a.m.

TRANSNATIONAL MEDIA IN THE WEST BETWEEN PUBLIC SERVICE AND COMMERCIALISATION

Richard Oehmig (Potsdam): Moderation

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)

Annette Vowinckel (Potsdam): Moderation

01:30 p.m.: End of Conference

Hinweise zur Teilnahme:
Registration Deadline: 24th of November 2014
Registration by Email to:
Vanessa Lemke
Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam
E-Mail: lemkev@zzf-pdm.de

Anhang

Programme Flyer Conference Transnational Media Relationships_2014_11_27_29

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