Student’s Blog

Cold War is the period of ideological, economical confrontation and military competition between USSR and USA and their allies1 that had lasted from the middle of 1940s to the end 1980s.

The official date of beginning of Cold War can be considered March 5, 1946 when Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill gave his the famous The Sinews of Peace speech in Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri.2 His phrase “Iron Curtain” became the basic of future ideological world division that had lied between Capitalist countries: the USA and its allies: Britain, Japan. France, West Germany and Canada; and Communist bloc: USSR, some countries of Eastern Europe, Cuba and China3.

The term  “Cold war” has well known since 1947 thanks to American journalist, Walter Lippmann who used this term to describe confrontation without “actual warfare”4 between USSR and USA, and their allies in the set of articles in New York Herald Tribune5 and the book The Cold War, a Study in U.S. Foreign Policy.

Owing to absence of the real war between USSR and USA that was undesirable because could led to nuclear war, this period was noted by numerous of proxy wars around the world (Greek Civil War (1946-1949), Korean War (1950-1953), Vietnam War (1959-1975), Soviet-Afghan War (1978-1989)6 and wide scaled international ideological propaganda from both sides: USSR and USA. The main method of transmission was radio because radio waves could easy reached many countries around the world, radio became cheaper and cheaper every year, and it was very difficult to the ordinary citizen to identify real location of a radio station.7

Soviet propaganda characterized by such features as glorifying of soviet society, working class, and state military achievements and describing of Western countries as imperialistic and exploiting. For these purposes Soviet Union used such sources of information as Radio Moscow, Radio Peace and Progress, TASS and the Novosti Press Agency that were monitored by the Ideology Department.

According to the CIA, Soviet Union’s spending on propaganda was equal to $3.3 billion per year. Running cost of international service of Radio Moscow was about $700 millions, international activities was $150 million, moreover, TASS and the Soviet News Agency spent $550 million a year in order to present Soviet point of view concerning global events.8

TASS news agency was one of the main tools of spreading of propaganda. It was the main news provider to Radio Moscow and the Soviet version of the Voice of America. Furthermore, TASS made steps to increase Soviet news providing in African countries, in 1963 it presented Kenya news agency free equipment to receive TASS news, nevertheless, Kenyan journalists used it to get Reuters news bulletin because they came earlier than TASS.9

USSR had several “international” radio stations that actually located in the Soviet Republic and provided its point of view in the news. For example, The “National Voice of Iran” and Radio Havana10

The main USA tool of international broadcasting and propaganda during cold war also was radio because it was the most accessible source of information.

USA made its best to reach and attract international audience and promote capitalistic values. Especially, the United States spent a lot of money on running of Voice of America. For instance, in 1948 budget of VOA was equal to about $10,000,000.

Radio Free Europe Inc. was founded in 1949 in order to broadcast news agenda to East European countries. The Radio Liberty was established in 1951 to provide news only to republics that located inside of the USSR. U.S. Congress via CIA financially supported radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. In 1975 both radio stations were merged into Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). It had 23 bureaus in Europe and Soviet Union.11

Very of often, Western mass media presented information earlier than Soviet. This practice helped them to easy influence on public opinion because citizens often tried to find access to Western news sources in order to more about any event that did not reported in Soviet press.

For instance, on February 25, 1956, the First Secretary of the Communist Party Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev gave one of the most famous speeches that are called On the Personality Cult and its Consequences that criticized regime of Joseph Stalin. Soviet newspaper Izvestia CK KPSS published it only in 1989, but in Western press it appeared in the beginning of March 1956 thanks to journalist of Reuters John Rettie.  In 2007, this speech was declared by Guardian as one of the greatest speech of the 20^th century.12

Furthermore, in 1983, when USSR brought down the Korean airline, Western radio stations were the first, which reported about the accident. Soviet version of this event appeared in their press only in one week.13

Moreover, in 1986, information about the Chernobyl nuclear plan disaster was broadcasted by Western radios in two days earlier.14

In conclusion, during the Cold War mass media was one of the main tools of international propaganda that equally were used by USSR and USA.