West – East Entanglements During the Cold War: Shortwave Broadcasting and Propaganda from and to Portugal

Portugal became the centre of an entangled airwaves ensemble during the Cold War. In order to demonstrate this, the article develops along two lines. First, it details how the Portuguese dictatorship, with ideological connections to fascism, allowed the construction in its territory of one of the most powerful retransmitters of Radio Free Europe (RFE), responsible for airing anti-communist propaganda to Eastern Europe. The collaboration between the Portuguese dictator and the National Committee for Free Europe, mediated by US diplomatic officials, played an important role in the development of the operations of RFE in the country. Second, the article demonstrates how Portugal became the target of shortwave broadcasts operated from abroad, aimed at spreading pro-communist and anti-fascist sentiments in Portuguese society. Some of these stations were established by the political opposition that used the airwaves to undermine the dictatorship.     

‘Plain,unvarnished news’?

Established during the Sudeten crisis in September 1938, the BBC German Service played an important role in Chamberlain's appeasement policy and warfare towards Nazi Germany. Yet the BBC's employment for official propaganda, especially in peacetime, raised delicate issues of its independence from government control and of the objectivity and credibility of its broadcasts. This paper discusses, first, the origins of the BBC German Service and its role within Chamberlain's policy. Second, it analyses the relationship between the BBC and Whitehall. Third, it traces the evolution and development of the British propaganda strategy towards Germany and investigates how the concepts of ‘truthfulness’ and ‘objectivity’ were internally understood and employed by the BBC and Whitehall in their propaganda campaign. Finally, the paper argues that Chamberlain's propaganda strategy towards Germany collapsed during the Allied campaign in Norway in April 1940 precisely because it no longer conformed to its self-proclaimed principles of ‘truth’ and ‘objectivity’. As a result, the credibility of the BBC German Service suffered a significant, if ultimately temporary, setback.     

论日本媒体“二战”时的法西斯化

本文试图说明 ,日本媒体二战时期的法西斯化不像意大利和德国 ,基本上是该国媒体从 1 9世纪末自觉鼓吹侵略战争的自然结果。文章分析了造成这种情形的历史原因、民族发展的特点 ,以及不彻底的明治维新的背景。     

The battle for neutrality

Following the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, a Dutch government in exile was set up in London. One of the most important activities of these exiles was to make propaganda against the Nazi’s and throughout the war they operated Radio Oranje (Radio Orange), a wireless station that broadcasted to the Netherlands using BBC-transmitters. Another part of the Dutch broadcasting outfit in England was a ‘listening service’ that made daily reports about Dutch-language radio broadcasts from Hilversum by the Nazi regime. This article draws from a complete, and previously unused, set of these monitoring reports to analyse the Dutch propaganda war in the ether. The source material reveals that notions of Dutch neutrality were central to the radio broadcasts at both sides of the North Sea. In addition, the reports show how the London broadcasters singled out and targeted specific Nazi propagandists whom they thought to be the most dangerous.     

Repatriated Germans and ‘British Spirit’

Following the end of the Second World War, the ideals of public service broadcasting that had first been exemplified by the BBC came to lay the groundwork for a new type of broadcasting system in Northern Germany. This led to intensive discussions between British Military Officers and their German counterparts about the principles of public service broadcasting. Repatriated Germans came to play a crucial role. Having worked for the BBC German Service during their years of exile, some of them helped to nurture a new generation of democratic journalists. Focusing on these men, this article reveals the difficulties in transferring and adapting public service ideals. Making use of a wide range of sources, we highlight the multifaceted roles of the repatriated Germans, as both intermediaries and transmitters of public service broadcasting. We show how many of them came to play a pivotal role in resisting pressure from conservative forces in West German society.     

“A banquet for all the world”: democracy and consumerism in Disney’s Food Will Win the War

This essay considers Food Will Win the War, an animated short made early in World War II by Disney Studios for the United States Department of Agriculture. Through a fantastical catalogue of hyperbolic images, the film shows how the mass production of American agriculture becomes the first wave of a new American-style consumerism of plenty that will transform the social order. The analysis blends contemporary theories of affective politics to show Food Will Win the War as a threshold text, revealing the post-war economy at its formation. Using food as a symbolic field, this film ultimately links the endless expansion of consumer desire to national identity and global colonization.     

THE BLOGGING BBC

Blogging has shifted from an activity largely taking place outside established media to a practice appropriated by professional journalists. This study explores how BBC News has incorporated blogging in its journalism, looking at the internal debates that led to the adoption of blogs and charting how they became a core part of the corporation's news output. Using a case study approach, it examines the impact of blogging on BBC editorial values and considers how journalists have sought to maintain their authority in a digital media environment by integrating a new form of journalism within existing norms and practices. The BBC offers a unique case study as its long-standing editorial values of accuracy, impartiality and fairness appear at odds with the notion of blogs as immediate, uncensored and unmediated. The research reveals that blogs emerged initially as an activity peripheral to the main newsgathering functions of the organisation and were rapidly transformed into key mechanisms for communicating analysis and commentary to the public. It contends that, for now, blogging has had a greater impact on the style, rather than substance, of BBC journalism. While the systems whereby journalists deliver information have evolved, the attitudes and approaches have, so far, remained relatively static.     

THE BERLIN NEWSPAPER DER PANZERBÄR,APRIL 1945

The Berlin newspaper Der Panzerbär, which functioned briefly in April 1945, is of historical interest to the study of propaganda, and that of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) in particular. The newspaper's contents reveal the NSDAP propaganda machine functioning in circumstances of immediate violence and utter irrationality. The involvement of NSDAP propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in the newspaper is documented, although it appears to have been peripheral. Its contents, which are consistent with what has been written about Goebbels’ late-war approaches, reveal the last stand of NSDAP propaganda mythology, as well as efforts to link the NSDAP cause to that of European civilization – all underscored by threats from both internal and external sources.