Television and Political Communication in the Late Soviet Union

294 Pages·2020·2.028 MB·English

by  Kirsten Bönker

Television and Political
Communication in the
Late Soviet Union

Television and Political
Communication in the
Late Soviet Union
Kirsten Bönker
LEXINGTON BOOKS
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Lexington Books
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
6 Tinworth Street, London SE11 5AL, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2020 The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bönker, Kirsten, author.
Title: Television and political communication in the late Soviet Union / Kirsten Bönker.
Description: Lanham : Lexington Books, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references
and index. | Summary: “This study focuses on Soviet television audiences and
examines their watching habits and the way they made use of television programs.
Kirsten Bönker challenges the common misconception that viewers perceived Soviet
television programming and entertainment culture as dull and formulaic. This study
draws extensively on archival sources and oral history interviews to analyze how
Soviet television involved audiences in political communication and how it addressed
audiences’ emotional commitments to Soviet values and the Soviet way of life.
Bönker argues that the Brezhnev era influenced political stability and brought an
unprecedented rise of the living standards, creating new meanings for consumerism,
the idea of the “home,” and private life among Soviet citizens. Exploring the concept
of emotional bonding, this study engages broader discussions on the durability of the
Soviet Union until perestroika”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019052422 (print) | LCCN 2019052423 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781498526883 (cloth) | ISBN 9781498526890 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Television viewers—Soviet Union. | Television
programs—Soviet Union. | Communication in politics—Soviet Union. |
Soviet Union—History—1953-1985.
Classification: LCC HE8700.66.S65 B66 2020 (print) | LCC HE8700.66.S65 (ebook) |
DDC 302.23/45094709045—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019052422
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019052423
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
To Mats and Maja

Contents
Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Watching Television, Emotional Bonding,
and Political Communication in the Late Soviet Union xv
1 TV Sets Capturing Soviet Homes 1
2 Winning the Time, Hearts, and Minds of the Viewers 37
3 Negotiating the Boundaries of Popular Culture:
Soviet Television, Leisure, and the Educational Mission 91
4 Working with “Emotional Means”: Soviet Television’s
Relationship with the Audience 129
5 Addressing the Viewer-Consumer: Consumer
Issues on Soviet TV 161
Conclusion and Epilogue 195
Bibliography 209
Index 237
About the Author 245
vii

Abbreviations
ch. chast’ = part
CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union
d. delo = file
f. fond = collection
GARF G osudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii (State
Archive of the Russian Federation)
GARO G osudarstvennyi arkhiv Rostovskoi oblasti (State Archive
of Rostov Province)
Gosplan G osudarstvennyi planovyi komitet (State Planning
Committee, 1957–1991)
Gosteleradio G osudarstvennyi komitet Soveta Ministrov SSSR po
televideniiu i radioveshchaniiu, from 1957 to 1970 it was
named Gosudarstvennyi komitet po radioveshchaniiu i
televideniiu pri Sovete Ministrov SSSR (State Committee
for Television and Radio by the Council of Ministers of the
USSR)
l. list = page
ll. listy = pages
NMO N auchnii-metodicheskii otdel = Soviet TV’s
Scientific-Methodological Department
op. opis’ = inventory
RGAKFD R ossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv kinofotodokumentov
(Russian State Film and Foto Archive)
RGANI Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Noveishei Istorii
TsAOPIM T sentral’nyi arkhiv obshchestvenno-politicheskoi istorii
Moskvy (Central Archive of Social-Political History of
Moscow)
ix