The totalitarian destruction of the public sphere?’ Newspapers and structures of public communication in socialist countries

The example of the German Democratic Republic

Bibliographic Data

ID11268832
AuthorsAnke Fiedler (0000-0001-6995-7546, University of Brussels, Belgium, corresponding author), Michael Meyen (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Year2015
Volume37
Issue6
Pages834-849
Publication date2015-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedia Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0163-4437 • E-ISSN: 1460-3675
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0163443715584097
OpenAlexW2130140567
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited8

Using the example of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), this study deals with the public sphere in Eastern European countries before 1989. It supports the thesis that even the ‘guided’ and controlled daily press enabled the readers (even in a limited way) to observe the process of communication and to make up their own minds. The article is based on two main sources: files from the Federal archives in Berlin and a series of 100 biographical interviews, held between 2000 and 2002, in which former GDR residents have been asked about their everyday media usage during the 1980s. This article discusses the concept of public communication and propaganda and shows how the politically staged public sphere operated from the point of view of the rulers and professional readers as well as regular subscribers

Democracy · German · Media studies · Newspaper · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public sphere · Sociology · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · European history and politics · German History and Society · History · Law · Public Administration

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