The FBI has no politics”

Cominfil radio-TV and the suppression of dissent

Bibliographic Data

ID12918541
AuthorsCarol A Stabile (Media Studies, University of Oregon , Eugene, OR), Carol Stabile (University of Oregon, corresponding author), Lauren Tokos (University of Pennsylvania), Muhammad Nadeem Yousaf (0000-0002-7979-8929, Columbia University), Miriam Yousaf (Columbia University)
Year2025
Volume18
Issue2
Pages147-154
Publication date2025-02-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommunication Culture and Critique (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1753-9137 • E-ISSN: 1753-9129
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/ccc/tcaf001
OpenAlexW4407854259
LanguageEN
References cited19

In the second half of the 1940s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation initiated an investigation of the broadcasting industry that had far-reaching consequences for the future of television. This investigation, COMINFIL Radio-TV (short for Communist Infiltration of Radio-TV) provided justification and resources for the Bureau’s surveillance of progressives and efforts to attack and undermine progressive reforms in the postwar era. This article shows how the Bureau used the threat of communist infiltration to infiltrate trade unions, broadcast networks, and progressive organizations. In doing so, this article begins to address a crucial gap in Cold War media historiography—the Bureau’s interventions into broadcasting at a particularly critical moment in the development of television—by documenting government suppression of dissent and censorship

Dissent · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Media Studies and Communication · Law

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