
During the Cold War years, the radio as a propaganda tool had a very important role. Popular in the bigger or smaller communities, it was an optimal medium for the Soviet government to send a political message. But, the political propaganda plan wasn’t only limited to the Soviet Union. It included the whole Iron Curtain.
The Need for the New Broadcaster
Radio Moscow was an official radio broadcaster in the Soviet Union. The first foreign language broadcast was in German in 1929. In the following years, the broadcaster started the English and French programs. During the early years of the Cold War, the employees of the German branch of Radio Moscow didn’t think the existing situation was enough to win the propaganda war, so they sent a letter to Nikita Khruschev where they emphasized the need for founding the new broadcaster – Radio Warsaw Pact that will be opposite to Radio Free Europe.
The members of the German broadcaster carefully analyzed the situation, indirectly acknowledging the effectiveness of Radio Free Europe.
1. The scale of propagandist activity.
2. Formal independence from any kind of state power.
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The master control room of Radio Free Europe in the 1970s (Getty Images)
Therefore, the facts mentioned raise the following question – What type of content was in demand? On the East and on the West. The Soviet propagandists firstly mention the scale of propagandist activity. Western propaganda employed many more people who helped them create more and stronger content.
Another thing is formal independence. According to these propagandists, content that is created in a formally independent environment could yield a greater success as was the case with Radio Free Europe.
The most important content in this propaganda war was the one related to dissidents, émigrés, and those who had the same worldviews (Communists in other countries). The plan was to broadcast content, especially with the help of Greek, Arabic, Spanish and Iranian Communists. Using strong “inflammatory” propaganda, they would spread the Soviet message through diverse radio stations.
Therefore, these things marked the early Cold War propaganda. The West had the strategy. The East needed it and the best solution seemed to adopt the one of the enemy. Emotional language by those who “shared the same ideas” created in the state-independent environment, and large in quantity seemed like a winning strategy in this psychological war.
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