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Foreign correspondents in the Cold War : The politics and practices of East German television journalists in the West

Bechmann Pedersen, Sune LU orcid and Cronqvist, Marie LU orcid (2019) In Media History 26(1). p.75-90
Abstract
This article analyses the transnational production processes of foreign correspondence in the Cold War. It examines the double role of foreign correspondents as reporters and Cold War political agents. Recent scholarship has explored the activities of Western correspondents reporting from the Communist world. Little is known, however, about Eastern bloc correspondents in the West. Drawing on the rarely studied files on East German foreign correspondents held by the Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv, the article problematizes the image of GDR journalists as obedient intelligence officers and highlights the dilemmas of journalists deployed to defend national interests. Focusing on the Nordic countries in the mid1970s, the article provides detailed... (More)
This article analyses the transnational production processes of foreign correspondence in the Cold War. It examines the double role of foreign correspondents as reporters and Cold War political agents. Recent scholarship has explored the activities of Western correspondents reporting from the Communist world. Little is known, however, about Eastern bloc correspondents in the West. Drawing on the rarely studied files on East German foreign correspondents held by the Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv, the article problematizes the image of GDR journalists as obedient intelligence officers and highlights the dilemmas of journalists deployed to defend national interests. Focusing on the Nordic countries in the mid1970s, the article provides detailed insights into the politics and practices of East German foreign correspondence before the digital revolution. The article thus shows the benefits of going beyond the traditional focus on media content to analyse the daily practices as well as the political and symbolic significance of journalism. It contributes to the growing historical research on foreign correspondents and the media in East Germany and beyond (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Journalism, GDR, foreign correspondents, television, Noric countries, Cold war
in
Media History
volume
26
issue
1
pages
16 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85076504059
ISSN
1469-9729
DOI
10.1080/13688804.2019.1644158
project
Transborder television. Scandinavia and the GDR in the 1970s
Entangled media histories (EMHIS)
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b1fb48d3-0463-45cb-95e4-f9ac9d1b5b2c
date added to LUP
2018-11-29 16:29:38
date last changed
2025-01-08 20:41:19
@article{b1fb48d3-0463-45cb-95e4-f9ac9d1b5b2c,
  abstract     = {{This article analyses the transnational production processes of foreign correspondence in the Cold War. It examines the double role of foreign correspondents as reporters and Cold War political agents. Recent scholarship has explored the activities of Western correspondents reporting from the Communist world. Little is known, however, about Eastern bloc correspondents in the West. Drawing on the rarely studied files on East German foreign correspondents held by the Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv, the article problematizes the image of GDR journalists as obedient intelligence officers and highlights the dilemmas of journalists deployed to defend national interests. Focusing on the Nordic countries in the mid1970s, the article provides detailed insights into the politics and practices of East German foreign correspondence before the digital revolution. The article thus shows the benefits of going beyond the traditional focus on media content to analyse the daily practices as well as the political and symbolic significance of journalism. It contributes to the growing historical research on foreign correspondents and the media in East Germany and beyond}},
  author       = {{Bechmann Pedersen, Sune and Cronqvist, Marie}},
  issn         = {{1469-9729}},
  keywords     = {{Journalism; GDR; foreign correspondents; television; Noric countries; Cold war}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{75--90}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Media History}},
  title        = {{Foreign correspondents in the Cold War : The politics and practices of East German television journalists in the West}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13688804.2019.1644158}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/13688804.2019.1644158}},
  volume       = {{26}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}