Page 174 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

MUSICAL CHAIRS? 163

circumstances, criticism of the crisis becomes a factor of its
continuation, for either the absurdities being criticized are
unavoidable, or they stem from the nature of the system itself, or
finally there is no system of authority strong and intelligent
enough to eliminate them—and in consequence the listener or
reader concludes that he/she must learn to live with them.
(Szczepański 1987:8)

In her perceptive study of glasnost in the Soviet Union and media
liberalization in Poland, Jane Curry (1988) goes further and says that
whatever the intent behind these policies, the messages that the
populations of those countries actually ‘hear’ from media content
include:
– the propaganda of failure: the economy is a disaster, workers are
immoral and irresponsible, workers and their bosses are ineffective and
besotted with social ills, managers and intellectuals are incompetent and
corrupt, the system is inefficient and incapable of delivering on its
promises, prospects for improvement are bleak.
– the propaganda of power: the system can do the unthinkable and its
subjects are powerless to respond; individuals are ultimately powerless
subjects of the system; however widespread the opposition, it cannot
change or frighten the leadership; in short: ‘We won, you lost, we
control.’
– the propaganda of distance: mature communism with glasnost
added is creating not a sense of involvement and mobilization but of so
great a distance between rulers and ruled that politics has come to be
based on the ascriptive stances and particularistic values of premodern
and non-participant societies.
Also another aspect of the new information and propaganda policy of
the official media is open to different interpretations. It is, of course, a
sign of their new-found openness that:
– a special weekly radio programme composed of extracts from the
programming of Polish-language services of Radio Free Europe, the
Voice of America, the BBC, etc., was introduced some time ago;
– extensive use is made in Polish Television programming of footage
from western satellite television channels reaching Poland, e.g. by
arrangement with CNN or Sky Channel;
– opposition spokesmen are encouraged to appear on Polish Radio
and Television.
However, this policy can also be read as serving the purpose of co-
opting some aspects of the alternative and opposition public spheres and