ABSTRACT
Foreign radio transmissions and, in East Germany, a part of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the Baltic states, Western telecasts as well, breach the monopoly of information which is one of the main bases of Communist rule. International broadcasting to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union provides an indispensable lifeline of information for close on 370 million people living in societies, which find it difficult to openly discuss natural disasters or major international events, let alone their current, thorny problems. In contrast, blatant and inflammatory intervention by Soviet bloc media in other countries’ affairs is endorsed as righteous and justified. President Nicolae Ceausescu was away on a foreign trip and for the first few hours Bucharest Radio was broadcasting serious music instead of meaningful and quick information for the public. Cross-reporting keeps Russian listeners informed of protest movements in Poland and Czechoslovakia, while in turn the Poles and the Czechs hear immediately about similar events in the Soviet Union.
