Television and Totalitarianism in Czechoslovakia: From the First Democratic Republic to the Fall of Communism

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The story of Czechoslovak television is in many respects typical of the cultural and political development in Central Europe, behind the Iron Curtain. Martin Stoll, with unprecedented access to the Military Historical Archive in Prague, provides contextual insights into the issues of introducing television in the whole Socialist Bloc (save China, Mongolia and Cuba), from the introduction of television broadcasting in Czechoslovakia in 1921 through to the 1968 occupation and the Velvet revolution in 1989 - encapsulating an important point in media history within two totalitarian states. Television and Totalitarianism in Czechoslovakia examines the variability of political interests as reflected on television in interwar Czechoslovakia, including Nazi research on television technology in the Czech borderlands (Sudetenland), the quarrel over the outcomes of this research as war booty with the Red Army, the beginning of the Czechoslovak technological journey, and, finally, the institutionalized foundation of Czechoslovak television, including the first years of its broadcasting as a manifestation of Communist propaganda. Revised and expanded from the Czech to include broader contexts for an English-speaking audience, Stoll expertly elucidates the historical, cultural, social, political, and technological frameworks to provide the first comprehensive study of the subject.

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This is the first comprehensive English-language survey of Czechoslovak televisions history, covering the whole cycle of transition from the First Republic to democracy. In such a way the book serves as a political and cultural introduction to the history of Czechoslovak television, providing a kind of master narrative of the topic An interesting, readable and thought-provoking introduction both to the history of the medium and to the cultural history of Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe. * Studies in Eastern European Cinema *
A remarkable account, including the history of early efforts in interwar Czechoslovakia to introduce TV broadcasting to a technologically advanced country. Martin toll shows that television broadcasting in the post-war period was far more than a crude propaganda tool abused by the communist regime for its purposes. An important study which breaks stereotypes. * Jan Culik, Senior Lecturer in Czech Studies, University of Glasgow, UK *
Well-researched ... A substantial point of reference to any scholar interested in studying media history and public communication in Czechoslovakia in the twentieth century. * Zeitschrift fr Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung / Journal of East Central European Studies *

Author Bio

Martin Stoll is Associate Professor at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. He specializes in documentary film, history and theory; television studies and historical contexts of television broadcasting. Stoll is the author of a number of books in Czech, including Hundred Years of Czech Documentary Film (2000) and a monograph on the Czech documentary director Jan Spata (2007).