142 | Mass Media and Historical Change
literature’ smuggled into large libraries or churches where it was passed on
(Lokatis and Sonntag 2008: 17f.). It was not until the 1980s that illegal
printers’ shops produced leaflets and short-lived magazines.
Media policy in the GDR, as in the Nazi era, was still defined by direc-
tional changes, since ideological requirements were often hard to reconcile
with media logic and the public’s desire for entertainment. Whereas political
reports comprised a large part of broadcasting time until 1953, in 1955 music
accounted for more than two-thirds of programming. In the course of the
following two decades radio listeners’ influence increased, as GDR radio had
also developed into an ‘incidental’ medium in which ideological harangues
were deemed inappropriate (Arnold and Classen 2004: 15f.). In the interest
of preserving social harmony and impelled by a sense of resignation stem-
ming from the popularity of Western competition, a more apolitical concept
of entertainment asserted itself in GDR radio during the 1980s (Larkey 2007:
17). By the same token the GDR had to respond to listeners’ wishes in regard
to broadcasting patterns. After the SED had replaced the old regional sta-
tions with local studios offering only limited broadcasting time, there was a
great deal of criticism; the old system was revived in 1953, and ‘Radio DDR’
that included regional programming segments soon became the most popular
channel (Dussel 1999: 134f.). As in the 1930s, listeners’ demands forced the
dictatorships to depart somewhat from their ideas of centralism and the belief
that the state was entitled to guide the thoughts of the public (Marßolek and
von Saldern 1998, Vol. 2: 131).
Much the same can be said for GDR television, which a research group
has recently analysed in detail based on four thousand television programmes.
Television in the GDR was originally intended to fulfil the role of ‘collective
agitator, propagandist and organiser for the ideas of Socialism’, something
Lenin had already required of the press (Steinmetz and Viehoff 2008: 16).
After lengthy theoretical discussions, the number of non-political and enter-
taining television programmes was increased. In contrast to television series
of the previous decade, the infallible Socialistic personality now took a back
seat; programming became more international and adapted Western formats
(ibid.: 17; 326f.).
In this process radio and television became the most important bridge
between East and West. The airing of Western programming was at first
opposed in the GDR only to be increasingly tolerated from the 1960s
onwards. In a sense, this served as a kind of stabilising outlet and substi-
tute for the lack of opportunities for travel (Hoff, in Hickethier 1998: 285).
Attempts to spin a politically correct interpretation of Western television via
‘Der Schwarze Kanal’ were a failure. Western television remained an alternative
world on which the GDR remained unilaterally fixed. When innovations did
occur, they were often a direct reaction on the part of GDR broadcasting to