https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4762-7962
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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.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Dr Jörg-Uwe Fischer for his invaluable help at the Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv, Rosamund Johnston, Laura Saarenmaa, and the editors of this special issue for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Sune Bechmann Pedersen http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4762-7962
Marie Cronqvist http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2340-3729
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1. Domeier and Happel, ‘Journalismus und Politik,’ 389.
2. Birkner, ‘Correspondents and the Cold War’; Hamilton and Jenner, ‘Redefining Foreign Correspondence,’ 310.
3. Carruthers, The Media at War, 8–11.
4. Fainberg, ‘Unmasking the Wolf.’
5. Alwood, ‘The Spy Case.’
6. Mükke, Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg, 59–64; Thiemeyer, ‘Wandel durch Annäherung,’ 107.
7. Gram-Skjoldager, ‘Bringing the Diplomat Back’; Scott-Smith, ‘Private Diplomacy.’
8. Cohen, The Press and Foreign Policy, 17.
9. Cronqvist and Hilgert, ‘Entangled Media Histories,’ 132.
10. Hahn et al., ‘Deutsche Auslandskorrespondenten.’
11. Domeier and Happel, ‘Journalismus und Politik’; Bösch and Geppert, Journalists as Political Actors; Hannerz, Foreign News; Jarlbrink, ‘News Work.’
12. In 1972, East German television changed its name from Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF) to Fernsehen der DDR (DDR-FS).
13. Metger, Studio Moskau; Fainberg, ‘Cold War Expert.’
14. Magnúsdóttir, ‘Cold War Correspondents.’
15. Fengler, ‘Westdeutsche Korrespondenten’; Winters, ‘West-Korrespondenten.’
16. Thiemeyer, ‘Wandel durch Annäherung.’
17. Bösenberg, Aktuelle Kamera.
18. Minholz and Stirnberg, Allgemeine Deutsche Nachrichtendienst.
19. Gißibl, ‘Deutsch–deutsche Nachrichtenwelten.’
20. Mükke, Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg.
21. Kilian, Die Hallstein-Doktrin.
22. Thomas, ‘Normalisation,’ 37–41.
23. Minholz and Stirnberg, Allgemeine Deutsche Nachrichtendienst, 281–7.
24. Mükke, Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg, 27, 117–51.
25. Fiedler, Medienlenkung in der DDR, 116.
26. Thesis by Thomas Wolter quoted in Minholz and Stirnberg, Allgemeine Deutsche Nachrichtendienst, 287.
27. Fiedler, Medienlenkung in der DDR, 247–48.
28. Minholz and Stirnberg, Allgemeine Deutsche Nachrichtendienst, 287–8, 433–8.
29. Gumbert, Envisioning Socialism.
30. Steinmetz and Viehoff, Deutsches Fernsehen Ost, 116.
31. Das Deutsche Rundfunkarchiv (DRA), Aktuelle Kamera (AK), Korrespondentenabt. Chefred. S. Leske, vol. 1905 [Anordnung über Planung], ‘Rechenschaftsbericht,’ 10 December 1975.
32. DRA Presseklip, Medienmitarbeiter, Journalist, Auslandskorresp., b: 1985.
33. Fiedler, Medienlenkung in der DDR, 247.
34. Mükke, Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg, 21.
35. Meyen and Fiedler, Journalisten in der DDR, 347–48. The situation was much the same in West Germany when a new media system was constructed from the ruins of the Nazi propaganda machine. Gißibl, ‘Aufbau der Auslandsberichterstattung,’ 436.
36. Meyen and Fiedler, Journalisten in der DDR, 351.
37. Ibid., 354.
38. Mükke, Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg, 21.
39. Fiedler, Medienlenkung in der DDR, 104–19.
40. Mükke, Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg, 395.
41. Meyen and Fiedler, Journalisten in der DDR, 357.
42. Staab et al., ‘Die Darstellung des Auslands.’
43. Behling, Fernsehen aus Adlershof.
44. Kilian, Die Hallstein-Doktrin, 44–8; Berger and Laporte, Friendly Enemies, 72–3.
45. Muschik, Eine Dreiecksbeziehung, 149.
46. Linderoth, Kampen för erkännande, 78–81; 131–5.
47. Ibid. 101–09.
48. Riksarkivet (Swedish National Archives), Utrikesdepartementet (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) I7 Ct, vol. 3.
49. Cronqvist, ‘Between Scripts.’
50. See, for example, Sachsenweger’s Aktuelle Kamera reports 1 Jan 1976 (DRA FESAD prod. no. 304797), 10 April 1976 (ibid. 096070), and 15 June 1976 (ibid. 300626).
51. Weper, ‘Vor mand i Kopenhagen,’ Information, 24 June 2000.
52. Ibid.
53. Mükke, Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg, 188.
54. Ibid., 395–6; Herden, ‘Erfahrungen eines Auslandskorrespondenten,’ 327.
55. Fiedler, Medienlenkung in der DDR, 115.
56. DRA, SR—Schweden, vol. 48, Wichtige Berichte (Reiseberichte), ‘Monatsbericht Oktober,’ 31 October 1974.
57. Mükke, Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg, 95–96; Stasi sources generally reported with a heavy bias against the West which produced an ‘echo-chamber effect’. See for instance Gieseke, Die Stasi, 227.
58. DRA, SR—Schweden, vol. 48, Wichtige Berichte (Reiseberichte), ‘Monatsbericht September,’ 1 October 1974.
59. DRA, SR—Schweden, vol. 48, Wichtige Berichte (Reiseberichte), ‘Monatsbericht April - Mai,’ 3 June 1975.
60. DRA, SR—Schweden, vol. 48, Wichtige Berichte (Reiseberichte), ‘Monatsbericht März,’ 1 April 1975. It was released in Sweden as Gatlopp.
61. DRA, SR—Schweden, vol. 48, Wichtige Berichte (Reiseberichte), ‘Monatsbericht März,’ 1 April 1975.
62. DRA, SR—Schweden, vol. 48, Wichtige Berichte (Reiseberichte), ‘Monatsbericht September,’ 1 October 1974.
63. DRA, AK, Korrespondentenabt., vol. 1907, Büro Lissabon, Volker Ott to Leske, 5 February 1984, p. 2.
64. Ibid., p. 3.
65. DRA, AK, Korrespondentenabt., vol. 1907, Büro Lissabon, ‘Missbilligung,’ 10 October 1983.
66. DRA, AK, Korrespondentenabt., vol. 1906, Sicherheitsfragen.
67. See especically DRA, AK, Korrespondentenabt., vol. 1907, Büro Paris.
68. DRA, AK, Korrespondentenabt., vol. 1907, Büro Sofia, letter dated 24 July 1988.
69. DRA, AK, Korrespondentenabt., vol. 1907, Büro Sofia, letter dated 31 July 1988, p. 2.
70. Mükke, Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg, 393.
71. DRA, SR—Schweden, vol. 48, Wichtige Berichte (Reiseberichte), ‘Monatsbericht Januar,’ 5 January 1975.
72. DRA, SR—Schweden, vol. 48, Wichtige Berichte (Reiseberichte), ‘Monatsbericht Dezember,’ 2 January 1975.
73. DRA, SR—Schweden, vol. 48, Wichtige Berichte (Reiseberichte), ‘Monatsbericht Oktober,’ 31 October 1974.
74. DRA, SR—Schweden, vol. 48, Wichtige Berichte (Reiseberichte), ‘Monatsbericht Dezember,’ 2 January 1975.
75. Hannerz, Foreign News, 52.
76. DRA, AK, CSL, vol. 1905.
77. Mükke, Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg, 188.
78. Carmody, ‘World of the Foreign Correspondent.’
79. Evangelische Pressedienst, ‘Teure Stimmen von außen’; Nowoczyn, ‘Einige Sparangriffe wurden abgewehrt.’
80. bau, ‘Netz wird nicht erweitert.’
81. Hannerz, Foreign News, 52–3.
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Sune Bechmann Pedersen
Sune Bechmann Pedersen, Department of Communication and Media, Lund University, Box 117, 221 00 Lund, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]
Marie Cronqvist
Marie Cronqvist, Department of Communication and Media, Lund University, Box 117, 221 00 Lund, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]