This report tests basic assumptions used by Western analysts in interpreting the Soviet media by bringing to bear new information, derived from emigre interviews, about the structure and inner workings of Soviet media and the political mechanisms by which the media are controlled. Section II reviews the mechanism of Party and state control over Soviet media, in which formal censorship in fact plays a secondary role. Section III looks at the crucial role of the chief editor and the editorial processes he presides over. Section IV analyzes types of discussions, debates, and controversies in Soviet media and considers their relationship to institutional, personal, and policy conflict. Appendix A contains a fuller description of the study approach. Appendix B provides a selective review of media-related assumptions in a variety of Western Sovietological writings. Appendix C examines a presumptive "doctored photograph" incident. Appendix D provides a profile of one of the seemingly unorthodox Soviet journals, Literaturnaia Gazeta.

Originally published in 1990, Polish Journalists: Professionalism and Politics is a study of how, in the face of constant political instructions and restrictions, Polish journalists act as independent forces in their society.

The Rand Corporation is conducting a multiyear comparative study of the role of the media in intra-elite communication in Communist countries. Western analysts of the political process in "closed" Communist systems necessarily rely heavily on the published and broadcast output of the mass and specialized media. These media are in part propaganda organs, but they also have other functions. A generation of Sovietologists has had to base much of its analysis of policies and politics on interpretations of media nuances. Yet their assumptions about the relationship between the media and the political actors whose behavior or attitudes are inferred from them have received little attention. The Rand study was initiated to fill this need. Its emphasis is not on techniques of content analysis, but rather on the process by which politically significant material appears in Communist-country media. The principal data base of the study is information obtained from interviews with 44 emigres formerly involved in the media process as writers, journalists, editors, censors, and government and Party officials. The results of this study are published in a Summary Report, which provides an overview and conclusions, and in a series of Rand Notes, which contain more detailed analyses and documentation of the research. This Note examines the structural and organizational factors that influence the output of Polish media. Section II reviews the changing position of the media in the Polish Communist system in the postwar period and provides a basis for understanding both the important general distinctions among the Stalinist, 1956, Gomulka, and Gierek periods and related changes in the instruments of Party control. Section III examines the various instruments by which the Party exercises direct and indirect supervision over the media. Sections IV and V describe key elements of the internal organization and editorial process, respectively, that affect the output of Polish media organs.

Summarizes the major features of the Polish media system, describes the specific roles and editorial processes of major types of media, and analyzes the relationship between divergences of view that appear in the media and intra-elite discussion, debate, and controversy. Conclusions are presented for Western analysts, whose understanding of Polish affairs is based at least partly on a reading of the open Polish media. The report emphasizes the process by which politically significant material appears in the media of a Communist country, in contrast to earlier studies, which are generally based on content analysis. The principal data source is information obtained from extensive interviews with emigres formerly involved in the media process, as writers, journalists, editors, censors, and government and Party officials. Detailed analyses and documentation of the research are presented in companion Notes N-1514/1, N-1514/2, N-1514/3, N-1514/4, N-1514/5.

The Rand Corporation is conducting a multiyear comparative study of the role of the media in intra-elite communication in Communist countries. Western analysts of the political process in "closed" Communist systems necessarily rely heavily on the published and broadcast output of the mass and specialized media. These media are in part propaganda organs, but they also have other functions. A generation of Sovietologists has had to base much of its analysis of policies and politics on interpretations of media nuances. Yet their assumptions about the relationship between the media and the political actors whose behavior or attitudes are inferred from them have received little attention. The Rand study was initiated to fill this need. Its emphasis is not on techniques of content analysis, but rather on the process by which politically significant material appears in Communist-country media. The principal data base of the study is information obtained from interviews with 44 emigres formerly involved in the media process as writers, journalists, editors, censors, and government and Party officials. The results of this study are published in a Summary Report, which provides an overview and conclusions, and in a series of Rand Notes, which contain more detailed analyses and documentation of the research. This Note documents the organization and functioning of Polish military media. "Military media" is a category that embraces a range of publications issued by and addressed to officers and soldiers of the Polish armed forces. In terms of intended rank of audience, publications range from the classified bulletins and theoretical journals directed at senior officers to an illustrated weekly for enlisted men. In terms of function and content, military publications fall into one of two quite distinct categories: "professional" or "political" organs. Additionally, the Ministry of Defense Publishing House publishes a variety of military (and nonmilitary) books.