Split Signals Television and Politics in the Soviet Union [Paperback]

Television has changed drastically in the Soviet Union over the last three decades. In 1960, only five percent of the population had access to TV, but now the viewing population has reached near total saturation. Today's main source of information in the USSR, television has become Mikhail Gorbachev's most powerful instrument for paving the way for major reform.
Containing a wealth of interviews with major Soviet and American media figures and fascinating descriptions of Soviet TV shows, Ellen Mickiewicz's wide-ranging, vividly written volume compares over one hundred hours of Soviet and American television, covering programs broadcast during both the Chernenko and Gorbachev governments. Mickiewicz describes the enormous significance and popularity of news programs and discusses how Soviet journalists work in the United States. Offering a fascinating depiction of the world seen on Soviet TV, she also explores the changes in programming that have occurred as a result ofglasnost.

A scholarly but readable study of television under Chernenko and Gorbachev....Draws illuminating comparisons with American television and will prove very valuable for those studying Soviet-American relations, as well as anyone interested in the Soviet media. --International Affairs

A good guide to the recent past, but also useful for its descriptions of reality below politics and politically based contention....The thoughts at the end on the possibilities and strains withinglasnostare also illuminating. --Intermedia

Likely to raise eyebrows in the West, especially among those who continue to think of life behind the Iron Curtain as a sort of backwater--but Mickiewicz demonstrates conclusively that there may be, indeed, more toglasnostthan many believe. --Kirkus Reviews

With systematic analysis of the content of television programs, interviews with media people, extensive use of Soviet sources, lS.