The Nordic Media and the Cold War

The Cold War between the East and West during the period 1945-1991 was a rivalry where the world’s doom constantly emerged as a possible result. The Cold War was global and included northern European countries like Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway in different ways. Historians are still discussing how Cold War history should be understood in these countries, but they have rarely been concerned about mass media and communications. Meanwhile, many media scholars have neglected the theme entirely. In this book, these two areas of knowledge are combined in new research on the Nordic mass media, and its significance during the Cold War.

A number of controversial topics are covered. Nineteen Nordic scholars sheds new light on Nordic print media in all four countries, but also write about radio and the television broadcasting. Extending the traditional Cold War research on media and communication to include sport, magazines for men, political cartoons, and films, the book lays the foundation for Cold War studies to become an integrated interdisciplinary field of knowledge, and a more central part of the Nordic media research than before - with countless opportunities for exciting new research, with high relevance to world conflicts in our own time.

Henrik G. Bastiansen is Professor at Faculty of Media and Journalism, Volda University College, Norway.

Rolf Werenskjold is Associate Professor at Faculty of Media and Journalism, Volda University College, Norway.

Content

Preface

Mapping Nordic Media and the Cold War
Henrik G. Bastiansen, Rolf Werenskjold

Part One: Soviet Influence?

Radio Moscow – Propaganda from the East – in Norwegian
Morten Jentoft

The Shadow of the Bear: Finnish Broadcasting, National Interest and Self-censorship during the Cold War
Raimo Salokangas

A Careful Balancing Act: Finnish Culture of Self-censorship in the Cold War
Lotta Lounasmeri

Political Nonconformity in Finnish Men’s Magazines during the Cold War
Laura Saarenmaa

The Wallenberg Case as a Cold War Issue
Hans Fredrik Dahl

East-West Conflict, West-West Divide? Western Self-Awareness in a Cold War Dissenter Newspaper
Birgitte Kjos Fonn

Part Two: Space, Sports, and Spies

The Space Race in the Swedish Press during the Cold War Era: A Celebration of Transparent Western Television
Patrik Åker

Political Resistance on Ice: The 1969 Ice Hockey World Championship in the Swedish and Norwegian Press
Peter Dahlén, Tobias Stark

Cold War Sweden and the Media: A Historiographical Overview and a Glance Ahead
Marie Cronqvist

“The Most Disgraceful of All Crimes”: Critical Journalism during the Cold War? A Norwegian Spy Case Study
Paul Bjerke

Part Three: Towards the End

Norway’s Olympic Cold War, 1980: A Neighbouring Country’s Response to the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
Oddbjørn Melle

Media Securitization and Public Opinion: Denmark and the Euro-Missile Issue 1979-1983
Palle Roslyng-Jensen

Politics, Press and the Euro-missiles: The Take-off of the Euro-missile Conflict in Norway
Terje Rasmussen

Soviet and American Leaders in Ice-Cold Lines: The Political Cartoons in the Norwegian Newspaper Aftenposten 1980-1984
Rolf Werenskjold, Erling Sivertsen

Towards Glasnost? A Case Study of the Norwegian News Coverage of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet Leader in 1985
Henrik G. Bastiansen

Frozen Kisses: Cinematographical Reflections on Norway’s Role
Bjørn Sørenssen

The End of the World Revisited: Nuclear War Films and their Reception in Norwegian Media
Jon Raundalen

The Authors