“At the heart of Webb's valuable study is the awkward accommodation that took shape between government and corporation ... about the scope, remit, funding and oversight of the BBC's global services.” – History Workshop Journal
From its inception in 1932, overseas broadcasting by the BBC quickly became an essential adjunct to British diplomatic and foreign policy objectives. For this reason, the World Service was considered the primary means of engaging with attitudes and opinions behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Although funded by government Grant-in-Aid, the Service's editorial independence was enshrined in the BBC's Charter, Licence and Agreement. London Calling explores the delicate balance of power that lay in the relations between Whitehall and the World Service during the Cold War.
This book also assesses the nature and impact of the World Service's programmes on listeners living in the Eastern bloc countries. In doing so, it traces the evolution of overseas broadcasting from Britain alongside the political, diplomatic and fiscal challenges that the country faced right up to the Suez crisis and the 1956 Hungarian uprising. These were defining experiences for the United Kingdom's international broadcaster that, as a consequence, helped shape and define the BBC World Service as we know it today. London Calling is an important study for anyone interested in the media and foreign policy histories of Great Britain or the history of the Cold War more generally.
Author(s): Alban Webb
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 201
Tags: British propaganda; Cold War; propaganda; Britain
Cover-Page......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Series......Page 3
Dedication......Page 4
Title......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
List of Illustrations......Page 7
Acknowledgements......Page 8
Introduction......Page 10
Part 1 From Total War to Cold War......Page 17
1 Planning for Peace......Page 18
2 The Home Front......Page 28
3 The Cold War Challenge......Page 35
Part 2 Through the Iron Curtain......Page 47
4 The Imagined Audience......Page 48
Broadcasting in Russian......Page 51
Broadcasting to Central and Eastern Europe......Page 59
Jamming and counter-jamming......Page 66
BBC Monitoring Service......Page 71
Part 3 Global Reach......Page 77
6 A World Service......Page 78
Western Union broadcasting......Page 81
7 Austerity......Page 86
Drogheda......Page 93
Part 4 Battlefields......Page 99
8 The Soviet Challenge......Page 100
Cultural rapprochement......Page 101
Indicators of change......Page 105
9 Hungary......Page 110
Broadcast revolution......Page 114
Audience and influence......Page 121
10 Suez......Page 129
Broadcasting to the Middle East......Page 131
Controlling tendency......Page 135
The firing line......Page 141
End of an era......Page 147
Reflections......Page 151
Introduction......Page 154
Chapter 1......Page 156
Chapter 2......Page 158
Chapter 3......Page 159
Chapter 4......Page 161
Chapter 5......Page 164
Chapter 6......Page 167
Chapter 7......Page 169
Chapter 8......Page 171
Chapter 9......Page 173
Chapter 10......Page 176
Reflections......Page 179
Select Bibliography......Page 181
Index......Page 187
Copyright......Page 201
