A disappearing enemy: The image of the United States in Soviet political cartoons

Journalism and Mass Communication Quaterly

Volumn 73, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 609-619

  Becker, Jonathan A ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0040898792     PISSN: 10776990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/107769909607300308     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. N. G. Bogdanov and V. A. Vyazemskii, Spravochnik Zhurnalista (Moscow: Lenizdat, 1971), 20-39. For more recent accounts, see E. P. Prokhorov, "Sistema printsipov sotsialisticheskoi zhurnalistiki," Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta no. 10: Zhurnalistika, no. 2,3, March-April, May-June 1988, pp. 7-18, 13-22; T. D. Orlova, Vvedenie v Zhurnalistiku (Minsk: Universitetskoe, 1989), 73 ff.
2. N. G. Bogdanov and V. A. Vyazemskii, Spravochnik Zhurnalista (Moscow: Lenizdat, 1971), 20-39. For more recent accounts, see E. P. Prokhorov, "Sistema printsipov sotsialisticheskoi zhurnalistiki," Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta no. 10: Zhurnalistika, no. 2,3, March-April, May-June 1988, pp. 7-18, 13-22; T. D. Orlova, Vvedenie v Zhurnalistiku (Minsk: Universitetskoe, 1989), 73 ff.
3. N. G. Bogdanov and V. A. Vyazemskii, Spravochnik Zhurnalista (Moscow: Lenizdat, 1971), 20-39. For more recent accounts, see E. P. Prokhorov, "Sistema printsipov sotsialisticheskoi zhurnalistiki," Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta no. 10: Zhurnalistika, no. 2,3, March-April, May-June 1988, pp. 7-18, 13-22; T. D. Orlova, Vvedenie v Zhurnalistiku (Minsk: Universitetskoe, 1989), 73 ff.
4. The term glasnost had been used by all of the previous Soviet leaders, including Lenin and Stalin, and was associated with attempts to make the population more activist in pursuit of party-oriented goals. For a more complete discussion of glasnost, see Natlie Gross, "Glasnost, Roots and Practice," Problems of Communism 36 (November-December 1987): 69-80.
5. Mikhail Gorbachev, "Zhivoe tvotchestvo naroda," in Izbrannye rechi i stati, vol. 2 (Moscow: Izdatelstvo Politicheskoi Literatury, 1987), 95.
6. Mikhail Gorbachev, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/ 8621 /B1-S, 16 July 1987, SU/0149/C1,13 May 1988, SU/0242/B1-7, 3 April 1989; Pravda, 25 October 1989, p. 3.
7. Mikhail Gorbachev, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/ 8621 /B1-S, 16 July 1987, SU/0149/C1,13 May 1988, SU/0242/B1-7, 3 April 1989; Pravda, 25 October 1989, p. 3.
8. Bolshaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya, vol. 20 (Moscow: Lenizdat, 1957), 201.
9. Bolshaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya, 201.
10. Michael Milenkovitch, The View From Red Square: A Critique of Cartoons from Pravda and Izvestia, 1947-1964 (NY: Hobbs, Dorman, 1966), 129.
11. When the content analysis was conducted, every edition of Pravda, Izvestiya, and Krokodil was examined during a five-year period separately by two individuals, one a native Russian speaker. Each international cartoon was recorded and evaluated as anti-American, neutral, pro-American, or concerning another country. As by their nature political cartoons offer easily decipherable messages, interpretation by the two researchers was almost always consistent (following Holsti's model, the reliability measure for the tested cartoons at this stage was 98.7%). In the few cases where there were differences of interpretation, an evaluation was conducted by a third person.
12. Sergei Gribachev, interview by author, Moscow, May 1990.
13. Krokodil, no. 11, April 1990, p. 12.
14. The last noted use of Nazi symbolism was in Pravda, 31 October 1986, P-5.
15. In the first period, from April 1985 to August 1987, Krokodil had a total of fifty-seven full-page cartoons criticizing America (1.97 per month), or just under two in every three issues. The last full-page cartoon in Krokodil appeared in June 1987. See Krokodil, no. 19, July 1987, p. 16.
16. A. Aleksandrov, Pravda, 15 July 1990, p. 6. The appearance of Uncle Sam declined from an average of just under eight per month in Pravda in the first period, to .13 in the last. In Izvestiya the decline was from 5.5 per month to none. Indeed, there were no appearances of Uncle Sam in either Izvestiya or Krokodil (whose first period average was .71 per month) in the last two periods.
17. For examples of these positive images, see Pravda, 3 January 1988, p. 1, and 22 May 1988, p. 5, and Izvestiya, 28 February 1988, p. 4. The former image was well illustrated in Pravda, 6 April 1987, p. 5.
18. For examples of these positive images, see Pravda, 3 January 1988, p. 1, and 22 May 1988, p. 5, and Izvestiya, 28 February 1988, p. 4. The former image was well illustrated in Pravda, 6 April 1987, p. 5.
19. For examples of these positive images, see Pravda, 3 January 1988, p. 1, and 22 May 1988, p. 5, and Izvestiya, 28 February 1988, p. 4. The former image was well illustrated in Pravda, 6 April 1987, p. 5.
20. For examples of these positive images, see Pravda, 3 January 1988, p. 1, and 22 May 1988, p. 5, and Izvestiya, 28 February 1988, p. 4. The former image was well illustrated in Pravda, 6 April 1987, p. 5.
21. Krokodil, no. 19, July 1987, p. 16.
22. Krokodil, no. 5, February 1989, p. 5.
23. Pravda, 16 April 1989, p. 5.
24. E. Egorova-Gantman and K. Pleshakov, "Kontseptsiya obraza stereotipa v mezhdunarodnykh otnosheniyakh," Mirovaya Ekonomika i Mezhdunarodnye Otnashenie, 1988, no. 12,19-33; Fedor Burlatskii, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/8717/B/2, 5 November 1987; David Wedgwood Benn, From Glasnost to Freedom of Speech (London: Pinter Publishers, 1992), 58.
25. E. Egorova-Gantman and K. Pleshakov, "Kontseptsiya obraza stereotipa v mezhdunarodnykh otnosheniyakh," Mirovaya Ekonomika i Mezhdunarodnye Otnashenie, 1988, no. 12,19-33; Fedor Burlatskii, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/8717/B/2, 5 November 1987; David Wedgwood Benn, From Glasnost to Freedom of Speech (London: Pinter Publishers, 1992), 58.
26. E. Egorova-Gantman and K. Pleshakov, "Kontseptsiya obraza stereotipa v mezhdunarodnykh otnosheniyakh," Mirovaya Ekonomika i Mezhdunarodnye Otnashenie, 1988, no. 12,19-33; Fedor Burlatskii, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/8717/B/2, 5 November 1987; David Wedgwood Benn, From Glasnost to Freedom of Speech (London: Pinter Publishers, 1992), 58.
27. Such analysis was supported by Sergei Churgov, deputy editor-in-chief of the Journal World Economy and International Relations, who wrote, "A huge number of stereotypes has been amassed in the theory of international relations, and in practice, and in public awareness, and these are preventing us from seeing properly a true picture of the world. The most terrible thing is that stereotypes enter public consciousness and then scholarship⋯In political relations, these ideological stereotypes, these ideological formulae have taken inter-state relations so much into their thrall that they do not allow them to develop." BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/0273/A/7-8, 4 October 1988.
28. Sergei Grigoriev, interview by author, Middletown, April 1992. See also Angus Roxburgh, Pravda: Inside the Soviet News Machine (NY: George Braziller, 1987), 88. For some idea as to the importance of political cartoons, one need only look at a 1989 Pravda commentary which suggested that an anti-Soviet editorial cartoon which appeared in The Times raised doubts about "London's assurances of its readiness to do dialogue" with the Soviet Union. Lyuty, Pravda, 4 March 1989, p. 5. The cartoon in question pictured Lenin in a Nazi uniform with a Nazi flagbehind (The Times, 27 February 1989). One can only presume that the writer, and editors who approved the article, devoted as great attention to their own cartoons as they did to those appearing in foreign newspapers.
29. Sergei Grigoriev, interview by author, Middletown, April 1992. See also Angus Roxburgh, Pravda: Inside the Soviet News Machine (NY: George Braziller, 1987), 88. For some idea as to the importance of political cartoons, one need only look at a 1989 Pravda commentary which suggested that an anti-Soviet editorial cartoon which appeared in The Times raised doubts about "London's assurances of its readiness to do dialogue" with the Soviet Union. Lyuty, Pravda, 4 March 1989, p. 5. The cartoon in question pictured Lenin in a Nazi uniform with a Nazi flagbehind (The Times, 27 February 1989). One can only presume that the writer, and editors who approved the article, devoted as great attention to their own cartoons as they did to those appearing in foreign newspapers.
30. Sergei Grigoriev, interview by author, Middletown, April 1992. See also Angus Roxburgh, Pravda: Inside the Soviet News Machine (NY: George Braziller, 1987), 88. For some idea as to the importance of political cartoons, one need only look at a 1989 Pravda commentary which suggested that an anti-Soviet editorial cartoon which appeared in The Times raised doubts about "London's assurances of its readiness to do dialogue" with the Soviet Union. Lyuty, Pravda, 4 March 1989, p. 5. The cartoon in question pictured Lenin in a Nazi uniform with a Nazi flagbehind (The Times, 27 February 1989). One can only presume that the writer, and editors who approved the article, devoted as great attention to their own cartoons as they did to those appearing in foreign newspapers.
31. Grigoriev, interview by author. As then editor-in-chief of Izvestiya Ivan Laptev said, "not only the Soviet people but the entire world now views the policy of glasnost as an indicator of the progress of our restructuring." I. Laptev, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/0150/C/4, 13 May 1988.
32. Well-connected policy advisor and editor Fedor Burlatskii, after extoling the virtues of the changes which had occurred in the Soviet media images of the West, said, "We would like Western mass media also to take part in destroying the enemy image which remains a psychological foundation for the arms race and for difficulties in our relations. We expect objectivity, honesty and broad coverage of all aspects of our life from the Western mass media." Fedor Burlatskii, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/ 8717/B/2,5 November 1987. More telling was a letter to the New York Times from Georgi Arbatov, head of the Institute for the Study of the United States and Canada, in which he literally challenged the American press to follow the Soviet example and refrain from hostile "cold-war" style criticism. Georgi Arbatov, New York Times, 8 December 1987, sec. A, p. 38. Later, in meetings between U.S. and Soviet media repre-sentatives in Moscow, Ideology Secretary and leading policymaker on media issues Alexander Yakovlev repeated the same message. Alexander Yakovlev, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/0277/A1/4, 8 October 1988.
33. Well-connected policy advisor and editor Fedor Burlatskii, after extoling the virtues of the changes which had occurred in the Soviet media images of the West, said, "We would like Western mass media also to take part in destroying the enemy image which remains a psychological foundation for the arms race and for difficulties in our relations. We expect objectivity, honesty and broad coverage of all aspects of our life from the Western mass media." Fedor Burlatskii, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/ 8717/B/2,5 November 1987. More telling was a letter to the New York Times from Georgi Arbatov, head of the Institute for the Study of the United States and Canada, in which he literally challenged the American press to follow the Soviet example and refrain from hostile "cold-war" style criticism. Georgi Arbatov, New York Times, 8 December 1987, sec. A, p. 38. Later, in meetings between U.S. and Soviet media repre-sentatives in Moscow, Ideology Secretary and leading policymaker on media issues Alexander Yakovlev repeated the same message. Alexander Yakovlev, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/0277/A1/4, 8 October 1988.
34. Well-connected policy advisor and editor Fedor Burlatskii, after extoling the virtues of the changes which had occurred in the Soviet media images of the West, said, "We would like Western mass media also to take part in destroying the enemy image which remains a psychological foundation for the arms race and for difficulties in our relations. We expect objectivity, honesty and broad coverage of all aspects of our life from the Western mass media." Fedor Burlatskii, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/ 8717/B/2,5 November 1987. More telling was a letter to the New York Times from Georgi Arbatov, head of the Institute for the Study of the United States and Canada, in which he literally challenged the American press to follow the Soviet example and refrain from hostile "cold-war" style criticism. Georgi Arbatov, New York Times, 8 December 1987, sec. A, p. 38. Later, in meetings between U.S. and Soviet media repre-sentatives in Moscow, Ideology Secretary and leading policymaker on media issues Alexander Yakovlev repeated the same message. Alexander Yakovlev, BBC: Summary of World Broadcasts: USSR, SU/0277/A1/4, 8 October 1988.
35. Morton Schwartz went so far as to state that for the Soviets, communications media were "the most poorly understood feature of American life." According to Schwartz, the Soviets believed that there was massive control of the media by the government and big business, and that unless there was a conflict between the two, a single policy line would be extolled. Morton Schwartz, Soviet Perceptions of the United States (Berkeley: PUBLISHER?, 1978), 88 ff.
36. This model is taken from Daniel Hallin's analysis of the Western media regarding the Vietnam war. Daniel C. Hallin, The Uncensored War, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 117 ff.
37. Thomas F. Remington, The Truth of Authority (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1988).
38. Grigoriev, interview by author.
39. N. Entilis, interview by author, Moscow, May 1990.