Heft 1-2/2017

Interview

Flucht und Vertreibung im Hörfunk: Interview mit Alina Laura Tiews, Hans-Bredow-Institut
Refugees and expellees on the radio: Interview with Alina Laura Tiews, Hans-Bredow-Institut

Beiträge

Karin Pfundstein

Der Deutschlandsender und sein humoristisches Unterhaltungsprogramm. Kabarett und Satire im Ätherkrieg des Rundfunks der DDR
The Deutschlandsender and its comedy entertainment programmes: cabaret and satire in the GDR’s war of the airwaves

The archived broadcasts from the Spoken Entertainment section of the Deutschlandsender 1958-1971 form the subject of this article. Based on observations on the Deutschlandsender’s function as official voice and propaganda instrument aimed at the West in the intra-German war of the airwaves, as well as on the theory of satire in the GDR, the article examines key examples of satirical broadcasts and radio cabarets. It focuses on three categories of broadcast: decidedly political satire aimed above all at the Federal Republic, satires on themes related to the GDR, and broadcasts that treat general, “apolitical” everyday themes comically and satirically.

Raphael Rauch

Gremienarchive als Fundgrube der Rundfunkforschung. Eine Analyse der Zugangsmöglichkeiten
Archives of broadcasting boards as treasure trove for historical research: an analysis of access possibilities

For historical research, records of the broadcasting board of public radio and TV institutions are very important. Within the broadcasting council, representatives of the state, politics, and civil society monitor public radio and TV programmes and express their interests. However, in Germany the access to these records varies from institution to institution. Whereas in Southern Germany they are available to scholars, other broadcasting organizations block their records even for academic purposes. This paper explores the opportunities and limits of historical research based on records of broadcasting boards. Furthermore, it presents examples of how scholars have used these sources in historical analysis. Finally, it explains the rules and procedures for access to the records of the board of every broadcaster in Germany.

Kai Knörr

Über-Reden. Reflexionen über Horst Krüger als Autorenstimme im Rundfunk
Über-Reden. Reflections on Horst Krüger as author’s voice on the radio

As a writer, the German intellectual Horst Krüger (1919-1999) seems nearly forgotten today, but in the 1970s and 80s he was a well-known part of the cultural scene in Western Germany. In the first 15 years of his career Krüger was literary editor of the “Nachtstudio”, a programme that was produced in Baden-Baden. These broadcasts were a very important platform for intellectuals in postwar Germany. His novel Das zerbrochene Haus allowed him to start a second career as a freelance writer. With this book he became a representative of intellectuals who tried to understand the causes for the rise of the Nazis, the Holocaust, their own role and the role of their parents during that time. The article deals with Horst Krüger as a radio voice. At the same time his books were successful, Krüger also produced more than 100 radio documentaries for German radio, where he developed a very specific manner of speaking. It was the result of a lucky but amateurish syntony between his own texts, his own voice and the radio as a technical apparatus that is addressed. This article is a first attempt to describe and analyse these vocal qualities that are one reason of Horst Krüger’s place in German radio history.

Rundfunkhistorisches Gespräch

„Ich wollte im gesellschaftspolitischen Sinne auch etwas verändern.“ Rundfunkhistorisches Gespräch mit Hansjürgen Rosenbauer (Auszüge)
„I wanted to change something in the in the sociopolitical sense too“. Interview with Hansjürgen Rosenbauer, inter alia former director RBB

Studienkreis-Informationen

Fachgruppe Historische Rezipientenforschung

Fachgruppe Radiofeature

Fachgruppe Rundfunkhistorische Gespräche

Medienhistorisches Kolloquium für Absolventen und Forschungsnachwuchs

Forum

Medieneffekte, Rezeption, Anschlusskommunikation.
Jahrestagung der DGPuK-Fachgruppe Kommunikationsgeschichte,
19. bis 21. Januar 2017 in Leipzig

Dissertationsvorhaben / Dissertation projects

Tabea Bodenstedt (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen)

Das Publikum kommt zu Wort. Chancen und Grenzen medialer Partizipation am Hörfunk der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.
The audience is heard. Opportunities and limits of media participation in the radio broadcasting of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The project aims to examine the participation of audiences in radio programmes in the Federal Republic of Germany. The goal is to make a contribution to historical audience research, which remains a desideratum within media history research. Taking two successful open-line radio shows as an example (“Der Hörer hat das Wort”, NWDR/WDR 1949-1959 and “Hallo Ü-Wagen”, WDR 1974-2010), the project wants to analyse audience interests in these shows, as well as the intentions of broadcasters to offer shows with audience participation. Amongst other things, the project focusses on the motives of listeners in becoming active media recipients by participating in the shows. Furthermore, the topics of both shows, which were decided beforehand by the audience, can give historians unique insights into contemporary issues, questions and ways of thinking within society.

There are various sources for investigating these topics, including recorded shows and manuscripts or press articles and letters from listeners. The results can be considered in the context of contemporary societal and internal media discussions about feedback, audience-orientation of the media, politically mature audiences and a more democratic radio. The comparison of both shows, which were 20 years apart, can also reveal changes in media usage behaviours, interests in audience participation and topics of interest.

Kerstin Reinsch (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg)

Politikerinnen sind keine Männer und Politiker (manchmal) auch nicht. Warum das Geschlecht von Politiker/innen keine Rolle spielt und in der medialen Berichterstattung trotzdem relevant ist.
Female politicians aren’t men, and neither are male ones (sometimes). Why politicians’ gender doesn`t matter but still is meaningful in media coverage

The aim of the PhD project is to analyze how gender matters in media coverage of female and male politicians. To answer this question, it analyses the German and American print and TV coverage appearing after the frontrunners speeches at German Party Conventions (2009) and US National Conventions (2012, 2016). Gender is seen as socially constructed while media are highly involved in constructing and stabilizing gendered assumptions. Consequently, many female politicians have a strong feeling that media tend to cover them differently (e.g. in terms of appearance and private life) compared with their male colleagues. However, depending on the sample, the current state of research paints a very heterogeneous picture regarding the amount and quality of gendered media coverage, especially between the moderate reporting in Germany and the more intensely gendered coverage in the United States. The PhD project takes this as a starting point to take a closer look at different contextual factors which affect media coverage. In addition to a detailed qualitative media content analysis, it introduces a newly developed analytical model to assess gendered media coverage of male and female politicians in the US and Germany systematically, considering various aspects such as cultural dimensions, media structures, and individual candidate contexts.

Sarah Stein (Universität Kassel)

Coopération, information und animation. Nachrichten- und Lehrfilme in der nachkolonialen französischen Entwicklungspolitik in Afrika
Cooperation, information and animation. News and educational films in French postcolonial development policy in Africa

The project focuses on the post-colonial relations between France and its former African colonies in the field of newsreel and educational film production. It analyzes the French form of development aid – la politique de la coopération – in the 1960s and the 1970s. Even though the dissertation concentrates on the importance of cinematic cooperation in this sense, it takes into account how, in the two decades after African Independences, this was closely linked to broadcasting cooperation policies as well. Through analyzing institutional cooperation structures, the films’ iconic compositions, as well as interdependencies between French cooperation policy and the emergence of a critical African film movement, the project aims to contribute to research on decolonization processes and postcolonial media relations.

Hagen Schönrich (TU Dresden)

Diskurse digitaler Vernetzung am Beispiel des Bildschirmtextes, 1977–2001
Discourses of digital networking by the example of Bildschirmtext, 1977–2001

Contemporary research has identified a sociocultural and economic change in the long 1970s that ruptured the euphoric belief in planning and technological progress, although current evidence suggests that it disappeared only briefly and was revived during the 1980s. A new persistent faith in progress evolved especially in the field of digital communication and networking technologies. The vision of a digitally networked world was based on the trust in a generally benevolent network and the promise of a better future. During this time, the development and introduction of the German videotex called Bildschirmtext took place. The German Federal Post Office proclaimed the start of a communications revolution with this technology. Therefore, investigating discussions about the implementation of Bildschirmtext promises insights into the tensions between government-initiated planning, public perceptions and the impact of new technologies in this period of change.

Rezensionen / Book reviews

Kate Murphy
Behind the Wireless. A history of early women at the BBC
(Lars Lundgren)

Elke Schieber
Tangenten. Holocaust und jüdisches Leben im Spiegel audiovisueller Medien der SBZ und der DDR 1946 bis 1990 – Eine Dokumentation
(Claudia Böttcher)

Tobias Haupts
Die Videothek: Zur Geschichte und medialen Praxis einer kulturellen Institution
(Andre Dechert)

Thomas Großmann
Fernsehen, Revolution und das Ende der DDR (Medien und Gesellschaftswandel im 20. Jahrhundert, Bd.3)
(Edgar Lersch)

Gerhard Paul
Das visuelle Zeitalter. Punkt und Pixel
(Martin Stallmann)

Fabian Kupper
Serielle Narration. Die Evolution narrativer Komplexität in der US-Crime-Show von 1950-2000
(Christian Hißnauer)

Julia Metger
Studio Moskau. Westdeutsche Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg
(Dieter Wiedemann)

Lukas Bartholomei
Bilder von Schuld und Unschuld. Spielfilme über den Nationalsozialismus in Ost- und Westdeutschland (Internationale Hochschulschriften 627)
(Patrick Merziger)