Censorship without censorship. Media management in late communist Czechoslovakia

Abstract

The study describes media censorship and propaganda at the end of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. It explores the clash between repression and consensus in state-controlled media within the context of historical and media research. The research is based on archival documents from the Czechoslovakian censorship office, specifically the Federal Office for Press and Information. The historical analysis gradually outlines six critical principles of media supervision: Detailed monitoring, editor-in-chief discipline, minimum preliminary censorship, maximum self-censorship, subsequent moderate censorship, and constant propaganda updates. Together, this created a specific system of ‘censorship without censorship’, in which an authoritarian state effectively controlled the media with a minimum of direct pressure.