East and West on the Finnish Screen

Abstract

Research on Finnish television history has so far emphasized Western influences. However, the Finnish television environment was also in many ways shaped by contacts with socialist television cultures. This article analyses the first volume (1960) of the television magazine Katso to trace the various transnational relations which shaped the early Finnish television environment and to discuss the cultural meanings of socialist television in this environment. Nearly every issue of Katso in 1960 discusses television in a transnational context. Transnational themes fall into four categories: (1) learning about television in other countries; (2) the Eurovision and Nordvision networks; (3) watching television across national borders (Swedish and Tallinn television but also television across surprising distances); and (4) visions of world television. Katso’s understanding of television emphasises the literal meaning of television, to see far. The magazine sets no clear limits to what television could do in terms of overcoming physical distance and ideological borders. The magazine avoids overt politics in discussing television from both the West and the East and represents Tallinn television as a potential source of popular television for Finnish audiences.