Suchergebnisse

As in 1958, 1961 & 1965, the Center for the Study of Collective Diffusion of the U of Brussels' Sociol Instit, upon the request of the Belgian Instit of Pol'al Sci, conducted a study of the behavior of the MM in the elections of Mar 31, 1968. This study was more restricted than the previous ones & concentrated on the radio & TV broadcasts of the Belgian Radio & Television (RTB), for 2 reasons: 1st, the elections came as a surprise & there was no time to set up a res project covering the press as well; 2nd, it has been observed that the behavior of the press changes very little from one election to another, while the RTB has greatly expanded its programs since 1965. The results of the survey are summarized; they will be published in full in Cahier RTB-Etudes de Radio-Television, 1969, No. 15. The 1965 study concentrated on the relations between Belgian communities. In 1968, this has become the main subject of the campaign. It is therefore legitimate to maintain interest in it & to make comparison between the 1965 & 1968 campaigns. The study is divided into 4 parts: the org of the campaign over radio & TV; the election materials; the response of the press; & the reaction of the audience. It describes the types of programs, the the f's of their broadcasts, the persons participating, participation & reactions of the public, the themes covered & the terminology used in the broadcasts. The data are broken down by dates of broadcasts, geographical region & the types of newspapers that evaluated the broadcasts. A. Peskin.

The editorials, of daily newspapers are very powerful instruments of pol'al influence. We have tried to measure their influence on the occasion of the last 3 Swedish elections; the legislative elections of 1952 & 1956, & the municipal elections of 1956. We found that the editorials in a number of newspapers & the space devoted to pol'al articles were greater in socialist & peasant newspapers than in the liberal newspapers. Econ & soc questions are given special attention in peasant newspapers, & to a lesser degree in socialist newspapers, but receive little notice in the liberal press. On the other hand, the liberal press gives the greatest attention to cultural questions, while conservative papers also do the same, to a somewhat lesser extent. Foreign affairs are dealt with in a similar fashion by these papers. The conservative press is the one most prone to engage in polemics while the socialist press is least inclined to do so. It should be kept in mind that the present study has not answered the criticism of putting major newspapers at the same level as provincial publications. Similarly, limiting the study to editorials was necessary for practical reasons, though other articles undoubtedly also influence PO. Tr by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.

A study of the content of the daily newspapers during the legislative election campaign of 1961 confirmed the estimates made in 1958 in the course of similar study: the daily newspapers devote little space to the election campaign; the analysis of the issues involved in the campaigns is barely apparent; internat'l events are of little importance, & finally, the Belgian press is not homogeneous, either as a whole or when considered in terms of its groupings & sub-groupings (regional, linguistic, philosophical). In 1961 the study was also extended to include radio & TV. As a result, it is clear that the various parties made little use of these means of propaganda, & the role of TV was very little & very badly exploited. Tr by J. A. Brousard from IPSA.

International propaganda is the aspect of the cold war which has been most frequently attacked. It has taken the form, since the end of WWII, of an attempt by the major powers to demonstrate the merits of their respective institutions. After a pause during 1946-1947, this propaganda was resumed with increasing intensity. One of the first situations in which it was decisive was during the Italian elections of 1948. International propaganda has merely developed since that time. It is an official instrument of action of the nation in time of peace. This is not a new function. George Kennan has described the need for this weapon, & Walter Lippman has analyzed many of its aspects. The first systematic use of this technique can be traced to the `war of nerves' of Hitler. This propaganda has many variants & notably, we may cite `cultural influence' whose origins are very ancient. War propaganda plays an essential role & has its own peculiar characteristics, depending esp on a distortion of news. Abusive international propaganda was condemned at one of the first sessions of the UN. Tr by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.

An attempt is made to illustrate some of the possibilities which an accumulation of data can offer to studies based on PO polls in countries having differing pol'al structures. The most important problem arising from the use of such data is one of discovering the relationships between the individual variations & the structural diff's which exist in such systems. In this comparative study, this problem arose when it became clear that the definite relationship claimed to exist between the characteristics of the individuals under consideration in the studies & electoral participation or amount of pol'al information known to them was not discovered in Norway. The proportion of militant party members was not greater in Ur regions, nor was it among individuals with a good educ, nor in the higher professional categories. The proposed explanation is that the local admin'ive org & the nature of the party systems are variables which are peculiar to the system. Other interpretations are also possible, but this one makes it possible to follow with precision the processes of soc polarization & integration. Tr by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.