Red Tape

Rosamund Johnston is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna

"Red Tape is a brilliant analysis of the creation and dissemination of media under state socialism. While radio was a powerful vehicle for propaganda, it was simultaneously a contested space, shaped by journalists, officials, and listeners—much like the socialist state itself. Rosamund Johnston's book sheds light not only on the history of radio in socialist Czechoslovakia, but also on the fraught relationship between media and politics in our own time. Then as now, listeners trusted or distrusted radio based on their imagined relationships to journalists—demonstrating, as Johnston argues, that 'all media is social media.'"—Tara Zahra, author of Against the World: Anti-Globalism and Mass Politics between the World Wars "Sensitively telling stories from both ends of the receiver, this brilliant, absorbing book is not only a panoramic history of postwar Czechoslovakia and its place in the world, but also an extraordinary study of what history, in all its complexity, sounds like. Red Tape is essential reading in radio history, sound studies, and Cold War studies alike."—Alice Lovejoy, author of Army Film and the Avant Garde: Cinema and Experiment in the Czechoslovak Military "Life is nuanced, and life under any totalitarian regime is also nuanced. Things are not simplistic, because human beings are complex. In this sense, Johnston's project is rich and fascinating. Her research is impeccable and exhaustive."—Emina Melonic, The New Criterion "Her elegant, sure-footed study draws on audio files of programmes by the broadcaster Czech Radio, as well as thousands of fan letters sent in by enthusiastic listeners."—Anna Parker, Times Literary Supplement "Well researched and effectively illustrated, this volume shows how radio enabled Czechoslovaks to negotiate issues of citizenship and rights, thus presenting a fresh interpretation of the first decades of the Cold War period. Recommended."—P. W. Knoll, CHOICE "Johnston's Red Tape is a significant contribution to media history, Eastern European studies, and the study of Communist regimes. By integrating a thorough examination of regulatory processes with an in-depth analysis of listener subjectivity, the impact of Stalinization and de-Stalinization, and the relationships between radio reporters and their audience, Johnston provides a comprehensive and compelling portrait of radio broadcasting in Communist Czechoslovakia. Johnston weaves together biographies, events, structures, and shifts in a compelling and insightful manner. She establishes the history of radio as a mirror of Czechoslovakia's mid-twentieth-century history."—Frank Henschel, H-Socialisms "Johnston has made a valuable contribution to the study of communist Czechoslovakia and to the role of mass media in communist eastern Europe. Any reader interested in these topics will find this work interesting and thought-provoking."—David M. Durant, CEU Review of Books