Socialist Countries' Press Agency Conference Issues in the 1970s.

RENATA PIASECKA-STRZELEC

The article presents the issue of cyclic consultations of managing directors of socialist countries' press agencies in 1970s. The meetings in question were organized from 1954 and were initially held every other year. In time, they were transformed into annual conferences that determined detailed directions of mutual cooperation and ongoing tasks of press agencies in European socialist countries. In 1970s, sessions were focused on issues related to ideology and propaganda, as a result of a much publicised thesis that international détente did not mean a so-called ideological détente. The most often tackled issue was the necessity of using assaulting information in agency materials intended to unmask ideological sabotage of Western mass media. Apart from dealing with conferences of managing directors, this study also discusses the issue of so called working meetings devoted to selected problems relating to the operation of press agencies.

KEYWORDS

press agencies, socialist countries, multilateral consultations, information, propaganda, détente