The article looks into the role and position of Soviet television in the context of shaping a «Soviet citizen» in Ukraine during 1950s — 1985. Based on a series of interviews conducted by the author and the archive materials newly introduced into scientific analysis, the research studies the character of coexistence and broadcasting of central Soviet Union and republican Ukrainian television, their capacity of public indoctrination, russification as well as ambivalent influence on shaping national identity and public conscience. The paper views mail correspondence with the general public as a strategy of Soviet television. It also affirms the role of television in sustaining the iconic archetypes of a «homo Soveticus». The article draws attention to propaganda and counter-propaganda subjects highlighted in the TV shows, the role of KGB, General Committee of Literature and Publications (Golovlit) and censorship in TV broadcasting. Being an indispensable part of USSR ideology coordinate system, television performed a fundamental role in shaping «homo Soveticus» through the variety of all available means to affect public opinions and beliefs. The author makes at attempt to characterize the public perception of TV products through analyzing the efficiency of the key means of ideological influence, i.e. reassurance and suggestion. The topicality of the presented research in not only of academic character, it is also substantiated with the present day realities of the Ukrainian society, which to a large extent remains to be the product of Soviet ideological upbringing.
Source: Kahanov Yu. (2018). «Ostankino syringe» and a Ukrainian viewer: the influence of TV on shaping a «homo Soveticus». Scholarly Works of the Faculty of History, Zaporizhzhia National University. Vol. 50: 185-196
Source web-site: http://istznu.org/dc/file.php?host_id=1&path=/page/issues/50/19.pdf
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