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Soviet Union [USSR] ADMINISTRATION OF THE MASS MEDIA AND THE ARTS
As of 1987, several party and government organizations exerted
control over the media and the arts. Censorship extended from the
central party departments and government ministries to their
republic and regional counterparts. The CPSU Central Committee
Secretariat contained various departments and committees that
supervised distinct sectors in the media and the arts
(see Soviet Union USSR - Secretariat
, ch. 7). A government organization, the Main
Administration for Safeguarding State Secrets in the Press (Glavnoe
upravlenie po okhrane gosudarstvennykh tain v pechati--
Glavlit; see Glossary), had to sanction any work published in more than nine
copies. Government ministries responsible for large cultural
institutions as well as state committees also concerned themselves
with the regulation of state information
(see Soviet Union USSR - Administrative Organs
, ch. 8). The government news organs--the Telegraph Agency of
the Soviet Union (Telegrafnoe agentstvo Sovetskogo Soiuza--TASS)
and the News Press Agency (Agentstvo pechati novosti--Novosti)--
limited information disseminated to domestic and foreign newspaper
wire services. Ultimately, government institutions involved in
censorship responded to CPSU directives. The party ensured that
only approved information appeared publicly. Underground materials
existed, but the Committee for State Security (Komitet
gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti--KGB) and the Ministry of Internal
Affairs actively opposed the dissemination of any unsanctioned
material. The party, government organizations, and security organs
combined with the other official censorship controls to guarantee
party domination over the mass media and the arts.
Data as of May 1989
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