Simon Huxtable | Birkbeck College, University of London (original) (raw)
Books by Simon Huxtable
In From Media Systems to Media Cultures: Understanding Socialist Television, Sabina Mihelj and Si... more In From Media Systems to Media Cultures: Understanding Socialist Television, Sabina Mihelj and Simon Huxtable delve into the fascinating world of television under communism, using it to test a new framework for comparative media analysis. To understand the societal consequences of mass communication, the authors argue that we need to move beyond the analysis of media systems, and instead focus on the role of the media in shaping cultural ideals and narratives, everyday practices and routines. Drawing on a wealth of original data derived from archival sources, programme and schedule analysis, and oral history interviews, the authors show how communist authorities managed to harness the power of television to shape new habits and rituals, yet failed to inspire a deeper belief in communist ideals. This book and their analysis contains important implications for the understanding of mass communication in non-democratic settings, and provides tools for the analysis of media cultures globally.
Papers by Simon Huxtable
The Journal of Popular Television, 2017
This article focuses on the ways in which socialist television sought to create a sense of extra... more This article focuses on the ways in which socialist television sought to create a
sense of extraordinary temporality out of the ordinary through its coverage of
historical commemorations, national days, and secular and religious festivities. To
do so, it develops the concept of ‘media holidays’, which draws on Dayan and
Katz’s seminal notion of media events, and the work of other scholars of media
ritual, to show the ways in which socialist television created extraordinary temporalities through scheduling. Drawing on schedule analysis and archival documents,
the article compares the cases of television in East Germany, the Soviet Union and
Yugoslavia. It examines a number of different kinds of media holiday on socialist
television, and shows how different kinds of holidays and commemoration were
marked with different kinds of programming in which entertainment played an
important role.
Contemporary European History, 2018
This article challenges the assumption, frequently made in scholarship on Soviet media, that news... more This article challenges the assumption, frequently made in scholarship on Soviet media, that news was absent in the Soviet Union. Working across press, radio, and television, the article shows how after 1953 reform of Soviet news became a priority for journalists, editors, and media professionals. The article focuses on discussions among journalists and officials about the future of journalism, arguing that journalists' notions of professional excellence played a crucial role in shaping news coverage. In a climate of Cold War competition with western radio, new technological possibilities, and changing political priorities, journalists gradually overcame their condescension towards news, emphasising its civic potential as an agent of social 'democratisation' , and the artistic nature of reportage. This new configuration was precarious, however, and collapsed after the Czechoslovakian crisis of 1968. As the Party placed new restrictions on the flow of information, news lost its professional prestige.
Cahiers du Monde russe, 2013
After the fall of Khrushchev and the introduction of the Kosygin reforms, Soviet newspapers, whic... more After the fall of Khrushchev and the introduction of the Kosygin reforms, Soviet newspapers, which had previously had their print runs set centrally, were placed on a commercial footing. To maximise sales, journalists needed more accurate information about readers and enlisted the services of sociologists to help them. This article, which focuses on the youth newspaper Komsomol’skaia pravda, looks at the consequences of journalists’ brief flirtation with the social sciences, both in terms of how journalists understood readers, and how it affected their representation of Soviet society. While some journalists saw a need to reorient the paper, others resisted the sociologists’ findings, either because of confusion over the identity of the ‘mass reader’, or because some considered it more important to educate and transform readers’ tastes and opinions. Nevertheless, sociology did have a more lasting effect. The article argues that a sociological ‘aesthetic’ took hold, owing much to the idea that an era of ‘developed socialism’ required a sober examination of a changing society, rather than a fixation on romantic heroes. Focusing on the paper’s ‘Social Portrait’ series, which used sociological data to find the most ‘ordinary’ Soviet worker in various professions, the article argues that this new aesthetic may have succeeded in describing the values of the new ‘Soviet way of life’, but it failed to resolve the question of how the country was to move forward in a post-heroic age.
De-Stalinisation reconsidered. Persistence and Change in the Soviet Union after 1953, ed. by Thomas Bohn, Rayk Einax, Michel Abesser, 2014
In March 1956, Semen Garbuzov, an experienced journalist at the youth newspaper Komsomol'skaia pr... more In March 1956, Semen Garbuzov, an experienced journalist at the youth newspaper Komsomol'skaia pravda, was tasked with explaining how the Twentieth Party Congress would impact on the newspaper. 1 »I have a very difficult task,« he told colleagues. »I don't know how I'll manage it.« There was »a great deal to reconsider, many values to reappraise«, and the paper needed to »reject many certainties and habitual forms and find new ones«. It would be »ludicrous« to think that the paper could do so in a short space of time, he claimed. 2 This chapter seeks to illuminate one aspect of that long process of re-evaluation: the revitalisation of press criticism after the Twentieth Party Congress, a Congress which served to demarcate the boundary between the Stalinist and post-Stalinist press. Khrushchev's speech at the Congress was in many ways an act of selfcriticism, one which targeted not only the kul't lichnosti, but also those individuals, like journalists, who had perpetuated it. In response, and seemingly by way of atonement for their years as cheerleaders for the cult, journalists went on the attack against a rogues' gallery of pen-pushing bureaucrats, corrupt officials, and obstructive local politicians, with the aim of revitalising Soviet society. By examining Komsomol'skaia pravda journalists' debates about ›criticism and self-criticism‹ in editorial letuchki (review meetings to discuss the paper's content) and in meetings of its Party Organisation, this chapter sheds light on the transformation of the Soviet press over the course of 1956 and on the changing conceptions of journalists' social role that underpinned this change. However, it also shows how criticism increasingly came to be seen as dangerous in a time of domestic and international unrest. Thus, the chapter illustrates not only how the Secret Speech gave rise to a reformist impulse within the Soviet press corps, but also how a nervous regime sought to keep it in check.
This thesis examines the development of Soviet journalism between 1953 and 1968 through a case st... more This thesis examines the development of Soviet journalism between 1953 and 1968 through a case study of the youth newspaper Komsomol'skaia pravda. Stalin's death removed the climate of fear and caution that had hitherto characterised Soviet journalism, and allowed for many values to be debated and renegotiated. This study examines these debates within their wider professional, social, and political contexts, and thus illuminates the possibilities and limits of reform in the post-Stalin era. In a period of rising educational levels, a widely-perceived crisis of youth values, and growing mass media saturation both from within the Soviet Union and from outside, Komsomol'skaia pravda journalists' understanding of themselves as protectors and educators of the public came into conflict with the belief that the press should be entertaining and informative. Moreover, there were continued tensions between the requirement for the press to be a beacon of social change, which journalists enthusiastically embraced, and the need for it to ensure social stability. This led to the collapse of the Stalinist 'propaganda state' model. The thesis comprises five short thematic histories, each discussing different facets of the newspaper's work. It arrays a wide range of sources, from memoirs to Agit-Prop documents, but its main sources are the newspapers themselves and the transcripts of editorial discussions and Party meetings, which together explain not only what was published, but why. By examining the press from the point of view of its producers, this study challenges previous interpretations of Soviet propaganda. It shows that Soviet journalists were not wholly subservient to Party dictates, but were not dissidents either. Instead, the thesis suggests that the professionalization of journalism and relaxation of political controls allowed journalists to develop shared norms and establish priorities that borrowed from, but differed from those of the Party, leading to frequent conflict and confusion.
View: Journal of European Television History and Culture, 2014
This article analyses the role of the television personality on Soviet television in its early ye... more This article analyses the role of the television personality on Soviet television in its early years in the 1950s and 1960s. Using primary source materials from Russian archives, articles from the professional press, and analysis of a number of television shows, the article argues that television’s appearance in Soviet everyday life brought about a key change in the form of mass communication from a Stalinist model that focused on a pre-verified forms of written speech to a more spontaneous model that was closer to everyday speech forms under Khrushchev. Analysing the role of continuity announcers, programme hosts, and ordinary individuals on Soviet television, the article suggests that while early television professionals held high hopes for the possibility of television to democratise the post-Stalin Soviet Union, these hopes were in fact riven with contradictions.
Talks by Simon Huxtable
In From Media Systems to Media Cultures: Understanding Socialist Television, Sabina Mihelj and Si... more In From Media Systems to Media Cultures: Understanding Socialist Television, Sabina Mihelj and Simon Huxtable delve into the fascinating world of television under communism, using it to test a new framework for comparative media analysis. To understand the societal consequences of mass communication, the authors argue that we need to move beyond the analysis of media systems, and instead focus on the role of the media in shaping cultural ideals and narratives, everyday practices and routines. Drawing on a wealth of original data derived from archival sources, programme and schedule analysis, and oral history interviews, the authors show how communist authorities managed to harness the power of television to shape new habits and rituals, yet failed to inspire a deeper belief in communist ideals. This book and their analysis contains important implications for the understanding of mass communication in non-democratic settings, and provides tools for the analysis of media cultures globally.
The Journal of Popular Television, 2017
This article focuses on the ways in which socialist television sought to create a sense of extra... more This article focuses on the ways in which socialist television sought to create a
sense of extraordinary temporality out of the ordinary through its coverage of
historical commemorations, national days, and secular and religious festivities. To
do so, it develops the concept of ‘media holidays’, which draws on Dayan and
Katz’s seminal notion of media events, and the work of other scholars of media
ritual, to show the ways in which socialist television created extraordinary temporalities through scheduling. Drawing on schedule analysis and archival documents,
the article compares the cases of television in East Germany, the Soviet Union and
Yugoslavia. It examines a number of different kinds of media holiday on socialist
television, and shows how different kinds of holidays and commemoration were
marked with different kinds of programming in which entertainment played an
important role.
Contemporary European History, 2018
This article challenges the assumption, frequently made in scholarship on Soviet media, that news... more This article challenges the assumption, frequently made in scholarship on Soviet media, that news was absent in the Soviet Union. Working across press, radio, and television, the article shows how after 1953 reform of Soviet news became a priority for journalists, editors, and media professionals. The article focuses on discussions among journalists and officials about the future of journalism, arguing that journalists' notions of professional excellence played a crucial role in shaping news coverage. In a climate of Cold War competition with western radio, new technological possibilities, and changing political priorities, journalists gradually overcame their condescension towards news, emphasising its civic potential as an agent of social 'democratisation' , and the artistic nature of reportage. This new configuration was precarious, however, and collapsed after the Czechoslovakian crisis of 1968. As the Party placed new restrictions on the flow of information, news lost its professional prestige.
Cahiers du Monde russe, 2013
After the fall of Khrushchev and the introduction of the Kosygin reforms, Soviet newspapers, whic... more After the fall of Khrushchev and the introduction of the Kosygin reforms, Soviet newspapers, which had previously had their print runs set centrally, were placed on a commercial footing. To maximise sales, journalists needed more accurate information about readers and enlisted the services of sociologists to help them. This article, which focuses on the youth newspaper Komsomol’skaia pravda, looks at the consequences of journalists’ brief flirtation with the social sciences, both in terms of how journalists understood readers, and how it affected their representation of Soviet society. While some journalists saw a need to reorient the paper, others resisted the sociologists’ findings, either because of confusion over the identity of the ‘mass reader’, or because some considered it more important to educate and transform readers’ tastes and opinions. Nevertheless, sociology did have a more lasting effect. The article argues that a sociological ‘aesthetic’ took hold, owing much to the idea that an era of ‘developed socialism’ required a sober examination of a changing society, rather than a fixation on romantic heroes. Focusing on the paper’s ‘Social Portrait’ series, which used sociological data to find the most ‘ordinary’ Soviet worker in various professions, the article argues that this new aesthetic may have succeeded in describing the values of the new ‘Soviet way of life’, but it failed to resolve the question of how the country was to move forward in a post-heroic age.
De-Stalinisation reconsidered. Persistence and Change in the Soviet Union after 1953, ed. by Thomas Bohn, Rayk Einax, Michel Abesser, 2014
In March 1956, Semen Garbuzov, an experienced journalist at the youth newspaper Komsomol'skaia pr... more In March 1956, Semen Garbuzov, an experienced journalist at the youth newspaper Komsomol'skaia pravda, was tasked with explaining how the Twentieth Party Congress would impact on the newspaper. 1 »I have a very difficult task,« he told colleagues. »I don't know how I'll manage it.« There was »a great deal to reconsider, many values to reappraise«, and the paper needed to »reject many certainties and habitual forms and find new ones«. It would be »ludicrous« to think that the paper could do so in a short space of time, he claimed. 2 This chapter seeks to illuminate one aspect of that long process of re-evaluation: the revitalisation of press criticism after the Twentieth Party Congress, a Congress which served to demarcate the boundary between the Stalinist and post-Stalinist press. Khrushchev's speech at the Congress was in many ways an act of selfcriticism, one which targeted not only the kul't lichnosti, but also those individuals, like journalists, who had perpetuated it. In response, and seemingly by way of atonement for their years as cheerleaders for the cult, journalists went on the attack against a rogues' gallery of pen-pushing bureaucrats, corrupt officials, and obstructive local politicians, with the aim of revitalising Soviet society. By examining Komsomol'skaia pravda journalists' debates about ›criticism and self-criticism‹ in editorial letuchki (review meetings to discuss the paper's content) and in meetings of its Party Organisation, this chapter sheds light on the transformation of the Soviet press over the course of 1956 and on the changing conceptions of journalists' social role that underpinned this change. However, it also shows how criticism increasingly came to be seen as dangerous in a time of domestic and international unrest. Thus, the chapter illustrates not only how the Secret Speech gave rise to a reformist impulse within the Soviet press corps, but also how a nervous regime sought to keep it in check.
This thesis examines the development of Soviet journalism between 1953 and 1968 through a case st... more This thesis examines the development of Soviet journalism between 1953 and 1968 through a case study of the youth newspaper Komsomol'skaia pravda. Stalin's death removed the climate of fear and caution that had hitherto characterised Soviet journalism, and allowed for many values to be debated and renegotiated. This study examines these debates within their wider professional, social, and political contexts, and thus illuminates the possibilities and limits of reform in the post-Stalin era. In a period of rising educational levels, a widely-perceived crisis of youth values, and growing mass media saturation both from within the Soviet Union and from outside, Komsomol'skaia pravda journalists' understanding of themselves as protectors and educators of the public came into conflict with the belief that the press should be entertaining and informative. Moreover, there were continued tensions between the requirement for the press to be a beacon of social change, which journalists enthusiastically embraced, and the need for it to ensure social stability. This led to the collapse of the Stalinist 'propaganda state' model. The thesis comprises five short thematic histories, each discussing different facets of the newspaper's work. It arrays a wide range of sources, from memoirs to Agit-Prop documents, but its main sources are the newspapers themselves and the transcripts of editorial discussions and Party meetings, which together explain not only what was published, but why. By examining the press from the point of view of its producers, this study challenges previous interpretations of Soviet propaganda. It shows that Soviet journalists were not wholly subservient to Party dictates, but were not dissidents either. Instead, the thesis suggests that the professionalization of journalism and relaxation of political controls allowed journalists to develop shared norms and establish priorities that borrowed from, but differed from those of the Party, leading to frequent conflict and confusion.
View: Journal of European Television History and Culture, 2014
This article analyses the role of the television personality on Soviet television in its early ye... more This article analyses the role of the television personality on Soviet television in its early years in the 1950s and 1960s. Using primary source materials from Russian archives, articles from the professional press, and analysis of a number of television shows, the article argues that television’s appearance in Soviet everyday life brought about a key change in the form of mass communication from a Stalinist model that focused on a pre-verified forms of written speech to a more spontaneous model that was closer to everyday speech forms under Khrushchev. Analysing the role of continuity announcers, programme hosts, and ordinary individuals on Soviet television, the article suggests that while early television professionals held high hopes for the possibility of television to democratise the post-Stalin Soviet Union, these hopes were in fact riven with contradictions.