Editing Eastern Bloc (section)

===Media and information restrictions===
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{{main|Eastern Bloc media and propaganda}}
{{further|Deutscher Fernsehfunk|Mass media in Communist Czechoslovakia|Propaganda in the People's Republic of Poland|Propaganda in the Soviet Union|Soviet Information Bureau}}

[[File:TrybunaLudu3.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Announcement of [[martial law in Poland]] by ''[[Trybuna Ludu]]'',14 December 1981]]
The press in the communist period was an organ of the state, completely reliant on and subservient to the communist party.<ref name="oneil15">{{Harvnb|O'Neil|1997|p=15}}</ref> Before the late 1980s, Eastern Bloc radio and television organizations were state-owned, while print media was usually owned by political organizations, mostly by the local communist party.<ref name="oneil25">{{Harvnb|O'Neil|1997|p=125}}</ref> Youth newspapers and magazines were owned by youth organizations affiliated with communist parties.<ref name="oneil25"/>

The control of the media was exercised directly by the communist party itself, and by state censorship, which was also controlled by the party.<ref name="oneil25"/> Media served as an important form of control over information and society.<ref name="oneil1">{{Harvnb|O'Neil|1997|p=1}}</ref> The dissemination and portrayal of knowledge were considered by authorities to be vital to communism's survival by stifling alternative concepts and critiques.<ref name="oneil1"/> Several state Communist Party newspapers were published, including:
* [[Central newspapers of the Soviet Union]]
* [[Trybuna Ludu|Trybuna Ludu (Poland)]]
* {{ill|Czerwony Sztandar (Vilnius)|pl|Czerwony Sztandar (Wilno)}} (1953–1990), Polish-language newspaper in Lithuanian SSR
* [[Népszabadság]] (until 1956 [[Szabad Nép]], Hungary)
* [[Neues Deutschland|Neues Deutschland (East Germany)]]
* [[Rabotnichesko Delo|Rabotnichesko Delo (Bulgaria)]]
* [[Rudé právo|Rudé právo (Czechoslovakia)]]
* [[Rahva Hääl|Rahva Hääl (annexed former Estonia)]]
* [[Pravda (Slovakia)]]
* [[Kauno diena|Kauno diena (annexed former Lithuania)]]
* [[Scînteia|Scînteia (Romania)]]
* [[Zvyazda|Zvyazda (Belarus)]].

The [[Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union|Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS)]] served as the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations. It was frequently infiltrated by Soviet intelligence and security agencies, such as the [[NKVD]] and [[Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye|GRU]]. TASS had affiliates in 14 Soviet republics, including the [[Lithuanian SSR]], [[Latvian SSR]], [[Estonian SSR]], [[Moldavian SSR]]. [[Ukrainian SSR]] and [[Byelorussian SSR]].

Western countries invested heavily in powerful transmitters which enabled services such as the [[BBC]], [[VOA]] and [[Radio Free Europe]] (RFE) to be heard in the Eastern Bloc, despite attempts by authorities to jam the airways.