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on the responsiveness of the organization's leadership to his dictates. This has been particularly true of the editorial boards of the press and other informational media as well as of the many social organizations used by the Communist Party as transmission belts to specific interest groups within the population.

Consistency, in terms of long-range objectives, and frequent tactical swings are dual features of the regime's propaganda effort. This is particularly true in domestic policy, where popular resistance to such long-term goals as socialized agriculture and the victory of the materialistic world outlook over religion has rendered direct propaganda on these long-term themes ineffective. Moreover, the Gierek regime, mindful of the increased sophistication and skepticism of the populace, is committed to rational persuasion on the basis of informed discussion, rather than the simple but massive distribution of predigested official views to an unquestioning audience. As a result, the task now facing the party's control apparatus and the public media is vastly more complex; it requires imaginative ideas and methods from a propaganda bureaucracy not accustomed to provide either, and responsible presentation by media personnel. The latter's well-developed capacity for self-imposed control is in large part to be credited with the fact that the enlivenment of the public information system under Gierek has remained within ideologically acceptable limits.

2. Radio and television

Radio and TV transmission facilities are owned, operated, and their output determined by the government through the Committee for Radio and Television Affairs, attached directly to the Council of Ministers (cabinet). In technical matters the committee cooperates closely with the Ministry of Communications, but in terms of policy guidance on programing it is merely the executive arm of the Communist party's Central Committee.

The rapid growth in radiobroadcasting is reflected in the steadily increasing number of radio subscribers until the later 1960's, when the concurrent and even more rapid growth of television began to make inroads on the further expansion of broadcasting (Figure 53). The majority of listeners live in urban areas, especially in Warszawa province and in the urban centers of Silesia and the western parts of the country. In early 1973 there were 28 AM stations and 25 FM stations. The majority of these were regional stations rebroadcasting one or more of the three main program services originating in the studios of Warsaw radio, although many originate independent programs of local interest. Ownership of muhltiband radio receivers is rapidly supplanting the once widespread system of wired loudspeaker sets, which are limited to preset domestic reception; these account for only 17% of all subscriptions. Because all radio and television is noncommercial, subscribers must pay an annual fee determined by the type of set owned. Since the late 1960's transistor sets and automobile radios need not be separately licensed if the owner is already a registered subscriber.

Although television is still not as widespread in Poland as in comparable Western countries, it has been the most rapidly growing medium of public information in the country. In early 1973 there were 18 main TV stations and 26 relay transmitters in operation, covering between 80% and 90% of the country and approximately the same percentage of the population. The central TV station in Warsaw originated over half of all programs, with studios in Katowice, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Krakow, Poznan, Lodz, and Szczecin—in that order—accounting for most of the remainder; other cities, however, originate short

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