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responsible for the final preparation of policy, filling in details with the cooperation of pertinent government departments. The final instructions are then implemented at lower levels of government by the various committees and offices concerned with the media. In addition, regular briefing sessions, held by party and government officials for media personnel, are effective mechanisms which diminish the need for prepublication censorship.

1. Printed matter

a. Press and periodicals

Because of strict controls, the daily press has experienced a decline in the total number of publications, total circulation, and the quality of content and format. As a result of merger or elimination of the non-Communist press, the number of daily publications decreased from 20 in 1948 to 13 in 1953; in the same period total daily circulation decreased from 2.4 million to 1.7 million. Reflecting the press reforms of the Dubcek government, the number of dailies reached a high of 33 in 1969 although circulation was only 1.2 million. After the press was again reduced to being a government mouthpiece, the number of dailies decreased to 29 in 1971 while circulation fell slightly below 1.2 million. Moreover, newspapers became even more stereotyped in form and content, tending to concentrate on prescribed themes with little variation in depth of coverage or extent of comment.

In 1971, among the dailies with circulations of at least 100,000 (Figure 17), the most authoritative and widely circulated newspapers were Rude Pravo, the official organ of the Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSC), and Pravda, its sister Soviet publication. Founded in 1920, Rude Pravo is imitated by other newspapers in presentation and layout. National in outlook and scope, it has a large subscription list as well as substantial newsstand sales. The paper is also commonly displayed on public bulletin boards. Like its Czech counterpart, Pravda is authoritative and an outlet for official views. However, its circulation is mostly limited to Slovakia, and regional news receives more attention. General news is often summarized or extracted from Rude Pravo.

In 1971, 1,315 periodicals were published, a decline from a high of 1,589 in 1969. The total average circulation for weekly periodicals in 1971 was about 7.9 million; total circulation for all periodicals is unavailable. Virtually every major party and government organ, as well as intellectual institution, publishes its own periodical. Aimed at a selected readership, the vast majority are newsletters or highly specialized in content, and few have a national circulation.

Among the important weekly periodicals are Tvorba (Creation) which deals principally with domestic, political, and cultural affairs, and Tribuna, which focuses on party problems and foreign events. More popular weeklies include Vlasta (Motherland), an illustrated magazine for women with a weekly circulation in 1971 of 650,000, and Kvety (Blossoms), an illustrated party periodical with a weekly circulation of 300,000 in 1971. Occasionally magazines, critical of the government and the party, appear, but they are published by a small number of dissidents and appeal to a limited readership. The authorities often take no action against such publications as long as their influence remains small. An example was Samizdat, a political monthly, which circulated among intellectuals in Prague and other cities in 1971.

The sole outlet for all domestic and foreign news for all media is the Czechoslovak News Agency (CTK or CETEKA), which functions as an arm of the Press and Information Office. Distributing more than 40,000 items annually, CTK prepares and disseminates special news summaries, bulletins, and short articles. It is represented in several major foreign capitals. Fifty-seven exchange agreements are also maintained with the news services of both Communist and Western nations, including United Press International. In addition, CTK established the Prague-based International Organization of Journalists, which has trained over 100 editors, technicians, and photographers from various Asian and African countries.

b. Books and libraries

Book publishing has grown only slightly during the 1960's. In 1960, the number of published titles totaled 5,818. The number increased to 6,503 in 1965, decreased to 5,800 in 1969, and increased again to 6,607 in 1971. In that year, the major subject categories included social policy and popular education (1,086 titles), fiction (982 titles), technical sciences (648 titles), and children's literature (597 titles).

The restrictions imposed on the publishing industry since 1968 have been less sweeping than those placed on the other mass media, which played a considerably more important role in mobilizing public opinion during the Dubcek era. Book publishers have come under increasing government criticism, however, for their reluctance to reemphasize "socialist" literature over Western and politically "unconstructive" works.

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