«The Revolution Has Been Televised…». Television as Historical Agent in the Romanian Revolution The article analyses the role of television in the 1989 Romanian revolution. Based on documents of the Romanian secret services, audiovisual material and interviews with former television employees, it sheds new light onto the revolutionary events. The participation of television in the overthrow of Ceaus˛escu should be understood as the climax of a decade-long process of power struggles between audiences, Ceaus˛escu and the Securitate. The televising of the revolution was a central act in transferring elements from the Communist regime into the new era and representing them as the new democratic leadership. The article argues that television is a localised, naturalised and figurative agent. In order to understand the role of television in historical events, these different instances of televisual agency need to be addressed.
It is our great pleasure to present this special issue of VIEW Journal of European Television and Culture in honour of Sonja de Leeuw, one of the founding members of the journal. The issue brings together articles that honour Sonja’s inspiring contributions to television history and television historiography.
The historical value of audiovisual archives lies as much in the
documented collection they have to offer as in the losses that history has
imprinted on them. Controversial material that has been confiscated by the
secret police in communist Romania or records of programmes that have been
destroyed due to economizing practices of ‘taking the silver out of the
pellicle’ are important facts in the history of Romanian television. Equally
important for history is the ‘leftover’ material filmed during the Romanian
revolution, which now lives in the shadow of the screened footage. Pursuing
the life story of an archival institution and understanding its relations
with history forms an important preliminary step for the historian in
assessing the documented history within the archive.
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