Information Confrontation Between the USSR and the USA During the Cold War: A Review of Current Foreign Studies

Abstract

The paper reviews current research on the study of information confrontation between the USSR and the USA during the Cold War, published in leading foreign journals in the field of communications over the past 15 years. The authors systematized English-, French- and German-language academic discourses, thus presenting the global view of the academic community on the information dimension of the Cold War and the peculiarities of national research approaches. The theoretical research reveals the main themes, theoretical frameworks and methods used in foreign studies. The main topics for research papers were the role of the media in the ideological confrontation between East and West and the influence of the Cold War context on the coverage of international events. Foreign researchers most often used the methods of content analysis, analysis of archival documents and case studies in their works. To identify the specifics of the information confrontation between East and West, researchers analyze the content of press, radio, television and cinema. It is noteworthy that the French and German academic discourses are dominated by the examination of the Soviet-American information confrontation on the example of audiovisual content. A characteristic feature for papers of researchers from the UK and the USA is the study of the mechanisms of journalistic working practice in times of the Cold War.