The Media and Intra-Elite Communication in Poland

A review of the important role played by limited-distribution bulletins in informing the Polish leadership about domestic and foreign affairs. These bulletins include translations of international wire service reports, transcripts of Western radio broadcasts into Poland, and reprints of articles censored from the mass media. Controls on what is published in these bulletins are looser and more indirect than those on the mass media; the leadership generally uses them for its own information but does not decide what should appear in them. While bulletins are not the only source of unpublished information in Poland, they do have a significant impact on policymaking and the thinking of political leaders. This study is a portion of a broad study of Polish media, summarized in R-2627. Other parts of the study are reported in N-1514/1, N-1514/2, N-1514/3, N-1514/5, and N-1514/6.