The Development of Public Relations in Estonia

by Tuomas Muhonen


Introduction
Estonia under totalitarian rule

In this article (with links) I will give a short introduction to the background of public relations in Estonia. According to Kaja Tampere (2003: 6) the main aim of the communist ideology was to keep people uninformed. Almost all were controlled in a totalitarian system. Especially media was controlled very strictly. The official ideology was that people were happy in the Soviet family (Tampere 2003: 6).

Next article in the Estonian newspaper Postimees will give a good perspective to public relations and journalism under Soviet rule in Estonia. The article tells about the fire of University of Tartu in 1965. The original article is in Estonian, but I have translated it in English (with a help of compiler). Here is the link to the original article: Oled kuulnud, et ülikool põles? and here is the translation of the article: Have you heard that the university burnt?

Public relations must be understood as a continuous process. Because of that the history of public relations affects to situation nowadays. As Kaja Tampere (2003: 10) has stated "The term public relations was unknown in the Soviet Union. But communication, communication management and propaganda existed."

USED SOURCES:

Tampere, K (2003) Public Relations in a Transition Society 1989-2002: Using a Stakeholder Approach in Organisational Communication and Relations Analyses, Doctoral Theses, Jyväskylä University Press (Finland)

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I would like to continue with the theme of communist ideology. According to Maarja Lõhmus (2002: 145–164) there were 8 kinds of myths of communist ideology in the public texts. Those myths were:

1. The myth of the creator Lenin and the Party and Marx and Engels as their predecessors
2. The myth of victory of the Great Soviet Socialist Revolution (Russian Revolution) and of a new era
3. The myth of the Great Patriotic War and the invincibility of the Soviet Union with many enemies ‘out there’
4. The myth of historical progression of socialism, communist world revolution and communist future
5. The myth of the Soviet republics as a united family
6. The myth of labour and constant improvement of the Soviet economy
7. The myth of the working class as ‘the leading power’
8. The myth of free and happy Soviet people and the new type of human

USED SOURCES:

Lõhmus, Maarja (2002) Transformation of Public Text in Totalitarian System. A Socio-semiotic Study of Soviet Censorship Practices in Estonian Radio in the 1980s. Doctoral Theses, Turku University Press (Finland)