Tuesday, May 8, 2007

W 085 F

Introduction
Past and future are real misteries for everyone. Many curious people even spend money on fortune tellers or on astrologers in order to prepare themselves for possible bad or good experiences. Others are more interested in their past : they search for their ancestors or simply read historical novels.

I belong to those who want to know more about the events of the past, so I decided to research on a Friday almost 23 years ago, the day I was born. It was the 7th of February , 1975. My aim in this paper was to describe that day based on the content analysis of interviews, reports, sport news, advertisements, foreign, national and local news stories of Dunántúli Napló, a local daily paper I often read.

Method
I chose Dunántúli Napló because it is the only paper I know well, my family subscribes to this one, and I read it almost every day. I found the February 7, 1975 issue in the Faculty Library of Janus Pannonius University of Pécs, in building "A". I read the paper thoroughly and picked some titles I found stimulating. I tried to analise the content of the articles in relation to their titles. I also examined the TV programmes and I compared them with the present day programmes. In some cases I compared the February 7, 1975 issue concerning its appearance and the content of its articles with the present-day Dunántúli Napló.

Results and Discussion
The difference between the cover page of the February 7, 1975 issue and of a present-day issue is striking. The name of the newspaper today is Új Dunántúli Napló instead of Dunántúli Napló, and it is not the paper of MSZMP any more but a public daily. MSZMP is the abbreviation of "Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt"-Hungarian Socialist Labour Party - which was the only political party in the socialism in Hungary.

The other conspicuous difference is its price : in 1975 it cost 80 fillérs, today it is 46 Fts. The fillér does not exist any more, and the Hungarian money became devaluated in 23 years.

Foreign news
One foreign news was about Soliut - 4 a space station in orbit around the Earth . The article reported on an equipment which transformed all the evaporations of the human body into water. Astronauts had to take hundreds of kilograms of water with them for longer space flights. Experiments on Soliut made it possible to decrease the amount of this water supply. The equipment produced drinking water which the staff used for washing.

The astronauts had a day off on Wednesday, but they worked that day too; they cleaned up the space station. They also had a little bit of entertainment : they delighted in the sight of Earth on the illuminator ("Még mindig kering…" 2).

This article gave information about the life and work of some people who did not have ordinary jobs: they were astronauts. Though the major part of the article concerned the functioning of a scientific equipment, the author, whose name was not written at the end of the text, explained the importance of the equipment to an incompetent reader clearly. Its title " Még mindig kering a Szaljut-4" - " Soliut - 4 is still revolving " - suggested that the reader had already heard of the space station.

Page 5 was dedicated to short foreign news from which I picked two. Both were about strange events.

The first one reported that in Libya the prohibition of alcoholic drinks was enacted. Those who were caught drinking even only a glass of vine were to be caned or imprisoned. People violating this law could get 10-40 blows or imprisonment of 3 months to 1 year ("Részegségért botütés" 5). At least in Libya everyone was sober - or should have been - the day I was born.

The second article was about Salvador Dali who got a good bargain selling one single hair of his moustache for 5000 dollars to an American collector. The eccentric Spanish painter was asked whether he wanted to stop painting and make a living out of his hair. He said he would wait until hair prices increased a little bit ( "Hajárak " 5).

I believe that a local newspaper also has to report on events which do not influence the given region but still are newsworthy. I found these two articles colorful and worth reading. Already their titles suggested that they would treat unusual topics. A good title is a success in itself because it catches the reader's attention. Both titles : "Részegségért botütés " and " Hajárak alakulása " - " Caning for drunkenness " and " The changing of hair prices " - made me curious.

National news
There was an article in the February 7, 1975 issue of Dunántúli Napló dealing with the birth of babies. It was a report based on statistical data. In the 1970's experts said that an ideal Hungarian family should have three children. In order to have more and more ideal families many steps were taken by the government. These political decisions urged the young couples to have a third child.

Data showed that while in 1973 in Pécs 112 families with three children claimed flat, by 1974 the number of these families increased to 167. The data proved that there were more and more big families in Hungary. One of the favours granted to them was that they could get flats easier. Moreover they had more financial supports too. The amount of maternity grant, child bounty and other family supports also increased.

Still, there were problems: flats were not given for nothing. Even if flats were cheap, buying them could cause difficulties for many families. Rasing the children cost much too; toys, clothes, school supplies were expensive. But, fortunately, the data showed that the number of big families was still increasing ("Jön-e a harmadik…" 3).

After having read this report I came to the conclusion that in the 1970's the government supported families more than it does today. Though its title "Jön-e a harmadik gyerek?" - "Is the third child coming?"- suggested that it would deal with children it did not show in what context.

Local news
The first one was an interview with a lucky man who had won on the lotto several times. In February 1975 his prize was 300 thousand forints which was obviously apparent in the title already.

He used to go to school without shoes when he was 17; later on he became a brick factory worker, and in 1975 at the age of 52 he had a little shop in Harkány.

He was said to be rolling in money . At the OTP, which is the abbreviation of the Hungarian National Savings Bank, in Bajcsy-Zsilinszky street everyone knew him. He had won five times on the lotto but he preferred the football pools. He said it was better because he had to think too and there were many variations of possibilities. He had worked out a system 20 years ago which proved to be good and he had an eleven hit pool every week. He usually saved half the amount of money that he had won and spent the other half on lottery and pools again. He learnt how to economize. He spent his first prize 20 years ago on a ruined house and he was very happy with it because he used to live in digs before. Since then he even visited the seaside with his grandchildren. He never burnt his money, he was only a lotto and pools fan and not an unthinking gambler ("Háromszázezer…" 2).

Having read this article I noticed a difference again: today 300 thousand forints is not a big amount, and I still remember the time when I could buy one scoop of ice-cream for 2 forints. As I grew older the forint became more and more devaluated. But it is good to know that besides my Mom at least another man was happy on the first days of February 1975.

The second local news I picked was about some escaped horses. On the day before I was born a coach stopped in Aradi Vértanúk street and the coachman left his horses alone. They got bored with waiting and decided to head down for Hunyadi street. When the coachman beheld them he tried to catch the unfaithful horses by a taxi but he couldn't reach them. They neglected the No entry road sign and gallopped down to Nádor Szálló where they crashed into a correctly commuting Skoda. There were two people sitting in the car besides the driver, but fortunately none of them sustained any injuries. Only the left hand side door, and the bumper of the car got damaged. The horses were stopped by a pole, and proceedings were started against the negligent coachman ("Városnézõ lovak " 2).

I decided to read this article because I found its title "Városnézõ lovak" - "Horses Sightseeing" - funny. In fact, the whole text was humorous though it reported on an accident. Fortunately nobody sustained any injuries, so the style of the article was acceptable.

TV programme
Today the TV programme takes up a half page because there are more channels; in 1975 it occupied a small section at the bottom of the page. Having read the TV-programme I saw only a few familiar ones. For example " Tízen Túliak Társasága" or "TTT" and "Iskolatévé" which I used to watch when I was a child.

"Tízen Túliak Társasága" as its title suggests was a programme for teenagers. Boys and girls talked about their feelings, their private problems. Unfortunately I do not remember " Iskolatévé", but its title is familiar to me.

I was born at about 7 p.m. on the 7th of February. At that time there was the evening tale on TV1, and there was not a programme on TV 2 yet because this channel started to broadcast only at 8 p.m. At 8 p.m. there was not "Dallas" or "Savannah" on TV1 but a quiz-show.

Advertisements
The last but one page was for advertisements. According to the "Employment" section in February 1975 mainly secretaries, typists and accountants were wanted. A nurse and her friend looked for a job as baby-sitters. Two medical students, a young couple and a middle aged woman were looking for digs. Animals, cars, flats were on sale.

The advertisements were written in the same style, under the same sections or titles-"Adás-Vétel", "Ingatlan", "Vegyes", "Lakás", "Dolgozókat felvesznek" - as they are today. Secretaries, accountants are needed also in 1998, but today jobs are offerred mainly to salesmen ( "Apróhirdetések" 7 ).

Sport news
The last page was devoted to sports just like it is today.

The weather favoured the winter Olympic Games for pioneers on Kékes. There was enough snow so ski and sleigh championships could be held in the hills. János Pintér, a student of the "Gyakorló Iskola" of Pécs, the same elementary school I also attended, was placed second. Other students of Pécs got good placings too ("Úttörõolimpia" 8 ).

The title of this short news "Úttörõolimpia" would not tell much to an elementary school student today. When I was born the Hungarian words "úttörõ" and "kisdobos" were well-known. Everyone attending the lower grades of elementary school had to be "kisdobos", students attending the upper grades had to be "úttörõ". Both of them were groups belonging to the socialist youth movement.

Conclusion
When I started this paper I was sure to find many differences between the February 7, 1975 issue of Dunántúli Napló and a present day issue. In fact, there were differences concerning the appearance, the content and the price of the newspapers. These differences are due to the passing of time, the political and cultural changes. Since the change of regime MSZMP changed its name, and the "úttörõ" and "kisdobos" movements are not so popular any more. Due to scientific and cultural developments which reached Hungary since the change of regime there are for example thousands of TV-channels today. So it is obvious that larger sections are devoted to TV programmes in the paper nowadays.

As for the events of the 7th of February, 1975 I can report that nothing extraordinary happenned on that day. Actually the story of the escaped horses seemed to me unusual, but it happenned on the day before I was born.

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