Tuesday, May 8, 2007

W 093 F

INTRODUCTION
The aim of my research is to represent the day of my birth on 10th February in 1979. This paper introduces the happenings that occupied people on that particular day, based on the articles of two daily papers: Népszabadság and Csongrádi Hírlap. I chose Népszabadság because it has been the most popular daily paper in Hungary ever since. . Csongrádi Hírlap mainly focused on the events of Csongrád county where I was born. I examined two daily papers, because I wanted to see which one emphasised which aspect.

As 10th February in 1979 was a free Saturday, the structure and content of the papers differed from those on other weekdays. These newspapers were written to a wider layer of people; they included also entertaining articles and more sports news in order to amuse both young and old.

A history textbook (Konrád, Salamon. Történelem 4.) claims that by the late 70s the economic and social situation of the country was going regularly from bad to worse; the over-indebtedness became alarming. The leadership of the country considered the financial balance, solvency and sustaining the life standard to be in the centre. The Party apparatus directed the country without asking people, so the latter turned away from politics. They took care only of their personal prosperity and if they worked hard they succeeded.

As both newspapers begun with the slogan: Proletarians of the World, Unite!, it is not a surprise that the articles on politics were written according to the Hungarian Socialist Labour Party.

METHOD
I surveyed Népszabadság and Csongrádi Hírlap issued on 10th February in 1979 according to three aspects.

First I analysed the two newspapers separately in accordance to form, structure and content, then compared them and examined the overlaps and differences between them.

® FORM
Newspaper readers seek for either the usual type of papers or the unusual attention-attracter papers. I checked the sizes of the newspapers and the location of the articles....

® STRUCTURE
I examined the structural proportion of the articles in both newspapers - how much they commented on politics, economics and sports.

® CONTENT
I analysed the content of both newspapers and what the editorial articles were about; as those would call the attention of the readers to the actual problems. I investigated what home news and news from abroad could be found in which paper, and whether there were any overlaps between them

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Népszabadság was the central newspaper of MSZMP, and as such it had a wide circulation.. Its significance used to be nation-wide; not only because it did not have many competitors, but because it rose questions of public interest. It gave a global view about the country. It talked to everyone using a language within the capacity of ordinary people.

Népszabadság consisted of 12 pages which were the size of 60X40 cm. The title was located on the top of the first page, it got the hugest emphasize. The titles of articles were composed with letters according to the size and importance of them. The outlook of the newspaper was rather serious; it was set in black and white; it contained few illustrations, as the task of a political daily paper is not to entertain but to inform people.

The main subjects of Népszabadság were internal politics and foreign affairs; in particular consideration for socialist countries and economics. It also included advertisements, TV and radio programs, sports and crossword puzzles..

The editorial article of the paper was situated on the left of the first page so that the reader could catch it first. The first and second pages commented on foreign affairs through 15 articles. On the third and fourth pages Hungarian politics took part - articles about the Party and visits of statesmen to certain areas of the country.. The fifth and sixth pages informed the reader about the state of Hungarian economics and commerce. On the following pages news was to be found being rather mixed, talking to people who were interested in interesting information, including deaths of famous people, disasters, accidents, sports and TV programs. Népszabadság also dealt with legal guidance, opinions of readers and advice for gardeners. A whole page was given for advertising purposes and one - the last one - for commenting on sports news.

The editorial article is usually the first item that one would read. According to Kapajag Imre the most up-to-date information to be communicated is that the Minister of Commerce opened a self service restaurant in Óbuda. The writer of the article considers the step a significant one for the future. The presence of the Minister was symbolic as the Ministry had announced the self service program 10 years earlier. The changing demands of customers, the troubles of staffnumber in commerce, the growing of foreign tourist traffic incited the craft to initiate new methods. So, however slowly, self service system was more and more spreading.

Foreign affairs took place in the first two pages; the situation abroad was rather vivid those days - social tensions were to face with in several countries.

The correspondent of Népszabadság gave information of the critical situation in French. In Longwy, Nantes, thousands of young people went on strike against unemployment. The police shot tearsmoke into the crowd. Rocher, the secretary of federal communist party claimed that “the power replies by tearsmoke and truncheon to those who demand bread and work and protect their own rights” (2).

In Sanghai thousands of young people who were sent to the country for the purpose of re-education, stroke against the party committee. Their behaviour was exclaimed to be causeless and unbearable - nothing changed. As answer to the flat refusal of the committee the strikers stopped the trains and blocked traffic. .

The life of politics in Hungary was peaceful that day. Népszabadság gave information about party leaders’ visits to different parts of the country. . . .

Economics. On the particular occasion of the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Council of Mutual Economical Aid ( COMECON ) a celebration was held in the House of Soviet Culture and Science. Papp László, the chairman of the committee of Technical Improvement, claimed that ’’Hungary has taken place in the work of COMECON in an active way.’’(4) We also strived for developing our economic contacts both with the capital states and developing countries without discrimination, on the footing of reciprocal equality.

Here come the news which I found rather colourful after the serious politics and economics..

There was a natural gas explosion in Zsana which caused Fire. Hundreds of firemen had attempted to defend it for the 16th day, unsuccessfully. The only hope was laid in the army, they would assault the equipment with cannons. “However, the Cameron-type explosion-obstructive equipment was made of steel; so the firemen and the army could only weaken its position” (7). T. E. did not tell how the action resulted.

The last item in Népszabadság was sport. A Budapest-Championship was held in the soul of European Championship in the Olimpiai Csarnok. Champions would be ordained in 13 items: Woman and man of 60, 400 and 1500 metres running; 4X100 metres of relay-race, pole jumping, shot putting, long jump and high jump.

CSONGRÁDI HÍRLAP is a local paper which means it is popular only in Csongrád county. It deals mainly with the happenings of the towns within the county; however it also gives information about foreign affairs and country-wide politics.

Csongrádi Hírlap consists of 10 pages which are 42X30 cm large Its title can be found on the top of the first page. The paper was printed in black, even the illustrations were black and white.

The main subjects of Csongrádi Hírlap were local news, internal politics, foreign affairs, sports, crossword-puzzles and TV programmes.

The editorial article was located in the left of the first page. The first page gave information about local economics and public life events. The second page consisted of 10 articles of foreign affairs. The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th pages informed the reader about local news of economics, commerce and events of public interest. The rest of the paper was to entertain the audience.

The editorial article written by Bedõ Nándor gave a general overview about how a higher life standard could be reached. He claimed that “ Our society has come over the witchcraft of quantity” (1), now quality was emphasized. “We have to find durably expedient solutions to our up-to-date businesses. This cannot be achieved elseway but by a more high standard working behaviour that is more productive.’’ (1). .

A Hungarian-Yugoslavian electricity-industrial argument took place in Szeged. Schiller János, leader of the Hungarian delegation claimed that “ the energy exchange and the reciprocal help in case of operating troubles are regular through the transmission lines between the two countries “ (1).

The page of foreign affairs informed the reader about the general tensions in Sanghai, as well as about the strikes in France. . .

Local news. An assembly of co-operative farms of Csongrád county took place on Friday. The Kinizsi Tsz. closed the year 1978 with good production results. The Lenin Tsz. closed the year with deficiency; the yield of fodder production stayed behind the planned amount - so the sustainment of livestock could be managed only by buying import fodder. The Május 1. Tsz. surpassed the norms in plant production but in animal breading only 10 million forints of benefit was realised instead of the planned 12 million forints.

A memorial celebration was held in the House of Soviet Culture and Science for the 30th anniversary of the forming of COMECON.

In Zsana the situation was unchanged. Thousands of firemen had been fighting against the fire caused by the natural gas explosion -resultlessly.

In Szeged a celebration of conferring of doctor‘s degree took place in József Attila University. 76 students of lawyers, 26 arts students, 29 students of natural science took their doctor’s degree over.

Csongrádi Hírlap gave a list of names who had been born, died and married on the 10th February, 1979 in Csongrád county. 84 babies were born including myself, 13 couples got married and 103 people died on that particular day.

Sport. On Saturday and Sunday the 3-week-long fight for the Cup of Csongrádi Hírlap in handball would come to finish in Szeged Sports Hall. Only two teams of men were fighting for the gold medal: Szegedi Volán and Szegedi DVSC. . In women’s regard Békéscsaba Elõre Spartacus and Szegedi Konzerv SK would possess the best chances.

CONCLUSION
NÉPSZABADSÁG was a mass circulation newspaper; it has been read in every region of the country. Csongrádi Hírlap was also a mass circulation newspaper but only in the relations of the county.

The structure of contents of the two daily papers was similar.

Csongrádi Hírlap obviously took several news over from Népszabadság, most of which were in connection with foreign affairs and home politics, for example: visits of statesmen and the 30th anniversary celebration of COMECON.

Both papers commented on the gas explosion of Zsana . This catastrophe must have been the most significant event of that time which occupied the public sentiment and rose the most concern of people in the country.

The editorial articles of the newspapers were written on different subjects; though both of them expressed a general state of affairs of the country with a desire for improvement.

The differences between Népszabadság and Csongrádi Hírlap followed from the fact that Népszabadság gave a global overview on the happenings of the country and Csongrádi Hírlap reduced its attention to the problems concerning Csongrád county.

I wonder if people were buying these papers because it was a fashion or a symbol of status; or because they were interested in the content of them. The lack of real information has been somewhat disturbing for me during the writing of this research paper; however, this quality of newspapers must have satisfied Hungarian people in 1979 because neither Népszabadság nor Csongrádi Hírlap has gone bankrupt since.

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