The Image of the United States of America in the Polish Newsreels (PKF) 1948–1953

The Polish version of the article was published in Roczniki Humanistyczne 59 (2011), issue 2. This article analyzes the contents of sections of Polish Newsreel (PKF) of the years 1948–1953 concerning the United States of America in the context of political, international, military, economic and social issues. The image of the USA shown in Polish Newsreel did not have a lot in common with reality and it was part of the vision of the world created for propaganda needs. The propaganda machine, a part of which Polish Newsreel was, in order to achieve the aims that it had set out, used a whole palette of propaganda techniques and rules: selecting the prepared footage, generalizations, the use of characteristic clusters of ideas (“warmongers”, “American perpetrators of genocide”, “the new SS”, “the bondage of the dollar”), combining information with interpretation. All of this was done with the use of the modern medium, that is, film. Joining the layers of pictures, sound and commentary, as well as the particular conditions encountered during screenings of Polish Newsreel shows gave the viewer the possibility to deeply experience the scenes presented, to get emotionally involved in them, and, hence, to identify with the imposed interpretation of the viewed material.