Book Reviews : How the Communist Press Works. By ANTONY BUZEK. (New York, London: Fred erick A. Praeger, 1964. Pp. 287.)
| Published date | 01 March 1966 |
| Date | 01 March 1966 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296601900115 |
| Author | George Mond |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
152
ification.
The
author
might
have
pursued
the
question,
however,
by
inquiring
more
systematically
into
the
West
German
normative
setting
within
which
the
BDI
has
been
operating.
In
spite
of
occasional
differences
within
the
BDI
membership
(basic
vs.
processing
industries,
fuel
oil
vs.
coal
industries,
large
us.
small/marginal
indus-
tries,
etc.)
the
BDI
appears
to
have
been
relatively
successful
in
reconciling
its
artic-
ulation
function
with
its
aggregative
function.
Moreover,
there
seems
to
be
little
prospect
of
any
competitor
group
emerging
within
the
business
community
which
might
challenge
the
BDI’s
claim
to
&dquo;representativeness.&dquo;
Among
the
resources
avail-
able
to
the
BDI
in
attempting
to
influence
public
policies,
those
of
campaign
con-
tributions
and
friendly,
confidential
relationships
between
officers
of
the
BDI
and
key
public
policy
makers
would
appear
to
be
of
prime
importance.
The
impact
of
campaign
contributions
is
most
clearly
discernible
in
the
uneasy
dependency
of
the
FDP
upon
business
contributions,
while
the
CDU-CSU,
although
expecting
and
receiving
major
financial
support
from
the
business
community,
is
somewhat
shielded
from
this
dependency
relationship
as
a
result
of
the
party’s
aggregative
character
and
a
voter
appeal
that
cuts
across
occupational
and
regional
lines.
The
access
of
BDI
president
Fritz
Berg
to
the
top
levels
of
the
national
executive
during
Adenauer’s
chancellorship
suggests
the
importance
which
personal
and
informal
approaches
have
played
in
the
BDI’s
tactics.
Whether
the
BDI
will
continue
to
enjoy
such
an
advantage
during
the
chancellorship
of
Erhard,
who
has
clashed
in
the
past
with
the
BDI
on
important
policy
questions,
remains
to
be
seen.
What
does
all
this
mean
in
terms
of
the
actual
role
or
power
of
the
BDI
in
the
West
German
political
system?
Professor
Braunthal
is
not
sanguine
about
the
possi-
bility
of
devising
an
index
of
power
that
would
answer
such
a
question.
He
is
per-
suaded
in
light
of
his
study
that
any
dogmatic
assertion
of
a
dominance
of
the
West
German
political
process
by
&dquo;economic
plutocrats&dquo;
is
unwarranted
and
that
the
pluralist
thesis
of
countervailing
powers
offers
a
more
valid
conceptual
framework
for
estimating
the
successes
and
failures
of
the
BDI
as
a
political
interest
group.
If
we
can
secure
studies
of
other
West
German
interest
groups
which
are
comparable
in
quality
to
Braunthal’s,
we
may
be
in
a
position
to
begin
testing
this
thesis.
Louisiana
State
University
RONALD
F.
BUNN
How
the
Communist
Press
Works.
By
ANTONY
BUZEK.
(New
York,
London:
Fred-
erick
A.
Praeger,
1964.
Pp.
287.)
Antony
Buzek,
eminent
Czech
journalist
of
this
generation,
now
working
for
the
Daily
Express
in
London,
held
a
position
of
responsibility
in
the
official
Czechosl~vak
news
agency
&dquo;C.T.K.&dquo;
He
decided,
in
1961,
to
settle
in
England,
just
prior
to
the
anti-Stalinist
turning-point
in
his
country.
He
is,
therefore,
thoroughly
familiar
with
the
subject
of
his
study:
&dquo;How
the
communist
press
works.&dquo;
It
is
a
remarkable
work.
Buzek
has succeeded
in
presenting
a
manual
of
the
communist
press,
containing
an
historical
outline,
a
sketch of
the
structure
of
the
news,
and
a
political
analysis
of
the
Stalin
and
Khrushchev
eras
from
the
point
of
view
of
the
press.
If
one
considers
that
this
richness
of
facts,
figures,
and
quotations
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