1980s: Cultural and Political Background

The 1980s was a decade that, more than others, saw important social and economic changes.

As wealth and production migrated to newly industrializing economies and economic liberalization increased in the developed world, multinational corporations relocated in countries like South Korea, Taiwan and China, previously almost ignored, and created new market economies in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Wall of Berlin[1], probably the most important event in the decade.

Hostility to authoritarianism and the failing command economies of communist states resulted in a wave of reformist policies such as the Perestroika, one of  the reasons for the fall of communism in the Soviet Union, and Glasnost, the policy of maximal openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the same URSS[2], along with the overthrows of a number of regimes in Poland, Hungary, China (with the historical Tiananmen Square protests of 1989) and Czechoslovakia (with the non-violent Velvet Revolution)[3].

By 1989, with the dismantle of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union announced the abandonment of political hostilities toward the western world and the end of Cold War, thus changing the world settlement after almost fifty years.

But the Eighties were also the years of space exploration and in April 1981, after a five years hiatus, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Columbia and from there the Shuttle Program progressed smoothly with three more launches in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Flights then took an abrupt break in 1986 when the Challenger exploded 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission before resuming in September 1988 with the launch of the Discovery.[4]

A subject that had a major impact on different media were planetary researches and reports. The probes Voyager, probably the most famous, after making a flyby of Jupiter in 1979, they visited Saturn in 1980 and 1981. Voyager 2 reached Uranus in 1986 (just a few days before the Challenger disaster), and Neptune in 1989, before exiting the solar system. Meanwhile the Soviets launched two Mars probes in 1988, but failed ignominiously.[5]

With regards to politics, the 1980s were defined by the triumph of conservatism. In America the election of Republican Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980 marked a change that some Americans cheered while many others looked on in astonishment. His political agenda focused on abolishing federal bureaucracy and regulations, allowing American business to return to doing what it did best: producing mountains of goods for a mass-consumption society[6]. In foreign policy he was an abiding anticommunist, virtually returning the nation to a 1950s-style Cold War.

The situation was rather similar in United Kingdom, where the country was governed by the Conservative Party under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the first female leader of a western country (as well as the protagonist of the vast majority of jokes on TV, newspapers and Radio at the time). Under her Premiership, the party introduced widespread economic reforms including the privatization of industries and the de-regulation of stock markets, echoing similar reforms of the US president Reagan[7]. Just like him she also was a staunch opponent of communism, an attitude that made her earning the famous nickname “The Iron Lady”.

But to keep track with all social changes and cover all the events that were about to change the world, the media needed to grow, especially television. With rising costs of materials and labor, and with competition from 24-hour cable television news, many newspapers disappeared, leaving many towns with only one print voice to service them. Satellite television reported events across the world live while cable news and subscription cable television rose in popularity, competing with network television.

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[1] http://www.time.com

[2] http://www.opendemocracy.net

[3] Tagliabue J., “Upheaval in the East; From All Czechoslovakia, a Joyful Noise”, The New York Times, 1989

[4] http://www.nasa.gov

[5] http://www.nasa.gov

[6] “The 1980s: Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview”, Gale Research Inc., 1996

[7] http://www.number10.gov.uk