TransborderTV

Television beyond Cold War Blocks: the role of TV Koper-Capodistria in overcoming Upper Adriatic Border divisions

HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-TALENTS-02 – 101180568

Duration: 1. 1. 2025 – 31.12.2026

Coordinator at ZRS Koper: dr. Federico Tenca Montini

Project’s budget: 155.559,36 EUR

Participating Institute at ZRS Koper: Institute for Historical studies

Project Summary:

TransborderTV aims to deconstruct the history of the Cold War in Europe through an in-depth qualitative analysis of the activities of TV Koper-Capodistria (TVCK). This Italian-language Yugoslav TV station was created in 1971 to address the needs of the Italianethnic minority in Yugoslavia, but it soon became a fundamental tool of transborder communication. This channel brought the firstcolour broadcast to Italian viewers, its programme schedule being regularly published in the Italian national press.

However, TVCKwas not only a platform for bilateral links. In a time of harsh ideological, political and military contrapositions between East and West,the case of TVCK represents a key example on a global level. While scholars have mainly analysed the impact of Western media onthe other side of the Iron Curtain, the role of Eastern media remains largely neglected or marginalised as propaganda. Researching thesuccessful transborder operations of TVCK will help to dismantle a rigid and unilateral perception of Cold War hierarchies and enableus to reshape the image of recent European history.

Using a multidisciplinary approach that takes into account research at the macro level (political decisions and organizational aspects) and the micro level (the experiences of viewers and key experts), the project examines the consequences of Yugoslavia’s positioning as the only socialist country to adopt PAL – the Western standard for television broadcasting. In addition, it explores the roles of local communities on both sides of the Italian-Yugoslav border, as TVCK actively engaged the Italian minority in Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav (Slovene) minority in Italy.

The project also focuses on the political and social context that allowed the Italian government to tolerate the existence of TVCK and for the Italian public to accept it. Given the groundbreaking nature of TVCK, TransborderTV will contribute to enriching the ongoing academic debate on the de-Westernization of modernity concepts.