Tal der Ahnungslosen

ARD coverage in East Germany, and broadcasting sites near the inner German border.

Tal der Ahnungslosen (Valley of the Clueless) was a satirical designation for two regions in the southeast and northeast parts of former East Germany.

The inhabitants of these areas were generally not able to receive television stations from West Germany.^[1] West-German television stations were widely considered to be more reliable in their news coverage than their communist east-German counterparts and therefore the people who could not receive those stations were thought to be less well informed about the (political) situation in their country and in the world ^[2] (despite still having access to some Western radio).

From the late 1970s onwards as the GDR authorities became resigned to the presence of Westfernsehen and with the introduction of cable (and later Satellite) technologies the number of East German residents (even in areas far from the border) without access to at least one channel from the West declined further.

See also

• Deutscher Fernsehfunk
• Der schwarze Kanal
• Ochsenkopf Transmitter

External links

• Fernsehempfang im Tal der Ahnungslosen Television reception in Tal der Ahnungslosen
• Im Tal der Ahnungslosen - Westfernsehen Marke Eigenbau Homegrown West TV
• Video (in German)

References

1. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/09/business/worldbusiness/09iht-east.html
2. http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2014/06/from-the-valley-of-the-clueless-to-the-valley-of-unknowing.html