Tal der Ahnungslosen

West German television stations were widely considered to be more reliable in their coverage than their Communist East German counterparts, Fernsehen der DDR, and therefore the people who could not receive those stations were thought to be less well informed about the contemporary situation in their country and in the world,[citation needed] despite having access to some Western radio.

The West German broadcasters took measures to cover as much of East Germany as possible, building high-powered transmitter sites on the highest ground possible near the border (as well as in West Berlin) and placing ARD on the VHF Band I channels which carried the farthest.

Notable in this regard was the transmitter on Ochsenkopf in Bavaria, which covered much of southern East Germany with ARD on VHF channel E4 (61-68 MHz), but required the use of large and conspicuous antennas nicknamed Ochsenkopfantenne for reception.

[3] In fact, a 2009 study of the opened Stasi documents revealed that the dissatisfaction with the regime was recorded higher in the "Valley of the Clueless".

[4] Effects of these media exposure differences have been found to last a decade into German reunification, with those not exposed to Western television broadcasts less inclined to believe that effort rather than luck determines success in life.