WESTERN PRESS GETS NO MEDALS FOR REPORTING ON EAST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000400180001-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 27, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 11, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

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BELGRADE ?-?- When the nations of East
,and West finally assemble in Helsinki for a
:European security conference, it is a sure
-thing that the press of both Will be there to
record- the event ? each from its own point
of view. Like the conferees themselves, the
man from Pravda and the man from the
BBC will bring their own biases and their
own differing perceptions of truth to that
?
?
Over the years, not much study has been
given .to the press' role in the cold war, par-
ticularly to the role of the Western press,
-Newspapers and radio stations, of course,
did not divide Europe or make the confron-
tation. But., they have been heavily involved
in it, right from the start. So it is hard to
Imagine any real 'relaxation in Europe un-
less both, sides temper their .words and, if
such a thing is really possible, refine their
.1mages of each other.
Leaving aside the knovn role of the Corn-
? muni.st press as a controlled vehicle of state
and party- policy, it might still be worth.
asking whether the "independent". Western
Media do not ?serve also as an occasional
conduit for propaganda, and unwitting tool
N of Western ideology.
A few years agb, an American newspaper
carried a story about Vietnam under the
'headline, "Americans Kill 5,1 Reds." A Yugo-
slav diplomat discreetly pointed out to the
editor that the headline. could not possibly
? be correct, While U.S. troops may have,killed
.54 Vietcong, he noted, in all probability not
more than four 'or five of the victims were
, Communist Party members, or "Reds," The
'distinction may seem a technical one. But to
? the Communist diplomat it seemed a callous
misrepresentation subtly reinforcing. the
-idea that "Red" equals enemy.
In August of this year, this correspondent
'reported from Bucharest that Soviet units
would maneuver jointly with local troops in
Bulgaria in September. The source of the in-
? formation was a very high ranking Western,
diplomat, Maneuvers have since taken plac6
in Bulgaria ? but apparently without th'e.
three Soviet divisions .menticined. by the clip-
lomat. Whether he was duped, or the corm.-
Spondent was, or whether the originating
'NJ 'source was. the CIA, M-15 or even the KGB
cannot be ascertained. Maybe joint marteu
. vers .were called off. Maybe they will still
take place. Whatever the truth is, or whoev-
er's purpose was. served, the story had the
effect of increasing tensions in the Balkans.
- Nevertheless Western reporting : of
the Communist world has become yr:7-30y
more sophisticated and discriminating in the
last 1.0 years.
? TO some degree, eastern journals also may
? have become somewhat ?more even zind
? objective on events in the West. Thus has
-long been true of the lively, informative Yu-
goslav preSs, though Yugoslav journaltists
By Dan Morgan
Washington Post Porcin Service
dialectieal writing to report on workers dem-
onstratimg in support of 'U.S. Vietnam in-
VolVen'talit. ?
This s.:ummer, the Warsaw weekly Polityka
. opened, up its columns to an East-West "dia-
logue" on European security between its edi-
tor, 111;ieczyslaw F. Rakowski, and the editor
of the London Economist, Alastair Burnet.
Otherwise, there lia.s been very little re-
finennont in Communist commentary on the
capitadist world. Thus, the Polish newspaper
Slow o PowSzechne recently described the
pressl?government struggle over publication
of the Pentagon Papers in the United States
as oam involving "powerful interest groups
of Aanerican capital." -
Nevertheless, the question can be raised
. . few would deny today that the
? (Berlin) wall, repuotant as it is, did
stabilhe East Germany . .
,
whether ideology imposes certain limits on
Western as well as Eastern reporting.
A sociological study of this might
focus on severalaof the following questions:
0 Does our press report more positively'
on Communist countries with which the
United States and Western Europe have
good relations than with those with which
relations are bad? For instance, what is the
ration of "positive" and "negative" articles
between, say, Yugoslavia and Romania
.the one hand., and East Germany and Bul-
garia on the other,?-
? 0 Hol,v does the number of articles. de-
voted in the Western media to, say, lack of
civil liberties in Brazil, Bolivia and Greece
compare with the number devoted to. re-
straints on individual freedom: in the SOviet
Union and Czechoslovakia? If there is a
substantial imbalance, has the reason for it
been explained adequately to newspaper
: 0 Would it have been conceivable for an
'American newspaper in 1963 to have made a
.dialectical argyncint supporting the inva-
sion of Czechoslovakia ? perhaps on
grounds that Meander Dnbeek was leading
a movement that Could have )'ought the
world to war?
. The point may ? be that the Western
media, free and uncensored though they are,
also operate perforce within the confines of
a rough ideological framework, though the
economic and political vectors that make
.?
this so are little understood.
On Aug. 13, 1961, the West enjoyed the
most spectacular propaganda victory of the
entire postwar period, with the building of
' the Berlin Wall. In the flush of anger and
frustration, it would have been an unpopu-
lar editorialist who applauded the act as a
positive contribution to stablility .and peace.
It is likely that .anyone who did so could
even have been suspect as a "Communist
sympathizer." Yet few would deny. today,
that the wall, repugnant as it is, did stabilize.
East Germany -- an indispensable -condition
for European peace and security.
? If some new kind of ethical code for
East-West reporting after the security con-
ference were to he drawn uP, it might start
from the premise that both sides are defend-'
ing a social system and neither is entirely
objective. H. might .then go on to require
every story critical of the other system to
balance this with some criticism of its own.
The Western media, of course, arc already a??
long way toward dolu.g thi.s. Time magazine's.
article on the December Polish riots spoke
of "a nation in flames" . . .. Its cover story
on Belfast in August was called "Northern
Ireland in Flames." ?
Under the "balance" system, the. Soviet
media writing about the American govern-
ment's secret involvement in Indochina
would be obliged to write that the Soviet
Uhion had concealed the full extent of its
own aid to the Arab states fron Russian tax-
payers.
The East, in other words, is prepared to
believe the worst about the West, and vice
versa, and as the history of the last 26 years
indicates, not without reason.
However, the general impression is that the
Communist press usually gets its facts
straight, The copy is often dull, slow in com-
ing', limited in depth of perception, and con-
clusions are slanted. But the raw data is
usually correct. Until the East matches the
West in providing ways to check information
and collect data, Western reports will re-
main at. a disadvruitage, and the Communist
regimes will have few grounds to complain
about errors.
If the European security conference
speeds that day it could be a small step to-
ward relaxation, and a new era for the foot
soldiers of the Cold war, the editors and
:AmerhN.a admit il'mat it .takes ii heir ?t;kill in readers? , journalists of East and West.
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Appropriately, I met Baron Manfred von Richthofen, widely
known as the Red Baron, at Boom Trenchard's, the restaurant
hard by Lindbergh Field which features memorabilia from
World War I.
?The setting was perfect .for our discussion of Spads, Fok-
kers, Tigers Moths .and Stamps, winch were the flying craft of
the era. The baron Was, of course, Germany's ino.st. celebrated ,
cus credited with downing 80
Allied craft before he, him-
self, was shot down.
?Naturally, it was not Von
Richthoven himself at Boorn
Trench aid's but John Phillip
Law, the actor who portrays
him in ."Von Richthoven and
Brown," motion picture open-
ing Wednesday at the Call;
fornia Theater.
;The "Brown" of the title
refers to one Roy Brown, a
Canadian flying for Britain's
Royal Air Force. He was the
one who was officially credit- ?
ed with downing Von Riehtho-
ven's plane.
"I'm afraid that is not ex-
actly true," Law said as. we
looked over the model World War I planes at Boom's. "About
90 percent of the plot of our picture would be destroyed if we
didn't go along with this supposition, but it can't be supported
by fact.
- "All of the research that I was able to do led to the con- ?
elusiOn that Von Richthoven was shot down from the ground ?!
by some of Brown's fellow anadians, members of a machine
gun crew.'' - ? .4
. Law enjoys researching his roles, even though it sometimes
leads to conclusions the movie can't support. But he has pick- ,
ed up considerable information this way, as well as some
interesting friends.
Played in 'Russians Are Corning'
The first role he had in a -hit film was as the love-sick
Russian seaman in "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians
Are Coming." When Ile was cast, the director, Norman Jew- ;
ison, told him to look at a fine Russian film called "Ballad of a -
Soldier" and to pattern his characterization on that of Vladi-
mir Ivashoff, who had the lead role. ?
Law did bett
JQIIN PHILLIP LAW
'Me Russians sent a big delebtion," Law said, "hut there
. was no one else from.the United States. I was the one one, so
when the flags Were introduced or toasts exchanged, I just fell !
into representing the United States and as a result I got in-
vited by the Russian delegation to attend the Moscow film ,
festival the following year."
He also cemented his friendship with Ivashoff and has eon
tinned correspotyling with him.
Most recently, Law spent six months in Bulgaria, where he
played the lead in a film version of a Jules Verne adventure
"Michael Strogoff." His most interesting experience there was
being arrested during the May Day celebration.
Bulgarians suspect espionage
-"d had my camera out on the street, taking pictures of the
parade. Some imaginative general got it into his head that I
was a CI,A,01,(ent taking incriminating pictures of him, lie
certainly must have had a guilty conscience about some-
Ming."
Law was let free after a few hours when his Italian employ-
ers were able to explain to the Bulgarians that he was only an
eccentric American actor who liked to take pictures. -
Back to "Von Richthoven and Brown," it was filmed in
Ireland, primarily because that's where most World War
1.-type planes are, having been used in such previous produc-
tions as "The Blue Max" and "Darling NIL" Also there are
members of the Irish Air Force willing to fly them.
"I don't know how much longer this will be able to contin-
ue,' said Law. "We lost five men during the filming of this
! picture alone. It's not always the glamorous, fun-filled busi-
ness it's supposed to be."
1TprOvedeForReleaseh200W038/16 :
attend an internal. olal film festival in Cartagena; Colombia,
and he made arrangements to go there, too. ?
. .
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