SCOOPLESS, SOVIET PRESS FULFILL SET PLAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300600072-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2006
• Sequence Number: 72
• Publication Date: August 22, 1973
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Ro
' By Robert G. Kaiser decisions about the next
Waebtnaton Post Yoreign Service evening's issue.
Industry In the Soviet Union,
-MOSCOW, Aug. 21-The
newspaper business is a big
'and like every Soviet indus-
try' it works according to
an.
-.Every three months edt-
fmns plantheir coverage for
the next quarter, which is
written out in a three-month
plan. They meet monthly
trs map out the coming'
month; ,weekly to consider
what's needed during the
following seven clays; and
every day to plan the paper
that will appear two days
hence.
This is the orderly, busi-
nesslike, Soviet way of do-
ttig things. It is also the
sort of luxury editors can
afford when the newspapers
they put out contain little
helps (an essentially unplan-
nable commodity) and a lot
of feature a'tieles, prop-
aaanda and exhortations to
workers.
-'t'hree-month plans and
iietsspaper,, v`: itliout tnuclt
new; are indications that
Soviet journalism is dill'er-
cnt front western jnurnal-
isni, liut there are imilari-
IlL's too.
The mccaianic?s of a Soviet
l)(\tspaprr are. fainihat' to
a `Ccstcrn :tout atist. They
iit' olve contl)ctitlUll for
space among u't'ItCM' and
t'+'itors. al"'unie Id,s Within
ti'.i' staff a,txittt lira'. VA to
handle ;i story, and a thnu-
nitrf .iud1lnems catch city
i t)out v hat to print. i1(i
to cif';clay ccrtaiu slur:' s,
1',ilntil to send in the NC-'V
Yot't: bureaux, ; nti ttnlcii
M AV.
I"-,!it, iui('nt )Ii->w_
ili(tt'Crl, till t10) '; ,~.'li}'
rt'i,'+in_! is tut : f
1;?~c'tlt. 5of ;t'i t'ev.'t)austi' ci-
fir,
l' ti' t' !.? on the
2 2 A U 6 7973
All"Fliat's illissiii' Is Air of YN-eit'extient
WASHINGTON POST
dining 1`,t}rt'r, and at tllt'
4 o'clock 1 i,'t'tilt : 1t1e cdt-
lOi htl' Iu:tt'd tnahrs its final
The managing editor of
the paper, known in Rus-
sian as the "responsible
secretary," announces his
decisions about how he has
allocated the available
space to various depart-
ments. All Soviet papers
are organized around de-
partments with names like
Party Life, Propaganda and
Agitation, Industry, Foreign
News and so on.
Sometimes, says Izvestia's
deputy chief editor, Nikolai
Polyanov, the allocation of
space is a painless process;
sometimes it has "a certain
emotional undertone." The
job of the chief editor is
to be "the sensible doctor
who puts ice out the hot-
test heads," Polyanov ex-
plained in an interview.
`rLuumcnts within the
staff are not freely discuss-
ed with outsiders. but it
its apparent that they usu-
ally concern tactic's, not
basic questions.
"Political areuntents are
impossible," the toanagin!
editor of Pravda observed.
`'11r e all belong to the same
party, we see things the
same tti ay."
Nevertheless, arguments
occur. For example, there
t1'ct'C disputes last year
,ben the Central Commit-
tee of Be Commuidst Party',
cfteeiively Be tulip body
711 this c?ooII I'). infot'tlled
the n)ajor newspapers that
the line should change in
tt (it' covora (' of tits l;nited
slates.
The Central C'ommittee's
pt'ceii;e (',ecistolt iii there
ati (ole) is not known, but
!r l-,'tltt' its ire> , atilt
llrn;,a ::meta dc'Irrtuu)(n:s is-
sued t'nrr,il instil. tit ilts to
c11(1 F.Oi'telit atilt .\ntcrican
;111(1 t0 `l7nl:,i1
,!?n?'C' mat:'rie'I about -\met'i-
t::1i
li +.` rt,t ti -eu u)-tiy i)i'ICt'c
l'i('sooltt Nixon ral,le. to
Ct tarts 1)'ust '01(11
llo+r tti0I one st`niur rnln
lot'ntolor leas liustrnlt'd by
-Of Ate-% F1
this coincidence. One com-
plained to an American
colleague that he couldn't
write what he wanted to
about the latest turn in
American policy in Viet-
nam.
Soviet correspondents in
the United States and jour-
nalists who often write
about America from here
must feel a similar frustra-
tion with the high-level
decision to virtually ignore
the Watergate affair.
Though Soviet journalists
are servants of the govern-
ment and first of all propa-
gandists, many of them are
also serious reporters who
would hate to miss out on
one of the bira:est nets
stories of tuodern times.
An outsider cannot s:iy
v:helher Soviet journalists
arc fundamentally frustr'at-
ed with a system v.itich sub-
jects their work to censor-
ship as Well as political
guid'iucc. l-'mwnter Soviet
j+ntrn?ilists In du'fected or
Cinit-ratt!(t to the A 0sl Have
said that dcmtoralizatiaiu itt
Wiens;)"'ad, but Breit t:sti-
tuoa,. m:ly Ix' I'toted
Sa)ms Snt i('t !t1{tt'na1i515
1t'1'll- till l:':5 11Ott lute t)Uliitt'
peter c,'CS, to rha05 a Neill
Cru:~'_ratinu Ct~~rc=,,ond
to
:LS 0i I I - t~t'it' , ';C'nt'y
ll' (?'1 t,. I l i Lt ? . 1x 11' ..
if I ii;ti iit')' i t:tl {%1 1t` 111'x ?
etlda up 111 'Ito-s secret, anrt
rrpnll.'ttly quite olt.tt tit's,
st'rvic,rc for senior ofitcials,
such as White Tass, Red
Tass-and others.
A Tass man in Washing-
ton once assured an Ameri-
can colleague that he was
a real correspondent "just
like you," something the
American would understand
if the Tass man could show
him everything he was
sending home,
Formal censorship may
be less bothersome than
political guidance. Repre-
sentatives of Glavlit, the state
censorship agency, have a
room in every newspaper
office. They read every
story to be sure that none
contains any reference to
the items that appear on a
long list of forbidden topics
which is the censor's Bible:
All journalists know what's
on the list, and they are
Presumably used to it.
A correspondent for one
of the major papers must
overcome stiff Competition
to get his work into print.
Pravda, for example, has 45
foreign correspondents and
60 more at home, plus
dozens of part-time report-
ers and all the copy produc-
ed by Toss' huge network
of journalists. All of theist
are competing for space in
a six-page newspaper, half
or more of which may be
filled with articles by 1)arty
officials, foreiet; Com-
mittiists, 140vet'nnicof min-
isters and other amateur
journalists.
l'hc eompetiiion is se-
rious because a iourntdist's
pay depends on ho',: much
of his v.'uri. aplic ii t ir, the
Ballet. .A siilalf (lip-ti:tt, h cut
"Out word" in I'rai cla is trcrili
10 rubles: a big' f1_'ttture story
fill[ 1;urds tun, r:li'n; ,iltt)
ruhlcs. All
aces:_e
cuced jnurttalist on
:i uou'(Iitu i i Srl'_t.'1
s(iC. lilt' 111111Ituti ui editor.
e::I liti t tIu:5[ill rtil)1{'- ;t 1:1.11','11
girl in :?;-i doll r> :ti t
1'... 111,,1 `'?l' ,., o a
ntut'll mute. `l') p; i s ood
poly by Soviet standards.
coi1 jinuOC5.
Approved For Release 2006/12/19: CIA-RDP88-01314R000300600072-8
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