POSNER CRITICIZES SOVIET JAMMING OF U.S.-FUNDED RADIO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605170004-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 2, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: June 4, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 CIA-RDP90-00965R000605170004-2
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WASHINGTON TIP1ES
4 June 1986
Posner ' ' '
criticizes
Soviet of
jamming U.S.-funded radio
But he said he had been critical of
,T By Myron Struck educational policies and pointed out
Soviet commentator Vladimir
Posner yesterday told an audience
here something he is not likely to
broadcast back home - that his
country's jamming of U.S.-funded
j native-language radio programs is
"counterproductive:'
The jamming could be terminated
if the United States toned down the
broadcasts' rhetoric, said Mr. Pos-
ner, who works for the government-
run State Committee for 'Television
and Radio but professes not to be an
official Soviet spokesman.
Mr. Posner, who was born in Paris
and educated in the United States,
complained that U.S. government
"broadcasts are subversive, openly."
"It would be a good idea to get
some changes there;' said Mr. Pos-
ner, who speaks English with no hint
of a Russian accent.
Mr. Posner has become a U.S. me-
dia celebrity with great success in
gaining air time on such programs
as ABC News"`Viewpoint" with Ted
Koppel, "The Phil Donahue Show"
and "The Larry King Show"
After President Reagan outlined
his defense budget for fiscal 1986
earlier this year, Mr. Posner followed
rebuttal comments by House Major-
ity Leader Jim Wright with a seven-
minute question-and-answer seg-
ment with David Brinkley on ABC
News.
That airing drew a private rebuke
from Mr. Reagan and a formal letter
of complaint from White House
Communications Director Patrick J.
Buchanan. Eventually, ABC News
executives said they had erred in
giving Mr. Posner so much air time.
Yesterday, during a 90-minute
seminar at the American Enterprise
Institute, he deftly fielded pointed
questions from critics such as Reed
Irvine, head of Accuracy in Media,
and Lester Kinsolving, a veteran
conservative journalist in washing-
ton.
Pressed for criticism of the Soviet
Union, Mr. Posner said simply, "I
support my country."
that he joined "with many citizens"
in being critical of government
"ecology" policies, an area in which
he said there was a broad grass-
roots movement.
Nevertheless, Mr. Posner said the
Soviet government is justified in ex-
iling Nobel laureate Andrei Sakha-
rov to the city of Gorki, which is
closed to foreigners.
Mr. Posner said that if Mr. Sakha-
rov would refrain from criticizing
the Soviet government, he would be
allowed to return to Moscow.
"The Soviet government will not
allow this man to conduct a cam-
paign against his own government;"
he said.
Ben Wattenberg, an AEI scholar
and a member of the Board of Inter-
national Broadcasting, which over-
sees the U.S. international broad-
casts, raised the question about
Soviet jamming.
He asked whether Mr. Posner
would agree to "lessen or eliminate
the jamming of all Western broad-
casts, including the British Broad-
castiing Corp., Radio Liberty and Ra-
dio Free Europe." The Soviets have
jammed broadcasts since the late
1940s.
O :Broadcasts by Radio Liberty and
Radio Free Europe, funded by the
CIA until 1973, are now indepen-
dently paid for by direct approp-
riations from Copgress. The radio
programs offer native-lanua
news reports to Eastern Europe.
Mr. Posner's appearance at the
AEI drew criticism from The Na-
tional Center for Public Policy Re-
search and the Young America's
Foundation. But those groups could
muster less than a dozen protesters
against Mr. Posner's appearance yes-
terday.
"The endorsement and legiti-
macy that AEI is granting Posner by
hosting this event and by describing
Posner in undeservedly positive
terms will mislead the public and
those policy analysts who are sus-
ceptible to Posner's clever lies and
half-truths," said National Center
Executive Director Amy Moritz.
Usually interviewed by satellite
hookup from Moscow, Mr. Posner is
generally not seen on the air within
the Soviet Union. He is in the United
States to arrange for a televised citi-
zens' exchange June 22 between
people in Boston and Leningrad. Mr.
Posner and Mr. Donahue hosted a
similar event last December.
Mr. Posner said articles about him
have been "somewhat insulting."
"Very little effort has been made
to try to explain what I'm here to try
to do;' Mr. Posner said. "I'm here to
explain what my country is all.
about"
Mr. Posner also admitted that
some Soviet citizens think Moscow
should pull its troops out of
Afghanistan, where they are waging .
war against Afghan resistance
forces.
"There are people in my country
who think we we ought to get out,"
Mr. Posner said.
But he said "the majority" sup-
port the Soviet intervention.
Mr. Irvine, a critic of Mr. Posner,
as a purveyor of disinformation, .
challenged the Soviet commentator
to respond to misstatements about
how his government handled the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster in May.
Mr. Irvine contended that Mr. Pos-
ner had claimed a rapid evacuation
took place and that Moscow was ini-
tially unaware of the catastrophe -
billed by Westerners as the worst
nuclear accident in history.
Mr. Posner replied that he had
provided accurate information on
the evacuation and admitted to mak-
ing a mistake as to when Moscow
learned of the problem.
"I don't justify it;' Mr. Posner said.
"Hopefully we have learned it was a;
mistake." He said the problem lies in
the Soviet system. "The messenger'
who brings bad news often has his
head cut off," he joked.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605170004-2