FOREIGN RADIO COMMENT ON VOICE OF AMERICA BROADCASTS *

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500730057-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 17
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 8, 2003
• Sequence Number: 57
• Publication Date: November 11, 1998
• Content Type: REPORT

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l.L_IN I iIIII.. I
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COUNTRY ?ol?ei,;. Radio
SUBJECT Pore. h Radio Cosnm+rat on
Voices of 4=per ca Broacicruth
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
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SUPPLEMENT TO
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TI-LIS IS UNEVALUATED INFO(?P.iATION FOl: THE R IiD'AC.
USE OF TPAINED INTELLIGENCE ANAL YS-i
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x. ICv`SFtOD Ci1O . . ... ............................. .
lYli'_cy of Soviet a^da
G te.llit? httE3C'i.{.............................
T'he _ar3F~:~rzj c ~je:tice - o 37iscredit the Vo:ilczo of aer?kcl............ F
Content of Sr 't =_c-4 Ss,t.0.1.11te l3Z tr~ii. ~a 'i tl ... .................... 3
D3 . tr l b ;ion of 8e?6-i,ot and 1'Sa to l.a to Hs'oadca,,. Lt ...... ................ v
1'a.tateniag Belina the Nora Curtain .......... ......................... .
i F itSsti;
11. Gf! !E S 11TTfl (JTED 13Y MOSCOW AND S ,TXf.,':,!Tr T:; `UM VOICE 01,'
A. The cT~,et3 IDaraoeraciet,(y Are Mot Urdwocrat.:: ....,................. 6
B. The Sov: o Curret:ey RafoTi`.l Wao Not an .f'?o o:riicrh"'] a:i.a ............. 9
Not F% "~a~ -.eio. .........................4......... 10
0. Arlorioa ''.
C. Other Dean: .e ....................................................... 1.2
',r. 1 ' UT:JiP~ T/ 3I1. S!''lsC.?I=T.C MILT"S" !A'1~'fi:[ A:,` THE VOICE 0--i", 1~?~:}:I~1`T _CR..... 12.
,..... o ... IV. VROPl1GANDr TECHNIQUES 1 TT:w3wrED TO THE VOICE, O JMRIGA........ - ... e i3
V. R~7.DSCULE !'Cll) ANECDOTE. . . , ...... ........................... 15
V1 . . PPROVLL YRG" F Ncs. , GR ,1"a;E, I&D Gana. 16
reactiono to the Voice of Americo during ?ths yca from I Uay 3947 to J. ~ccy '191 ,8':
the material was t4en from monitored broadcasts published in t ? F3TB ^a! : v
REpoaTS. At a later dato, an attempt will be made to comparo the for& inn iL vtdio
s* This is a prelim4nciry report swa riz ng the availtb?i e inon_f toned fczrai'r;?.
Wosat of the avaiIab1e monitored reactions consis3to of hostllo oowent fr-rnn th,
Mol ioov radio and from radios in the Soviet satellite epher. a of Europe. .
roaotions with the material actually broadcast by the Voice of Amarioa.
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_I $TRICTE?
I. .ulTf1ODI)CTION
"TThroughcut many years, the German radio in Coebbolsr head., was a vea.pen
to disrupt the German people, a' source of misinformation and calumnies,
the herald of war, murder, and an inhuman racial theory. in order to
hear this old, vveU- oan stuff.', again, slimhtly trimmed to the democratic
theme, one only needs to tune in to say, th;Je r.avelenf,th of New York.
'Fun!, that station, we hear instructive talks on the deed to set, up
Americo.n world leadership, on inperle.list plans for the establishment of
strategic positions -in the ;.riddle and Near East, and hypocritical calls
for a crusade ag;ai.nst Communism Socialisa:, and file trade unions-in fact,
against any democratic movement-'and libel- s inventions about the
countries of the ness democracy and; much more in the same vein." (r:;oscca,
in Czech and glovek, 7 May 1947)
FREQUEJN:CY OF SOVIET AND SATELLITE v T::C1c
Over the past year, available monitored foreign radio com:r.ent on the Voice of
America has been limited almost exc..il sively to condemnatory !:tatementr emr.nraLir,?, f'rcm
Moscow rend its satellite transmitte,:s..1 Attacks in monitored l.roadcaatr; r"rora cate:llitr.
transmitters have bee,a approximately one half as frequent h:: r_ppereri.ng in broad-?
casts from the Soviet radio;2/ curing the period May through Deuember 1.94;1, the Soviet
radio attacked the Voice of ainerica on the a:cvere. go of somer,hat less, than once a reek;
and since Decei,iber 1917, the frequency of these attacks from hoscov has reached the
average of at least one a, week../ But, compared to the total broadcast output of `.Ioncov-
and/or its satellites, thic cannot be considered anything like a fully mounted overt
war--of-%.or ds campaign against the Anerican radio.
THE PP.1 ARY OBJECTIVE- TO DISCREDIT THE VOICE OF AMERICA
The primary objective of Soviet lend satellite comments on the Voice of ArnE:ri.ca is
to discredit the credibility, objectivity,, honesty, trustworthiness, and general
morality of the latter. as completel:, as possible. This objective appears as a ringlc
common element underlying all ref er:ntices to the ice of .merica, in whatever conte.:t.
In addition to explicit assertion and direct refutation of the identified ?liee:.. a
"calumnies," 1?slrunders,"e and the lice, emanating from the Voice of. ?nneri_ca, :,;ot.cot
rsecrts to o. neune-calling type of r :'opagnnda, an alysis"--attempting thereby to e {,i Erns t .s,:,
J As a result of which, this repor., becomes, in effect, a survey of Soviet and sv c 1J.i.I.;;
propaganda relative to Voice of America broadcesus; and on this subject, there is little
to distinguish between 1:9o6coe's radlol propaganda and that of the satellites.
J Relative to the much' smaller totaal!~ number of available broadcasts from the eatelJite.e,
however, the attacks are proportion.-Ael;,r more frequent in them than In the bror.rxcast a
from Moscov..
2/ Including broadcasts ', which exclusively, partially, or only incidentally attack the
Voice of America.
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the Voice of Ainericr u5ith enora.l..i:~eii ehert;,t:ci that it consi .tently itncre, and emits
ripiificr nt f,tctc, that it ate`- mi>t~q to divert attention fro:u uneavory aspects of the
t, uoz is , scene rind of etnerican policy, that i I t beams different Cnd contradictory repo _ t.-
to nif.fgrent :uclie aces, that ;i,:s vaulted objectivity is spurious, that in sel.eetinS 0:?71:,
bir sere' r)rera opinions end articles for quotation it stack, the cards in its ov:n favors
't1-at ito avcv:ed Support of democracy is Only verbal and 1,ypocritice.1, that it uses
t,Ce~,c1F, e anti-Gomm;)njst apical , liki: tho"c of Gocbbe12.
CONTL14T OF WVILT AND S,, 0.'1:LLiTL? 3110aDCLSTS
terms of the ;substantive content of the ee?tteclcs,, soviet and satellite com,;;en-L
an the Voice of America. do not differ. eignif'a cantly---except in emphasis-.-from the
L;enere.l pattern of their total radio output. 1)erogation of the Voice of ranrr&cr_ is
repeatedly used as a sort of peg on i?,hich to bang reiteration of ewer-..)resent t;i::rae .
As to the iifferences in emphasis, defined in terms of relative volume of broadc.?st
attention, there have been three pviaary subject--matter ~arrr:~ ::ith reference to ,o V o:icti:
of America around c;hich Soviet end satellite lirr&dcur>ts have centered. Briefly
spelled out, there has been.
(t') A strong concentration on the satellite are::, the chief 'single theme be:Lne. t:ea:
tiled Voice of America is lying then it claims that there is a lack of freedom or
democracy in the rrnev; democ;raei.:av? of er.atern Europe.
(L?)IAn insistcncc.thtt Voice of America maliciously blundered in predicting an
economic crisis in the Soviet Union at the time of t e Cur_^ramCy reform.
(c) An insistence that the Voice of Aa::eZ?iee in lying when i t Blaine that A.:se_ ict:
is democratic, that the common }_eople in the U.. are either. free or prospe::,oue.
llIETRIBUT1ON OF SOVIET AND SATILLITI BEtOADCJ STS
The distribution of monitored Soviet broadcasts countering -",.d m. ligning tha VoL::c
of America SUEgents
a special effort to discredit Voice of America broadcecas to
and about the Soviet sr,,tclliteri a heavy plurality of Soviet bro,adcactn attackin;r the
Voice of America-4 has been beamed to the "nevi democracies" of eastern Europe, the :hie.'
theme being that mentioned in paragraph (a) abo' ve. (Lquivalent satellite broadcan:?;;s
?
are beamed almost, entirely to satellite audiences and concentrate on the same
The next most frequent recipient of Soviet broadcasts derotra.ting the Voice of
Americe i;s North America--sugfgesting a 'mecondnry effort to discredit the Voice o : Ama' ?iaac
in the eyies of the Arner',cen "taxpaayer s" who foot the bill and rrho, as one bro dc: ;s t s.-.y:
would be "enraged" if they r--alized thy: sort of rosy picture of American life that Is
being pal i?71
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appear in monitoxad broadcasts of
me tter) ; and i hrenburg" s roply* to
LJ/\ 1
i) .Tr ?
On the other hand, Soviet Horne Service broadcast references Ito the Voice of
fe-r: and far oatn'
Ataer
(Evan Ehre.nburt;'s slashing attack,, printed In CU,JTU1tL
shortly after the initiation o1: Rusvian-Innguago
Voice of Americe3 broadcasts, Sider; no':
the Soviet Home Service
Joaarriallstli uu,:s bra r:icast only In English to NNNorth'Ar:ericao)
French Communists, adenial that Greece is
Soviet currency reform against the "slanders"
casts that h the explicitly eattacked the Voice of
~lr imr about freedom and democracy in the U.S. pare
United
David i,arrence's'subsequent
picting police b.. utr? ,.!i.ty against strikes in the U.E. )
America have
from the Voice
threatened by its
that there are "three million une.apioyed? in the
s
than once evoked the indi;;acta on of L, IC WO -1
Ik
kascorr brc:adeast of' a9 kirsch l?!, speaks of all ,ofi'icial Hungarian reply to tl,e lelsr..d,a:.:,
of the Voice of America," a reply crhich s. said to have been "n?ceived vrith went srt..;:
of our Cohn' rv Vf, +l Hsrrga. i:.n llan'giu gc:
y +?
Service broadcast of 25 December 1947 referred to the 'flying broadcasts" r hi c.11, av~e
(or on any beam, f o%`1 that
Z
"Open Letter co a ~.Usp:.c
included a dafemsc!.o ',
of America, c, deE r el o. L c
northern neighborz~1ra aai:-t
s
. (r,
States, and a :Long ane ,dot
used to imply
sheer hypocrisy.
Naither the Coviet nor the satellite radios venture of-ton into conei wrr:t:ion' of
listening to the Voice of America on their side of the Iron Curtain, but. th c have h1-
occasional references to the aubject. ' hil.e they avoid explicitli ati,antion to the.
amount of 1isteninC;, t?heoe references are so framed as to Live the inprension hat tll?:
is as much freedom to listen to Voice of America program,, no, to any other- cecept, c-1?
I~!
course, that the listener:.' reaction to the all,,U ?~ edly transparent Voice of hn (?ni{c
; I I
and distortions' is spontaneous and v;idcspread indignation. For example, r Cet??S F}t Her,:o
faction both in
had listened to
impression that
!.iungnry and abroad"--the implication appearing to be that man;; pe scan,-.
the "slanders" and were glad to have them ansa.ealed. ~tnd, g.i'r .ng! 'the
F,Tr ed
Soviet listening to Voice of America broadcasts is taken for
as a perfectly natural. type of behavior, an
(26 ;,'ray 1947) consists of a "letter" from a
pondence with the -entence: "Last Thursday
learned of .the acquittal of the lynchers af
In any event, one thing is clear: the
that the amount, of listening is negligible.
English-1e-~ gunge broe_dca.st to No ?!;h Ar ei :i
Soviet radio listener. v;ho ben a,zo: sis co-..?x
when I turfed in to the Voice
an Amer_ic,n Negro."
I?
Ajaeric.a, i
of
Soviet and satellite radios do a,o't jcl ri.!a
There is also no suggestion of .:ay
lii lC7Z1C f ED
that Voice I f kiAmcr.::.
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' 1`Id 25X1
1 KIt., R.,
b nned in Po? nc?. Everybody in V rbaw laughed becr.ase they Icne
coincided ti. h c"the 3f3C report -tuat lietenin , to iorci r, radio
1seen. i..c: aomnen:?atorl 'r5ic hoe Storm, hc.d just Ueur to I.r-_reis
from the 0viet-controlled Bc lin 'ra-dio, points with pride: to c
to discourcg a ~lister_inro; to I n:ovie.t radios. And at least one
BHC and -the:',1oice of America-17 (Berlin, in German, 22 April 19
G m~,t er !oi ''feet, they papers even publish in Polish i.hE proil,
ionitored combaen-U,.ry,
plete freedom to
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ft "R -TR I CT E D
_6_
II.. r;kPI1.E11t1~ {'L7 L':S!S ATTP lilj }.'1!.D k'I !ii6SCC)V. ..IrD S_tLGL 17YUU'T0 TIl1_. VD7 Cf OF il.'JIMA
,among the )'t spars]. lies" attributed to the Voice of America, 1.,o;_col; 'acu: ees pr3.mcri. y
upon three: the claim that the Scv eft eate>liter3 are not c:anooratie; t:he P'c'adic tiohr-
of a Sovict economic C-:?iiis jr, Decennber; and the claim that Aerie a i!= a good place
in va:ich to live.
A. THE "I1 . Oi'i:;OCVACli-:S11 ARE P'OT UNGF2~OGRATIC
The chief J.n~Le theme, in .7,11 of t:hc available monitored Soviet orer'c~c...' rlntrrial
i elt_ted to ?lille, Voice Of &mcricr , ]_s' 'that the American ri;d-o is lying r.-.en it rlai.lna c..::
there is a lav.:L of freedom ai-id d nooriacy in !l the nE:7, derwcrncice of e.'stc:u nd south-
eastern V,'oice of America in' co.,m ent.` on thi area (both 1;q
lSt1I'Op:J..1' Refe!'enCU.~ to t,hC-~
toscol; and by the :..adio stations inthe satellites thaeseives') are far mores .irec;wen?t,
relatively, then in coiarnents on nay` other part of the .,orld; rand in these rc + . renee=
by far the most frecwcnt theme is th4t, contrary to Voice of Aueri c b~o;:ci::F !'> , dcL'GC'! E?Cj'
does exist in Ilun~;ary, Czcchos?_oz atria, and, the other countries of the S ovr.Let orbit.
!
In large part, the method by : 1,i cll MOseov: attempts to discredit the Voice Of ;,raerice
consists of simple lame- CFel1_?.nF,, l.t Is !accused of lying;, slander, calu ilit% ; '! ]T
Unrest," and trying to )'renew the ,SU'arei,ia:cy" of iv'et]tern monopc'list^s in et?., 'Ge:'!,i: Luropc
For example:
"Day after day the Nay; :orld rE1d:Co heaps a spate of slander 1?ICn the cul:li,li.at; oi.'
popular democracy.tl (hoses-a, in 1-lunga.rian, 12 Irsrell 191;13)
"`The Voice of decries is rightly called in Hungary ' the 'toico of i.be t'.) ' can
in'oiter F;, the most reactionary imperialist slanderers -,.Y!d v.arr; ar .. s.' " (r?io cot? ,
in Hungeclan, 3.9 i:larch l948)
In this connection an obvious Lbtemp`, is made to play upon in..W of the
Ci i?.y 1?i. st 1iticLe b;-
n .er, Fo-relic N--y ;;o c4
George yie:tding 1.1-Jot. ,;its: r pj:rov .ng references- to the tlar)n. Pre:
argued that x:lict slandered the rack:nt Sc,.riet-Hungarian commercial Ficd -!-.-A
vas totally wrong in asserting t'clat! the Soviet zone of Austr"a formed ro~:rt of an ~u
curtain" around Hungary.
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I'I4ie;h no qualms at all, the :;ricer rarer, on to claim `chat the Sovist-l;unF ar:l n
commercial agreement contains linrdl.y tiny benefit: for rliingary and, in his C";-,l
destroys the country's econoule zi?:?c pcndence. S':e v:ould like to suggest the 1;?.:_c,'i,
should become familiar with, say, Premier Ferenc Nagy' s recent speech, the more co
as the latter might be even conve?roas t with the results of the
commercial agreement. ... Unfortunately, George Eliot prefers to ignore ':ets
Quite seriously he rlajces the point that in. view of the existence of the Soviet
of Austria, separating Hungary t ram the West, the latter country is in no to establish contact with the :ectc _n world. It is difficult to understand ha-,
road which links Huni~ar-?y with the meet should croe r1'asi ria--of all cop:;' ryes.
are aware that Hungary, slithou me:cing use of George Eliot' s prescription., has .)'
no:: established economic relations with a number of wester'ni and nor he:n
i icluding the United States." (tileseow, in Hungarian. 15 i?9ay 191,7))
The picture had changed someaahat when :~]oscoi: next attacked the Voice. of Amexica "or
again ?distorting the Hungarian tr'ath." By then, Ferenc Nagy. was nQ longer -Lhca oun;_r',y1.
Premier, whom It was useful to quote, but; had turned into a "treit,or" and e rrciir
credited politician" who, by broadcasting from Near .York, served the cause of the i?e:?1it ;:
of fungarian democracy---tli