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DOI: 10.1177/001083677300800103

1973 8: 33Cooperation and ConflictTapio Varis

Radio Moscow and the BBCA Qualitative Comparison of Two Soviet News Items in the Finnish Services of

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A Qualitative Comparison of Two Soviet News Items in

the Finnish Services of Radio Moscow and the BBC*

TAPIO VARISInstitute of Journalism and MassCommunication, University of Tampere,Finland.

Varis, T.A Qualitative Comparison of Two Soviet News Items in the Finnish Servicesof Radio Moscow and the BBC. Cooperation and Conflict, VIII, 1973, 33-56.

This study is a qualitative analysis of how the 24th Congress of Representatives ofthe Soviet Communist party was reported in the Finnish news services of RadioMoscow and the BBC. The study is designed to find out if and how the different

ideologies distorted the reporting of the Congress and how the refined propagandawas used, either consciously or unconsciously. Brief analysis is also made of the

reporting of the unsuccessful landingof the Soviet

spacecraft SoljuzII to

comparehow a negative event is presented. It was found that both stations reported the mainissues of the Congress in a businesslike manner but differences occurred in their tellingof international reactions to the Congress and of policy implications. The explicitreference to the Czechoslovakian crisis in 1968 is the only aspect that was not reportedby Moscow in the same context as by the BBC but there was much material reportedby Moscow ignored by the BBC. The author also examines what is meant by objectivenews reporting.

Tapio Varis, the Institute of Journalism and Mass Communication, the University ofTampere, Finland.

This report is a continuation of two pre-vious research reports in which the author

studied the audience of foreign radiotransmissions in Finland, and the char-

acteristics of external broadcasts and

deliberate interference of their signals(jamming).2 While the first study wasaudience centred and the second focused

on the institutional level, this study isaimed at shedding some light on the

present position of international radiopropaganda in this area. It thus contrib-utes to the study of the ideological mani-festations of the global interests of dif-ferent social and economic systems. It isrestricted to two major foreign broad-casters in the Finnish language: RadioMoscow and the BBC.

1. BACKGROUNDAND PURPOSE OFTHE STUDY

z

Since the most sophisticated form of bour-geois journalism may be built upon theidea of objective news service with no ide-

ological bias or basic tendencies dependenton the social system, and since the social-ist theory of mass communication is explic-itly in accordance with the Weltanschau-

ung of Marxism-Leninism, a randomsample of quantitative measures in pro-gramme output was thought to be uninter-esting - particularly as this was beingdone simultaneously in a separate study.3Besides, it has already been noted byBerelson that quantitative analysis can beapplied only when content units are moreor less of equal weight for the purposeof the analysis but not when any oneword or sentence is as

importantas the

rest of the message.4 It was believed thata useful approach towards obtaining theideological characteristics of both objec-

* The study was carried out with the prac-tical assistance of Jyrki Jyrkiainen at theInstitute of Journalism and Mass Communica-tion, University of Tampere.


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tive and socialist news policies could bethe deliberate selection of news events

with a clear ideological content.A commonly held view of a communica-tion system with an explicit ideological

orientation is that it selects onlysuch

events and aspects of discussion as are

favourable towards the adopted ideologyand ignores other information. Becausethis view also implies criticism of thesocialist theory of mass communication,it was decided to select such news events

as were both favourable and unfavourable

towards the construction of a socialist

society.The apologians of the Western theory

of mass communication often claim thatit is not the task of journalists to try to

improve the world but to convey as neutraland precise a picture of it as possible. Inthe socialist way of thought, mass com-munication is not seen as separate from

politics but as part of it. Communicationis not only a reflector but also a creatorof reality.5

II. NOTES ON THE PROCESS OFNEWS ON THE EXTERNAL SER-

VICES OF THE BBC

Since the status of the BBC and its rela-

tions with the British Government are

more complicated than those of RadioMoscow it is worthwhile taking a closerlook at its news process.Even though the BBC is regarded as

having a more or less autonomous status

among British social institutions, relationsbetween the Government and the broad-

casting corporation are quite close whenit comes to external transmissions. Not

only is the revenue for external services

provided by a Parliamentary Grant-in-Aid but the Government also prescribesthe languages in which the external ser-vices broadcast and the length of timeeach language will be on the air. Beyondthis point, however, the BBC assumes

full responsibility for all the broadcastingoperations, and is completely independentin determining the content of news and all

other programmes.6 Thus, for example,transmissions to other Scandinavian coun-

tries were discontinued in 1959 on econo-

mic grounds but the Finnish servicecontinued. The reason for this continua-

tion has been explained by the positionof Finland between the East and Westwhen Finland, unlike other Scandinavian

countries, may come under outside pres-sure.7 The BBC External Services produce95 hours of news and programmes in 40

languages during the course of every day(1968).BBC news is prepared in the News

Department and ready-made bulletins areissued in all foreign languages (the BBCnow has services in 40 languages). Thesources of news are

(1) news agencies;(2) the BBCs own correspondents(3) monitoring system, which is one of

the quickest forms of acquiring in-formation (systematic monitoring offoreign transmissions. The Britishand theAmericans in collaboration

cover the whole world with this

monitoring system).The news bulletins are mainly the same

in all languages but there can also bespecial news for particular areas. Wheninterviewed, personnel of the externalservices are inclined to claim that they donot try to modify news items. Domesticand external services have to fit each other

materially; the content has to have thesame tone. Each language section is free

to add itsown

comments but generallythey all speak with the same tone.8The News Department determines the

order of news items which varies fromone section to another. The task of theBBC is not to convey the views of emi-

grants but those of the British and eventhe political opposition. Foreign items varyaccording to their international signifi-cance. For example in 1967-68 the follo-

wing items about Finland reached such

international significance in the BBC: thePresidential elections in 1968; a feature

on the independence of Finland in 1967;


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35

the arrangements between EFTA and

FINNEFTA; the devaluation of the

Finnish mark; the Peoples DemocraticUnion (often erroneously referred to as

Communist) in the Finnish Government.9

III. RADIO MOSCOWS FINNISH

SERVICE

When characterizing Radio Moscows in-

ternational activities Mark W. Hopkinswrites:

These broadcasts are skillfully edited to ap-peal to specific audiences. Indeed, initialSoviet research in radio audience tastes was

done by Radio Moscow with listeners inNorth America.1

In all respects Radio Moscows Finnish

Service plays an equal role with the BBCas far as the general formulation of itsaims is concerned. Its introductory bro-chure states that its broadcasts inform the

listener about Soviet attitudes towards

international problems, about the multi-national cultures of the Soviet Union, and

about science, technology, and sportsWith regard to the production of pro-grammes, a long-range plan for broadcastsis decided long before they go on the airat a general meeting of the editorial board.Listeners preferences are then taken intoconsideration. But the definite formula-

tion of each days broadcasting includingnews bulletins takes place every morningat the meeting of the editors. This meetingdecides, on the basis of foreign and do-

mestic events, which items will be trans-mitted. The major part of Radio Moscows

daily broadcasting (in 1968 over 200 hoursa day in over 60 languages) is taperecorded. News bulletins and similar

programmes are usually the only livetransmissions. 12

IV. THE SELECTION OF NEWSEVENTS FOR THIS STUDY

The existing global confrontation of ide-ological influence can in the final analysisbe reduced to the question of legitimation

of the socialist order of societies and the

old forms of capitalist and imperialiststructures. The author has analysed thissituation elsewhere.13As the politologistshave to some degree turned their attention

away from a mere interactional school ofthought towards the imperialistic school,14the communication researchers are also

moving somewhat from an idealist con-

ception of the free flow of informationtowards the questions of hegemony and

ideological penetration (e.g. Schiller,Smythe, etc.).15 The a prior preference ofinterest is therefore to study the way of

presenting the favourable and unfavour-able news of socialist systems.The first of two such major events

occurring during the period of this studywas the 24th Congress of Representativesof the Soviet Communist party (30 March- 9 April 1971) which as a news eventwas both favourable towards socialist con-

struction and allowed a detailed study ofthe way and aspects chosen by both broad-

casting institutions presentation of theissue. The second event, which was nega-

tive from the point of view of socialism,was the unsuccessful landing of the Soviet

spacecraft Soljuz II with the bodies ofthree cosmonauts (30 June 1971).The research material was acquired by

following the main Finnish transmissionsof both radio stations. They were broad-cast at 18.00 (16.00 GMT) by the BBC andat 18.30 (16.30 GMT) by Radio Moscow.These news bulletins, which were tape-recorded and then transcribed in full,

formed the basis for my study. Brief latenews bulletins from either station (19.30-19.45 GMT in the BBC and 18.30-19.00

GMT in Radio Moscow) were not includedbecause no significant differences couldbe found from the main bulletins. Latebroadcasts are only brief summaries of the

days news.When making a study of two cases only .

much random variation can occur in the

news, so the aim of this

studyis not to

make long-range generalizations but totest these cases. Propaganda methods andtactics vary according to events and time,


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36

and therefore it is extremely difficult to

try to give an overall picture of howcertain issues are handled. Temporalcomparisons might be done on the basisof the foreign studies that were done

during the coldwar era or

for govern-mental information agencies particularlyin the United States. Conventional content

analysis of foreign radio propaganda isthe usual method of studying internationalcommunications. Methodologically this re-

port differs from usual in that it is more

qualitative and theoretical in its approach.The selection of the Communist Party

Congress of the Soviet Union as an ide..

ologically relevant event can be argu-mented for several reasons:

(1) Several Soviet studies indicate thatthe brunt of capitalist propaganda isdirected against the leading role of theCommunist party in socialist countries.

For example, Krasnaya Svesda analysedthe principal tasks of American radiostations in Munich as follows:

(a) To undermine the authority of theCommunist parties in Czechoslo-

vakia, Poland, Romania, Hungary,and Bulgaria.

(b) To create hostility between differentsocial groups and stratas.

(c) To influence actively artists andscientists to separate from the party.

(d) To arouse confusion and distur-bance as well as dissatisfaction byexaggerating economic difficulties

(even those of minor significance).16

The undermining of Communist partyauthority is not only a question of every-day practice but also forms the theoreticalbasis of some leading bourgeois sociolo-gists. Thus, for example, Talcott Parsonswrites:

... The basic dilemma of the Communists isthat it is not possible in the long run eitherto legitimate dictatorship of the Party or toabolish all governmental and legal control of

.

behaviour, as the withering-away doctrinewould have it. Political democracy is theonly possible outcome - except for generaldestruction or breakdown.17

Some Western broadcasters confess

explicitly that one of the primary aimsof their transmissions to the socialist

countries is to promote indifference to-wards the goals of a socialist society; in

other words, to support the illegitimiza-tion of existing order. Radio Free Europe,for example, considers it a great achieve-ment that its cross-reporting innovation- a method informing the people insocialist countries of events and trends in

neighbouring countries and in East Europein general - has become so effective.

According to investigations by RFE, cross-

reporting is considered important by morethan 80 per cent of audiences, and that

this method of broadcasting has thus be-come a politically significant means of

developing among East Europeans a senseof common interest heretofore largelylacking and to stimulate and sustain publicpressure for change.18Though propaganda directed to Fin-

land naturally differs from that directedto socialist countries it does not change thefact that the fundamental ideological prob-lem is the

questionof how the Communist

party status is presented.(2) The socialist concept of news is not

based on the selling of news but on itssocial relevance and consequences. Thus

a party congress is perceived as one ofthe most crucial issues in the life of a

people. This is observed also by someWestern sociologists: .

Since it is the general historical trend andnot the isolated event that is important inSoviet news, topicality has not been a primeissue.A Party Congress, for example, mayoccupy almost the entire news time for theduration of its proceedings. Other occur-rences during this period are summarizedonly after the more historically significantevent (such as a Party Congress) is termi-nated. Domestic news is still heavily over-weighted with the publicizing of economicachievements and Party government af-fairs.19

Another question is why bourgeois jour-nalism is so interested in the Party Con-gress. In the case of the Soviet Union this

might be explained by a theory of big


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37

powers. Everything that happens in eitherof the big powers is important and must

be reported. These reports, however, arefar from being analytical or neutral as isdemonstrated briefly at the beginning ofCase 1 in this paper.

V. THE QUESTION OF MANIPULA-TION BY NEWS

Manipulation when equated with indoc-trination can be defined by referring tothe non-conscious influence of mass com-

munication as distinguished from propa-ganda which is consciously recognizableby the audiences. 20 Manipulation may bemore effective than propaganda becausethere is evidence that attempts to influence

people do not succeed as well when made

openly (propaganda) as when refinedmethods of persuasion are applied (mani-pulation).~l The means of manipulationbecome particularly effective when theyare applied to maintain a certain massawareness.

In theiranalysis

of six Western broad-

casters (Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty,BBC. Deutschlandfunk, Deutsche Welle.and RIAS) Bur6s, Kittelmann and Kunzelshed further light on the manipulation of

opinions by news. They point out amongother things that the following methodscan be used to obtain a precalculatedresponse through the ostensibly objectivenarration:

- Deliberate

placingof certain news

items.- The formulation of news by using

certain stereotypes.- Mixing commentaries with the news.- Underemphasizing significant and

overemphasizing less significantitems according to the objectives ofthe institution.

- Commentaries on the news presentedas the opinion of political observers.

As concrete examples of their views, theauthors point out that nothing was re-ported by West German broadcasting sta-

tions on the big West European strikesin 1969, or on the secondAuschwitz trial,or on the attitude of the Bonn Govern-

ment to the aggression in Vietnam.22Other researchers also have dealt with

these questions. Spartak Beglow notes thatthough the news for the majority of the

public in capitalist countries may out-wardly seem objective, it is, on closer

analysis, only reproductions of a certainmode of thought.=3

VI. CASE 1

Reporting of the 24th Congress of the

Soviet Communist PartyWestern bourgeois mass media preparedits audience long before the Party Con-

gress to perceive this event in a cool anti-Communist way. For example, ZbigniewBrzezinski cautioned the readers of Newts-

weeh not to be confused by the possiblyoptimistic tone of Brezhnev at the Con-

gress but to remember the real problemsof Communism on which he considered

himself an expert:

At the end of this month Leonid Brezhnevwill rise behind the podium in the newassembly hall of the Kremlin to deliver the

keynote political report to the 24th Con-gress of the Soviet Communist Party. Thereport, doubtless, will be an optimistic one.It will speak in glowing terms of revolu-tionary developments on the world sceneand of the attainments of the Brezhnevadministration at home. Since it is a safe

assumption that the report will not dwell

on certain basic problems confronting con-temporary Communism, some general com-ments on them may be in order ...24

Similar views were expressed by otherWestern ideologists and columnists also.Many of them received notable attentioneven in the Finnish press. The largestdaily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, forexample, devoted a whole page (21 March)to the preparations being made for the

Congress. The original textwas

writtenby Henry Shapiro. Readers were preparednot to expect any sensation from the Con-

gress but to realize that all preparations


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38

Table 1. News about the Soviet Communist Party Congress ot

Representatives 30 March 1971- 9 April 1971.

FKP = Finnish Communist Party.SDL = Social Democratic League of Finland.

were aimed to show the world that there

were no serious differences of opinionamong the Soviet leaders.25 On 29 March,

Helsingin Sanomat wrote an editorialabout the Congress, saying that even inCommunism political disagreements and

struggles for power existed. But becausethe Soviet Union was a Super Power thiskind of Congress must be carefully pre-pared in advance so that the proceedingscould take place without surprise and ina unanimous atmosphere.26 Like Shapiro,the editorial also referred to the sensa-

tion of the 20th Congress when Khruschevcondemned Stalin and that the rumoursthat this Congress could be similar sensa-tion were unlikely.

Another big Finnish newspaper, TurunSanomat, is an example of in how distorteda manner a bourgeois media can handlean issue. The only story of the Cnngressthat appeared in Turun Sanomat beforethe Congress, was published on 28 Apriland was printed by Reuter in Moscow.

By referring to authoritative sources thestory reported that great disturbanceswere expected to occur in Moscow andthat the police had cleared the city ofsusceptible elements. It also hinted thatan oppression against artists and jews

was everyday reality in the Soviet Union.27Though ending its story by mentioningthat this information cannot be verified

the question can be raised as to why they


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39

print these things at all without being ableto verify their truthfulness. Furthermore,when this is all that was written about the

Congress one is given an idea of the

atmosphere in which the bourgeois mediahandled the case.

A leftist Finnish newspaper, Kansan

Uutiset, said in its editorial that all

reactionary, anti-Communist forces ex-

pected that there could even arise nuancesin the Congress that could be interpretedin their interests. The paper wrote that all

the anti-Communist talents had been

harnessed in order to prepare news and

conclusions that would serve the reaction-

ary forces. 28 Peoples Democratic papersnaturally paid more attention to the Con-

gress and had more editorials on it than

bourgeois newspapers.In the Soviet Union herself the media

prepared audiences for the Congress veryeffectively. Because the Congress decidesthe party line both in domestic and inter-

national politics as well as hears andratifies the reports of the Central Com-

mittee, the Soviet mass media tried to

activate the Central Committees andseveral local and regional committees to

develop their political and organizationalef forts.29 Preparatory propaganda, howev-er, is beyond the scope of this study even

though it might offer an interesting ex-

ample of how different media systemsprepare their audiences for this kind of

event.

The general view of the news coverageof the Finnish sections of both radio sta-

tions is presented in Table 1.

Placing of the News

Emphasis of foreign news naturally variessubject to other international events anddomestic problems. Hardly anyone wouldexpect the BBC to be an apologist of this

party Congress so the interest lies in whichparts of the Congress the BBC reported

and it whatmanner.

Ascan

be seen inTable 1, the BBC paid relatively littleattention to the Congress mentioning itas first news item only at the beginning

and end of the Congress. On 6 April, itwas also at the beginning of the newsbulletin (2nd). It was the day PrimeMinister Aleksei Kosygin presented thenew economic five-year plan and discus-sed the economic relations of the SovietUnion with other countries including theUnited States and China. This was the

first news item, naturally, in Radio Mos-cows news bulletin, too.The BBCs news service said something

concerning the Congress almost every day.Other items that were selected for news

bulletins during this period were the

following:

Other News 1 tems of the BBC during the

Congress,

The focus of attention of BBC foreignnews coverage is on Commonwealth news.

Compared with the frequency of refer-ences to the Party Congress (9, Table 1)only the Middle East question was men-tioned as often.Against this backgroundthe news policy of the BBCs Finnish sec-tion cannot be accused of omitting sig-nificant news of the socialist world.

Radio Moscow referred to the Party Con-gress much more often, of course, witha total of 29 news items (Table 1). Otherworld events in its news bulletins were:


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40

Other News Items of Radio Moscow dur-

ing the Congress

It is notable that all the foreign newsof the BBC except that concerning the

Party Congress was in one way or anotherconnected with the Commonwealth.An

exception to this was the Indo-China war,Northern Ireland and US affairs but all

these, however, also had a direct bearingon Commonwealth affairs. Both Radio

Moscow and the BBC devoted a great deal

of attention to the war in Indo-China andquestions connected with it. Other itemsdo not coincide except in that, for example,when Radio Moscow reported on theGeneva proposals concerning biological-chemical weapons in the news, the BBC

did so in its commentaries.

On the basis of the findings above noclear differences can be said to occur in

the deliberate placing of the news itemsnor in their context to other news. Differ-

ences are obvious but are self-explanatorywhen one considers the different functions

of the broadcasting institutions.

The Content and Formulation of News

Tuesday 30 March was the opening dayof the Congress. Both broadcasting sta-tions noted this by giving it as the firstnews item in their news bulletins. The

BBCs attention focused on Sino-Soviet

relations. Only in the last sentence of itsbrief news item did the BBC refer to the

guests of the Congress:

The Congress is expected to last ten daysand is being attended by delegations fromall other Communist countries except Chinaand Albania (BBC).

Radio Moscow was more accurate in

reportingthe

representativenessof the

Congress. It started the news item byreferring to the opening speech by Nikolai

Podgornyi who said that:

The Congress of Representatives is beingattended by 101 delegations from nationalCommunist, democratic, and leftist socialist

parties from 90 countries (Radio Moscow).

The rest of this opening session was

reported in the commentary following the

news, which dealt wholly with the speechby Nikolai Podgornyi.

Comparing one with the other, the BBC

gave the impression that the Congresswas attended by delegations from socialistcountries only, while Radio Moscow gaveaccurate figures of the world-wide interestby socialist and Communist parties towardsthe Congress.

.


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Radio Moscow had three separate news

items that day. For Finnish listeners theseitems were followed by interviews ofFinnish guests, the President of the Finnish

Communist party, Aarne Saarinen, and

Vice-President Taisto Sinisalo (15 mi-nutes).The first news item referred to the

Report of Secretary General LeonidBrezhnev. It reported the speech of thefirst secretary of the Communist partyof Kazahstan, Din Muhammed Kulaeh,on economic growth in the Republic. Theformulation of this item was not centred

solely around the speech by the First

Secretary but also had abearing

on the

life of the ordinary citizen:

The representatives of the Congress ap-plauded very warmly the speech of theyoung weaver, Valentina Smirnova, from the

region of Ivanov. She said that she was

highly gratified by the measures presentedin the Report of the Central Committee toimprove the living and working conditionsof women (Radio Moscow).

The news reporter later referred to

Brezhnevs speech in which he said thatsupport for the extension of day nurseryand kindergarten services and the improve-ment of childrens education would be

stepped up.The second item reported that the

permanent representative of the SovietUnion to the United Nations had delivereda detailed report made by the Congress.Much attention was paid to how the for-

eign press received this report. Referencewas made to the British newspaper, the

Gtcardian, which wrote, Brezhnev gavemore tone for the possible improvementof relations between the East and the

West than for many years.Another ref-erence was made to the Polish newspaperT rybulla Llldll.The third item was identical in content

to the only item in the BBC news. The

qualitative differences are obvious, how-ever :

The First Secretary of the Central Com-mittee of the Vietnamese Labour Party LeDuan presented greetings to the 24th Con-

gress of Representatives in Moscow. Hesaid that the achievements of the SovietUnion in all fields do not only strengthenthe present economic and military potentialbut also make firmer the power of thesocialist world and the revolutionary move-

ment.Amid stormy applause by the repre-sentatives and guests of the Congress, LeDuan praised the Soviet aid to the peopleof Vietnam. Le Duan also said that to solvethe Indo-China problem it is necessary tostop the invasion of the Americans, with-draw the troops of the USA and its satel-lites from Vietnam and other Indo-Chinese

countries, and to give a possibility for theVietnamese people to solve their problemsthemselves (Radio Moscow).

Both the BBC and Radio Moscow re-

ported Le Duans appraisal of Soviet aidto Vietnam but the reader of the previousextracts may get the impression that theDBC did so in a dogmatic way (... his[le Duans] people will win the fightagainst the imperialist aggression of the

Americans) while Radio Moscows reportwas more accurate and analytic. Imperia-list aggression in a Western languagehas no analytic content but is received asa mere propagandist slogan that can be

disregarded as information.4-::-~-.

The third Congress day, 1 April, wasnoted by the BBC with slight emphasis.The central issue of that day in the BBC

coverage was the speech by Gustav Husak.The item was in full as follows:

The leader of the Czechoslovak Communist

party. Gustav Husak, has publicly praisedthe Soviet Union for

occupyingCzecho-

slovakia in 1968 by the troops of the Warsawpact. Husak spoke at the 24th Party Con-gress in Moscow and said that the interven-tion of the Warsaw Pact was a reaction tothe request for help by the CzechoslovakCommunist party and that it saved Czecho-slovakia from a civilI war and counter-revolution. Husak succeeded AlexanderDubcek as Party Leader after the invasion(BBC).

No comments were included in the

BBCs Finnish transmission.

The first item in Radio Moscows news-

cast started with attention to Soviet

scientists, particularly to space research.


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42

These questions were included in the PartyReport. Again, Radio Moscow moved onthe level of the ordinary citizen:

.

Dairymaid Claudia Smirnova from the re--

gionof

Orlov spokeat the

Congressof

Representatives. Her speech was interruptedmany times by stormy applause. She saidthat the Party plans to render agriculturemore effective have been particularly closeto her. In the last war I was machine-gunoperator, said Smirnova, when I returnedto my home village not a single house wasleft. Under the leadership of the Party we

-

repaired the collective farm. The incomeof the collection now exceeds 2 millionroubles annually. Life on the kolhoz hasattained a high cultural and material lev-el... (Radio Moscow).

The item continued with greetings from

foreign Communist party leaders.The second item dealt with the same

topic as the one by the BBC:

Gustav Husak said that the Soviet Union isthe most important fortress of peace and

progress in the whole world. The achieve-ments of the Soviet Union have a greatsignificance to all socialist countries and toall peaceloving forces of the world, he said

in his speech at the Congress. The partyleader of Czechoslovakia praised SovietCommunists for the enormous aid to his

country. The whole course of history makesus convinced of the fact that close and

friendly relations with the Soviet Com-munists has always been a condition for thefight of Czechoslovakian Communists againstcapitalism and in the construction of socia-

lism (Radio Moscow).

Radio Moscows third news item refer-red to the international press reactions to

Leonid Brezhnevs report at the Congress.Extracts were taken from the PolishTribuna Ludu,AlAhram from the UAR,and from the statement of Michel Du-

monder, the French permanent representa-tive to the UN, about Brezhnevs report.In the commentary section following thenews Brezhnevs report was read (as acontinuation of previous broadcasts).

Differences in the way of reportingHusaks

speechare obvious.

Implicationsin the BBCs coverage might be inter-preted as referring to the heavy anti-socialist reactions in the West during the

crisis in 1968. Moscows way of reportingdid not directly refer to 1968 events butrather to a general presentation of Czecho-slovakian-Soviet relations. References to

Husaks speech were followed by refer-ences to Janos Kadar in Moscows trans-mission. These fragments can be inter-

preted as aiming at giving an impressionof unity and mutual solidarity in the inter-national Communist movement.

~ ~ ~

The fourth day of the Congress, 2April,was noted by the BBC in the followingway:

The Defence Minister of the Soviet Union,Andrei Gretshko, has given a statement inwhich the Soviet Union is said to be capableof destroying any invader in her ownterritory. At the Soviet Communist PartyCongress in Moscow, Gretshko said that eventhough the Soviet Union does not plan anattack on any particular part of the worldit has weapons available with which it can

strike any part of the world. The Marshalcondemned the activities of the United Statesin Vietnam as provocation of war and de-manded an increase in the defence budgetof the Soviet Union. According to corre-

spondents the warnings of Gretshko werealso directed to China besides the UnitedStates (BBC).

Again, no commentaries followed in theBBCs transmission.

Moscow reported the fourth day withthree separate news items which were

followed by six-minute interviews ofFinnish delegates, namely representativesof the Social Democratic League of Fin-

land (TPSL), the partys President UunoNokelainen and Vice-President OlaviSaarinen.

The first item was partly devoted to ananalysis of the composition of the repre-sentatives in the Congress. In part it dealtwith the speech of Defence MinisterAndrei Gretshko:

Marshall Gretshko said that the Soviet Uniondoes not plan to attack any country but iscapable together with other socialist coun-tries of reacting against any power withgreater power, and capable of destroyingany invader. The Marshall reiterated thatthe SovietArmy considers its most important


12/25

43

task to protect the peace-loving work of the

people and has always performed this task.During the Second World War the Soviet

Army carried the main burden of the strug-gle against fascism and secured freedomand their future for many European and

Asian countries (Radio Moscow).

The item ended with a reference to

participators who now totalled 102 delega-tions from 91 countries.

Radio Moscows second news item was

a summary of the speech by Nguen vanThieu, a member of the Central Com-mittee of the National Liberation Front of

South Vietnam. The BBC did not reportanything of this speech. Van Thieu praised

Brezhnevs appreciation of the struggleof the Vietnamese people. He consideredthe Soviet aid very valuable and effec-

tive.

The third item summarized interviews

of foreign participators. These includedinterviews of Polish,American, Canadian,

Iraqi, and Guinean delegates.

Common items in both news bulletins

cannot be said to differ essentially. How-ever, the BBCs report ended with whatcould be analysed as mixing commen-taries with the news by the use of certainsources (According to correspondents the

warnings of Gretshko were directed toChina besides the United States).

Moscows report did not include any

implicit hints by correspondents or ob-3ervers. Another point of interest is theomission of the Vietnamese speaker by theBBC

thoughit did earlier note the North

Vietnamese speaker (31 March).~;, ;;, ~,

Saturday, 3 April, was only briefly notedby the BBC:

According to the Soviet news agency TASSthe Nobel author Mihail Solohov has en-

couraged Soviet authors to start a deter-mined attack against revisionists. Solohovspoke in Moscow at the Communist PartyCongress (BBC).

Moscow gave two pieces of news on thesame day. The first started with a rathermonotonous chronological narration of the

days morning session.Allusion was madeto Solohov, too:

In the morning session a well-known Sovietauthor Mihail Solohov also gave a speech.He said that Soviet authors see their primarytask in how they can best serve the peopleand peace and progress by their creativework (Radio Moscow).

The news item then continued by refer-

ring to other speakers and to speechesfrom the previous day. Much attention wasalso given to the speech of the Finnish

delegate, Chairman Aame Saarinen.Listeners were informed how the foreigndelegates had travelled to many Sovietcities to meet workers and other people.Husak, for example, spoke in Sverdlovsk,a Uralian city.The second separate item was devoted

to domestic reactions towards the Con-

gress. Examples were mentioned of fac-

tories, collective farms, schools and other

places where meetings were being heldin which the Congress material was beingdiscussed. In one commentary an Estonian

engine driver was interviewed.

Saturdays events were less importantfrom the point of view of international

politics.Allusions to the question of writ-ers tasks, however, are interesting. Severaltimes the Western mass media has ac-

corded enormous attention to Soviet writers

who have been condemned and even puton trial in the Soviet Union. The selec-

tion of the BBC news becomes under-

standable through this fact. Moscowschoice to emphasize the positive tasks ofwriters and artists is the other and prob-ably more important side of socialist art.

In general, the enormous interest in thecase of some Soviet writers can be under-

stood in the light of the analysis of Kras-

naya Svesda (see page 36).According to

this, Western broadcasting media seekactively to influence Soviet artists andscientists in an attempt to separate themfrom the Party ideological line (compare

:~ In the radio broadcast this name was givenwhich erroneously resembles the Head of theSouth Vietnamese regime.


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44

with the attention given to the case of

Solzenytsin). It is also expedient for thebroadcasters to maintain or create the

image among Western listeners of thelack of a certain abstract freedom of ex-

pression in the Soviet Union.:;, ~- :;.

On Sunday 4 April, the BBC did nothave any news about the Congress. In-stead, the following commentary by DavidGraham was read (translation from Fin-

- nish):

The topic of the day is, then, the SovietCommunist Party Congress which beginsits second week this

Sundayin Moscow.

According to our reporter David Graham,the congress has day by day become evenmore interesting than was expected and atthe same time much more irritatinglydisharmonious than the Soviet Party LeaderLeonid Brezhnev had planned. Brezhnevssix-hour opening speech resembled the pur-ring of a tom-cat that had lapped its stomachfull of cream. He assured that the SovietUnion has no territorial claims concerningany country, least of all China. When

speaking of Czechoslovakia and the strongunity of the international Communist move-ment Brezhnev purred in the same way.But at this point difficulties arose. Two daysafter Brezhnevs speech, and even moreimportant, almost directly after Party LeaderGustav Husak had spoken, the leader of theFrench delegation in Moscow, the actingsecretary of the party Georges Marchiermade an incensed telephone call to hisparty newspaper LHumanit6 in Paris andsubmitted a vehement interview for publica-tion. The French Communist party had, asbecomes clear from Marchiers interview,come to an agreement with Moscow before-

.

hand that the French participants would nothandle in their speeches controversial issuesof any kind critically, and in no circum-stances the events in Czechoslovakia. Thiswas observed, but when Husak rose to speakafter Marchier, he presented as his viewthat the Soviet Union had acted correctlyin occupying Czechoslovakia inAugust 1968.This meant that all the other Communist

parties, including the French, had been inthe wrong in condemning the interventionby the Warsaw Pact countries. Until lastThursday, then, Brezhnev had reason to be

satisfied, but then Husak spoke, andMarchier exploded, and Brezhnevs whole. facade of tranquility and stability within

the international Communist movement col-

lapsed. The second week of the Party Con-

gress in Moscow may turn out even more

interesting than the first, is the opinion ofour reporter David Graham in his reviewThe Topic of the Day (BBC).

There are several interesting points inthe commentary. First, the impression is

given that the Congress is becoming moreand more interesting and that the centralissue is the Czechoslovakian question. Sec-

ond, it is implied that the whole Congressis deteriorating into a series of bitter

disputes. The BBC observer has even

registered the mental state of the French

Party Secretary George Marchier.Another interesting observation is the

language used. Brezhnev is compared toa purring tom-cat which has lapped itsstomach full of cream. Charles Curran,now General Director of the BBC and

former Director of External Broadcasting,recently wrote that the language used insuch radio stations as Radio Peace and

Progress (Soviet Union), Peking Radio, orCairo Radio, is not the proper tone and

approach for the BBC. Instead, the edi-torial approach in BBC External Services

should be

... one which puts factual reporting first,and allows this with comment characterized

by integrity of intention, understanding ofthe audience, and professional clarity ofexpression ...30

It is also interesting to note that theBBC editor predicts the second week ofthe Congress to turn out more interestingbecause of the more or less created expec-tation of conflicts (see the last sentence ofthe commentary).Radio Moscow started its news bulletin

by reporting the speech of Foreign Mi-nisterAndrei Gromyko. References weremade to the American involvement in

Indo-China and the Middle East. In Eu-

rope, Gromyko considered that the mostimportant task of the near future was to

arrange a Security Congress and succeed

in negotiations concerning West Berlin.He also assured that the Soviet Union was

ready to normalize relations with China.Much time was devoted to reporting


14/25

45

speeches held by foreign delegates. Parti-cular significance was given to the sectionon foreign policy in the Congress Reportand the suggestion of a European SecurityCongress. The BBC never mentioned this

point.The second item summarized the reac-

tions of the world press to the Congress.The French press, the Japanese writerEisuko Nagatsano, the Chilean minister

Pasqual Parrasa, the Syrian statesman

Josef Heysal, and a member of the Indian

Congress Party Puhu Guna were quoted.After the news, the Soviet commentator

Viktor Glasunov summarized the Congress

Report.As a summary of Sundays reports theBBC focused on the question of the Czecho-slovakian crisis in 1968 which, accordingto its commentary, tore down the facade

of the Congress. It gave the impressionthat the whole Congress was disintegratinginto internal disputes. Whether this wasa deliberate means of narration with poli-tical aims or a method of Western jour-nalism to create

predetermined expecta-tions to perceive certain events will bediscussed in the summary.The BBC did not accord any time to Gro-

mykos speech or the suggestion of a Eu-

ropean Security Conference. These issues. were regarded as the most important byRadio Moscow.

~:. ;;_ =;_

The next Congress day, Monday 5Ap-ril. received attention by the BBC in the

following way:

At the Soviet Communist Party Congressin Moscow, Alexander Tshakovski, theeditor-in-chief of the writers publicationLitteraturnaja Gazeta has attacked thosewriters who do not follow the Party doc-trines. He also criticized those anti-Com-munist intellectuals who believe that everygenuine artist must oppose the State inwhich he lives.Alexander Tshakovski saidthat he would understand this in a bourge-ois society but not in a Communist system

which is based on social justice. He furtheraccused the enemies of Communism fortrying to deprive Soviet literature of itsmain function which is loyalty to the Com-munist Party (BBC).

Radio Moscow started its bulletin byreporting the discussion on the politicalline and practical measures according tothe Congress Report. Emphasis was givento show how the speakers representedvarious levels and fields of social life.As to the situation in the Communist partyof the Soviet Union, Radio Moscow said:

When speaking of the situation in the Com-munist party of the Soviet Union, LeonidBrezhnev laid stress on the close unity of

Party members. We shall take good careof this unity which was left to us by Lenin,said Leonid Brezhnev amid applause (Ra-dio Moscow).

The second

pieceof news was a sum-

mary of speeches by the First Secretaryof the Tatarian regional committee, TigriafTabeijef, and the First Secretary of the

Volgograd Regional Committee, LeonidKulidsienko.

The next item dealt with the same

speaker as the BBC news:

WriterAlexander Tshakovski spoke at theSoviet Party Congress of Representatives inMoscow. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Lit-

leratllrnaja Ga=eta. In the major part of hisspeech he touched on questions of the ide-ological struggle between the two systems.Tshakovski said that in this area no kindof tolerance can exist and the Soviet writersfollow firmly the policy of the Party.Amidstormy applause he said that there is onlyone flag under which a Soviet citizen canlive and work as a respected citizen. Thissflag is the flag of the Party. Tshakovskicharacterized as false the thesis put for-ward by our enemies that a person has tooppose the authorities. In the West where

the society is divided into antagonisticcliques it is understandable. But in oursociety which is based on completely dif-ferent humanistic principles this state ofaffairs cannot exist. The Freedom whichis chanted at us by our enemies means free-dom to preach anti-Communism and toweaken our State from inside. In a bourgeoissociety the word freedom means freedomfor violence and brutality, freedom forracism and zionism. We oppose this kindof freedom, said Tshakovski. He emphasizedthat the Soviet writers will always beunited with the

Partyand

people (RadioMoscow).

Much space was then given to report thespeeches of the Secretary General of the


15/25

46

Canadian Communist party, William Ga-

ston, and the National Secretary of theIrish Communist party, Manf ORiordan.

The latter condemned the invasion of

British troops in Northern Ireland which,

according to him, cannot solve the crisis.Again a press review of international

reactions was included at the end of the

Congress news of Radio Moscow. Parti-cular attention was given to the Czecho-

. slovak reactions. Bulgarian and Polish

press reactions were also reviewed. For

- Finnish listeners a statement by the chair-man of the Finnish Communist party,

Aarne Saarinen, was transmitted after thenews (11i minutes).

Summarizing the days broadcasts it canbe noted that the common item was quiteidentical as far as content was concerned.

The BBC put this item only in a morecondensed form. Differences occurred in

what the BBC did not broadcast. Instead

of the conflicts expected by the BBCcommentator on Sunday, the Congressstrengthened its unity on Monday.

: g; .;:

Tuesday 6 April was an importantCongress day because the new five-yearplan was presented. This, of course,formed the main item in both broadcasts.

The BBC placed it second in its broad-casts while Radio Moscow started its

bulletin by mentioning that Prime MinisterAleksei Kosygin had presented the newplan.The BBC characterized the new plan

as one aimed at increasing the productionand efficiency of the Soviet economy.According to the BBCs broadcast, Kosyginhad admitted that there were difficulties

and problems confronting the Party andthat the light industry of the country didnot produce enough goods of high quality.

Allusions were made to those parts of

Kosygins speech in which he put for-ward ideas to develop commercial rela-tions with the United States and China.Itt was also mentioned in one sentence

that Kosygin opposed such closed econo-mic systems as the EEC.

Radio Moscows bulletin referred to the

commentary after the news which dealtwith Kosygins speech. In the news itemit was mentioned only that Kosygin paidattention to the further development of

economy and to the notable increase ofthe welfare of the people. The news bulle-tin continued with international greetingsof the Congress. Nigel Rodrigues, a mem-ber of the Political Committee and Secre-

tariat of the Labour party of Guatemala,

appreciation of Leonid Brezhnevs speechwas reported. Later, after other news con-

cerning the Treaty of Mutual Friendship,Cooperation and Assistance between theSoviet Union and Finland, there was a

brief summary of the visits of foreigndelegates to the working places of Sovietcitizens.

Thus, reporting of the 8th Congress dayby both broadcasters can be regarded asmatter-of-fact journalism. No dramatic

disputes could be included because, obvi-

ously, no such thing happened.


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47

a speech by the Japanese delegate TomioNitsihara from the Japanese Communist

party. The following news items dealtwith the Vietnam war and space research.

Then in a long report listeners were toldabout the visits of foreign guests to a car

factory (Lehatsev) in Moscow. These visi-tors were delegates from France, Syria andFinland (the Social Democratic League of

Finland). After the news, two FinnishCommunists, Aarne Saarinen and Taisto

Sinisalo, were again interviewed (24 mi-

nutes).

The problem to compare here the BBC

and Radio Moscow leadsto

the questionof the threshold value of news criteria.As the Congress continued in a harmoni-ous atmosphere and there were no majorissues to be presented, the BBC completelyignored it.

::. ;-

Thursday 8April was observed on theBBC news but with little emphasis (the10th news item). This was reported:

The Soviet Communist Party Congress inMoscow has finished its general discussion.The new Central Committee of the Partyis being elected in a closed session. This newCentral Committee elects the new Presidium.Details of the composition of these organsare, however, not expected to be given be-fore tomorrow. Correspondents do not expectany notable changes in the Central Com-mittee. It is, however, possible that theCommittee will be enlarged because of theincrease in party membership (BBC).

Moscows interest was first to reporthow the new draft for the economic planwas received by the Congress. Details wereagain given of the planned increase ofproduction in various fields. The unityand unanimity of both the Party and thepeople were emphasized. According toRadio Moscows report some of the addi-

tions and corrections that were made dur-

ing the discussions were added to the plan.The second news item of Radio Moscow

was the approval of two appeals made bythe Congress. The first demanded a stopto theAmerican aggression in Indo-China,

the second condemned the Israeli aggres-sion in the Middle East. No mention of

these was made in the BBCs transmission.

The third item dealt with international

reactions to Leonid Brezhnevs report.Summaries were made of statements byAlfred Hintze from the German Demo-cratic Republic, Raoul Korsberg fromSweden, and Ksan El Okabalde from the

Congo. Short reviews were also made ofthe writings in the Yugoslavian news-

paper Borba and Bulgarian NarodnatYlladez.A twenty-minute interview of the

delegates of the Finnish Communist partythen followed.

Reporting of the 10th day of the Con-

gress differs clearly in the BBC and RadioMoscow. While the BBC can be seen to

concentrate on the technical questions ofthe Congress, Radio Moscow mainlyemphasizes the unity and unanimity.Furthermore, Radio Moscow gave some

prominence to the political appeals made

by the Congress concerning some graveinternational conflicts. The BBC paid no

attention to international reaction towardsthe Congress.

x. ::. *

The closing day of the Congress formedthe first news item of both the BBC and

Radio Moscow. The BBC reported:

The Soviet Party Congress in Moscow hasended with the election of Party officials.The results of the election are not surprising.The leader of the Communist Party LeonidBrezhnev, Prime Minister Aleksei Kosygin,and President Nikolai Podgomyi were re-elected to the Central Committee. LeonidBrezhnev was re-nominated as SecretaryGeneral. In his closing speech Brezhnevsaid that the goal of the Party was toimprove the living standard of the Sovietpeople and at the same time to developprimarily heavy industry and defence. Hesaid that the party regarded it as its mainobjective to develop the welfare of workers.Peace and international security are thegoals of the foreign policy of the party.The Central Committee of 11 members, who

all held their positions, was increased by 4,making a total of 15. Correspondents saythat the composition of the Central Com-mittee is evidence of the continuance of the

Party leadership and policy (BBC).


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48

Table. 2. News sources.

No commentaries followed. The struc-

ture of the item above seems to be a factual

presentation of what happened with a

mixing of commentary at the end: Corre-

spondents say that the composition of theCentral Committee is evidence of the

continuance of the Party leadership and, policy. The implications of this state-

ment are left to the preadopted view ofthe listener.

Moscow started in the same way as the

BBC by reporting that the 24th Congressof

Representatives of the SovietCommu-

nist Party had ended in Moscow.A de-tailed presentation of the newly electedleaders followed. The second item was

Leonid Brezhnevs closing speech. Thenext item referred to the process of dis-

cussions on Brezhnevs report and thenew economic plan, and to their approvalby the Congress. The fourth item repeatedthat the Congress had accepted the previ-ous days two appeals concerning the warin Vietnam and Israeli aggression in theMiddle East.

Thus the closing days reporting dif-fered in that the BBC gave some evalua-

tions of thecoming policy

of the Soviet

Union on the authority of correspondents,while Moscow continued reporting eventsonly.


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49

Sources of News

Manipulation by news as presented atthe beginning of this paper leads to the

question of reliability and quality ofsources. This is summarized in Case I

in Table 2.

According to Table 2, the BBC sourcesof news have been very selective in this

case. No reference to newspapers is made,

though in many other affairs, particularlydomestic, reference is made to the British

press at least in commentaries (for exampleduring the Congress on 6 April, news-

paper references were made when a second

modern power station was planned in

Finland). Radio Moscow gave much em-phasis to the press reactions in socialistcountries and also elsewhere.

The second obvious difference was in

the way foreign greetings to the Congresswere mentioned. The BBC selected onlythe two countries that were highly topicalfrom the Western point of view: Vietnamand Czechoslovakia. Moscow reportedgreetings from 25 countries in its newsbulletins.

Summary of Case I

General Picture: It is not the purpose of

this report to defend or oppose any broad-

casting institution but instead to analyseits ideological method of reporting this

Congress. The first generalization that canbe made on the basis of what has been

transmitted is the general picture of theCongress and its atmosphere.According to the news bulletins of theBBC, the Conference started in a coolbusinesslike manner with one of its central

issues being the Czechoslovakian crisis in1968. The emphasis on this question wasthe main discriminator between the re-

porting of Radio Moscow and the BBC.In fact, explicit reference to the Czecho-slovakian crisis was the only item in theBBCs news that was not included as such

in Radio Moscows news bulletins. Theimage implied of the Congress in theBBCs transmissions was that after a busi-nesslike beginning, the Congress at some

point in the middle suddenly broke into

open conflict because of the Czechoslo-

vakian question. This open conflict madethe event more interesting to the BBC,who expected a strained sequel to the

Congress.As this obviously did not hap-pen the item became less significant to theBBC who then paid only little attentionto the Congress and concentrated on itstechnical questions.An interesting question now is whythere was any mention of the possibleoccurrence of conflict at all. Two explana-tions can be found. The first is politicaland the second journalistic. By political

explanationwe can refer to the

newspaperarticles that were briefly presented at the

beginning of this chapter. It was necessaryfor the Western media to have the imageof internal conflicts in some form.

Journalistic explanation is more diffi-cult to analyse.An analogous case is pre-sented by James D. Halloran in his studyof the Vietnam war demonstration.31 Hal-

loran throws light on the question of howeditors made the event out as they imag-

ined it to be. That is, the issue was per-ceived from a peripheral point of view.In Hallorans study the newsmen prede-termined the quality of the event (Viet-nam demonstration), being then compelledto find incidents to fulfil their prophecies.In this case, no incidents could be found

to report inner conflict and thus no wayof approaching the event from this pe-ripheral point of view. The event couldnot be modelled in editors preconceivedideas of what it should be. In this case,it could be true that when the expecteddisturbances or open conflicts did not

occur at the Congress, editors devotedtheir attention to the technical aspects ofthe Congress proceedings thus movingfrom central issues - the content - to

peripheral questions of technical handlingof affairs at the Congress.

Radio Moscow reported daily Congressevents in a chronological style. No similarstrained atmosphere or culmination of theCongress was reported as on the BBC, andmore emphasis was given the whole time


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50

to the international significance and soli-

darity of the Congress.Style of Narration:As to the level of

newsmakers obvious differences occur. The

BBC concentrated solely on the diplo-

matic and commercial levels with empha-sis on trade and diplomatic relations ofthe Soviet Union in the Congress speecheswhile Radio Moscow often moved on the

level of workers and dairymaids who. spoke at the Congress as well as on cit-

izens reactions.- The language used in the BBC bulletins

was often more concise and modern Fin-

nish than in Moscow. The chronologicalnarration style of Radio Moscow was

heavy to follow. Stereotypes were not

explicitly used. Radio Moscow often movedin the life of workers. Instead of usingstereotypes the BBC can be said to be far

from neutrality and balance when char-

acterizing Leonid Brezhnev as a purringtom-cat that has lapped its stomach fullof cream in its commentary. Even thoughthis was not included in the news bulletin

but in the commentary immediately after

thenews

itcan

be consideredas a

delib-erate and refined method of influencingthe audiences attitudes. There were also

examples of how certain leftist conceptswere used in isolated and dogmatic con-texts.

Implications: Both stations naturallyreported that the Congress determined themost important questions of Soviet foreignand domestic policies for the next few

years. Differences occur in the telling of

international reactions to the Congress and. of the policy implications of the Soviet

Union. The BBC did not pay any atten-tion to international reactions while

Moscow laid heavy emphasis on thesequestions as well as on certain initiativestaken at the Congress (like the EuropeanSecurity Congress) which the BBC ignored.The BBC implied that the selection of thenew party leaders means a continuanceof the

present politicsbut did not

saywhat it meant by this. Moscow gave no

hints of the possible consequences of there-election of Party leaders. ,

VII. CASE 2

Reporting of the Unsuccessful Landing offthe Sol juz 11 Spacecraftt

Naturally, in studying only one case, it is

not possible to analyse the whole policyof a broadcasting institution. The purposeof the previous analysis, however, was toobtain more evidence of the practicalproceedings of the different news policies.Another less important event was selectedfor further study to get an idea of howthe BBC and Radio Moscow describe a

negative event concerning socialism. Dur-

ing the period of this study such an eventoccurred unexpectedly on 30 June 1972when a Soviet spacecraft made an unsuc-cessful landing with the bodies of threecosmonauts.

Again it would be possible to follow the

process of reporting and to pay attentionto speed, accuracy, and explanations, whichare the usual qualities appreciated in news

reporting of negative events. This case

study is limited, however, to the first newsbulletin only and not on a succession ofnews

reportsas

before.The main news bulletins are translated

below in full.As a comparison the mainradio newscast of the Finnish BroadcastingCompany is added. Though its news can-not be compared with the external servicesof Moscow and London, its commentariesfrom correspondents in various parts ofthe world give a basis for comparisonswith the external broadcasters.

The news with their commentaries were

as follows:

BBC 30 June 1971 (1st news item)Three Soviet cosmonauts who had spenta record 24 days in space have lost theirlives on their way back to Earth. The Sovietnews agency TASS reports that their ship,Soljuz 11, landed according to plan, butwhen the recovery team opened the hatchof the craft, the cosmonauts were discoveredlifeless in their seats. TASS made no refer-ence to the cause of death. It states that

investigations have been begun. Accordingto the TASS report, the cosmonauts, whohad conducted experiments in the spacestation Salyut, had returned to their space-


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craft last night. The return flight wasuneventful until the craft was re-enteringthe Earths atmosphere when there was theusual radio blackout. But, obviously, radiocontact could not be re-established. Moscow

radio announced the death of the cosmo-

nauts in the morning news. The news wasfollowed by mourning music, and speecheswere held in memory of the three cosmo-nauts Lieutenant-Colonel Georgi Dobrovol-sky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev.The BBC correspondent in Moscow reportsthat he later saw quiet groups of people inthe streets listening to radio transmissionsfrom broadcasting automobiles. Some wept.Our correspondent says that this latestSoviet space mission had enthused the Soviet

citizens to such an extent that they no

longer felt they were lagging behind the

Americans in the field of space research butfelt at least on a par with them. In the

US a representative of the National Aero-nautics and Space Administration (NASA)held that the death of the cosmonauts was

a terrible tragedy. The British Prime Mi-nister Edward Heath has sent a personalletter of condolence to the Prime Ministerof the Soviet Union, Aleksei Kosygin.

Commentary

Experts have today deliberated on whatcould have caused the deaths of the three

Soviet cosmonauts just as they were return-ing to Earth after their successful spaceflight. One probable reason, says BBCsscience editor John Nuel, is some flaw inthe oxygen apparatus of the space suit

resulting in suffocation, or, the cosmonautscould have suffered heart failure.A theoryhas been put forward that twenty-four daysin space weakened their heart muscles so

that the pressure that cosmonauts are ex-

posed to on re-entering the Earths atmos-phere was the cause of death. If the reasonis heart failure, both the Soviet Union and

the United States will be compelled tomake changes in their long-duration spaceprogrammes. When Soljuz 9 was in spacefor seventeen days, the cosmonauts condi-tion deteriorated to such an extent that theywere not able to stand on their feet for three

days after the flight. In order to preventthis, the preparations for the Salyut flightwere extremely scrupulous. The cosmonautsexercised in special suits that forced theirmuscles to work effectively. They walkedon a tread-mill, and during the flight theywere observed carefully every minute. Had

they complained of strain, the flight wouldhave been shortened. It seems that all wentwell until the short but extremely demandingphase when the spaceship re-enters theatmosphere of the Earth. The space crew

moves from a state of non-gravity to one ofgravity the moment they fire their brakingrockets with which they steer the ship down-ward at a gently sloping angle. Two minutesafter this their body weight is over six timeswhat it normally is on Earth. This is caused

by the tremendous amount of air whichgathers around the spaceship and causespressure. Is this sudden return into theforce of gravity perhaps too great a strainon the already overworked hearts of thespace crew? If this is the case, continues

John Nuel, it is clear that mere bodybuildingexercises are not enough to train the humanbody to meet this severe test, if the flightis from two to three weeks long. This meansthat both the Americans and the Sovietswill be obliged to re-assess their plans toconstruct space stations in which scientists

and astronauts would work up to a monthat a time. Space stations of this kind mustbe planned so that they can be filled withartificial gravity. It is possible that theUS will call off its Skylab-project. TheSkylab space station was to have been readyfor action next year. The building of a spacestation with artificial gravity will takeyears. Every day after the seventeenth dayin space was a step towards the unknown,as a Soviet scientist said of the Salyut flight.If every extra day after the seventeenthalso only led the cosmonauts towards certaindeath, this information can in the futuresave the lives of many others, both Sovietand American space crews. In this mannerthe BBCs science editor John Nuel reportedon the reasons that could have caused thedeaths of the Soviet cosmonauts.

Moscow 30 June 1971 1 (lst news item)The crew of the scientific Salyut stationcarried out the whole flight programme andwas directed to return to Earth. The cosmo-nauts transported the material of the scien-tific experiments and the ships logbookinto the ferry craft for the return to Earth.Yesterday at 8.28 p. m. Finnish time, Soljuz11 and the orbital station disengaged fromeach other and continued their separateflights. For the landing to Earth today,after Soljuz 11 was steered on its course, thebraking rockets were fired and functionedat a prescribed time. After the brakingengine stopped, contact with the crew waslost.According to the programme, after theaerodynamic braking the parachutes wereemployed and in the close proximity of theEarth the soft-landing rockets. After thisa soft landing took place on a predeterminedsite. Simultaneously with the craft a recov-ery team landed in a helicopter and onopening the hatch of the capsule found theSoljuz 11 crew, Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladi-


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slav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev lifeless attheir place of work. With their heroic workin experimenting with complex space tech-nology in the first manned orbital stationSalyut and the ferry craft Soljuz 11, cosmo-nauts Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsayev

gave a great contribution to the develop-ment of manned orbital stations. The workof the heroic cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovol-

sky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayevshall live forever in the memory of the

Soviet people. The Central Committee of theSoviet Communist party, the Presidium ofthe Supreme Council of the Soviet Unionand the Ministerial Council announced with

&horbar;

deep sorrow that on 30 June this year thecosmonauts who with the help of the man-ned orbital station Salyut completed the

programme, the captain of the craft,Lieutenant-Colone

Georgi TimofejevitshDobrovolsky, aviation engineer VladislavNikolajevitsh Volkov and test engineerViktor Ivanovitsh Patsayev were destroyedon their return to Earth in the Soljuz 11I

spacecraft. The Central Committee of theSoviet Communist party, the Presidium ofthe Supreme Council of the Soviet Unionand the Ministerial Council of the Soviet

Union together with the Party and thewhole Soviet people feel a deep sorrowat the loss of the renowned sons of the

fatherland and express sincere condolencesto their families. The Presidium of the

Soviet Supreme Council today decreed thatthe three deceased Soviet cosmonauts be

posthumously decorated. The decree states:For heroism, courage and manliness mani-fest in the experiment with the spacecomplex consisting of the orbital Salyutstation and the ferry craft Soljuz 11, thehonorary title Hero of the Soviet Union isgranted to space pilots Georgi Dobrovolskyand Viktor Patsayev. Cosmonaut VladislavVolkov is posthumously decorated with theSecond Medal of the Golden Star. TheCentral Committee of the Soviet Commu-

nist party and the Ministerial Council haveset up a state commission to make thefuneral arrangements of the cosmonauts.The Central Committee of the Soviet Com-munist party and the Ministerial Councilof the Soviet Union decided that the de-ceased cosmonauts would be buried in theRed Square in the Kremlin wall.A statecommission has been set up to invcstigatethe reasons for the deaths of the cosmonauts

Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsayev. Thecaptain of the Soviet ship Soljuz 11,Lieutenant-Colonel Georgi Dobrovolsky wasan

army pilot. On 1 June he reached theage of 43 years. He was born in the cityof Odessa on the Black Sea. In 1961 he

graduated from the Air Force Academy.Major General Vladislav Zakavitsh, a vet-

eran of three space flights, said of Dobrovol-sky : We visited the ship with him with theSalyut station. Georgi prepared himself forhis tasks calmly, methodically, withoutundue hurry and fuss, no matter whetherit was his first flight with a U-type, faster-than-sound

destroyer,a

complex parachutejump or preparation for work in cosmicspace. Georgi Dobrovolskys widow Ljublilais a graduate of the University of Lenin-grad and has a post as a mathematicsteacher. Dobrovolsky left two daughters,12-year-old Maria and 4-year-old Natasha.The parents of the cosmonaut are pen-sioners. The aviation engineer of theorbital Salyut station, Vladislav Volkovgave a great contribution to the develop-ment of manned space flights. He activelyparticipated in the 24-day experiment pro-gramme around the Earth in the Trada.

This was Volkovs second flight. In October1969 he together with Anatoli Litenko andViktor Gavatsov orbited eighty times aroundthe Earth in Soyuz 7. Born into the familyof an aircraft architect, Vladislavs courseinto the heavens began as early as his schoolyears when he joined the flight club of theMoscowAerocraft Institute. Later he becamea student at the same college. After theInstitute, Volkov worked in an architectbureau. He was recruited into the cosmo-naut group by the creator of space technics,Sergei Gorojov. In the mid-thirties Vladi-

slavs father Nikolai Volkov worked in theaeroplane industry. The cosmonauts motherOlga Volkova has given thirteen years ofher life to aeroplane construction. Thecosmonauts widow Ljublila is an engineerin the food production industry, his sonMatilesh is a school boy. The experimentswith the first manned orbital station Salyutare inseparably connected with the name oftest engineer Viktor Patsayev. Viktor Pat-sayev was born in the city of Atdevits inKasastan where he lived with his parentsuntil 1946. The road into space was a

natural continuation of his whole workinglife. After graduating from the IndustrialInstitute in the city of Zamsa he constructedresearch apparatuses, measuring and auto-matic devices, and radiotechnical instru-ments. Patsayev joined the cosmonaut groupin September 1969. In the Flying Club heflew with Vladislav Volkov, and Patsayevwas at his side also in Soljuz 11 and in theSalyut station. During the flight of theSalyut station Viktor Patsayev reached theage of 38 years. He left two children, a son,Dimitriv, born in 1957, and a daughter,

Svetlana, born in 1962. The cosmonautswidow Vera works in the field of science.His father died in battle in 1941 at the frontclose to Moscow. The cosmonauts motherMaria is a pensioner.


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A Review of the News (the most impor-tant events of the day)

Moscow announced the deaths of the crew

of the spaceship Soljuz 11. The crew of the

ship consisted of the cosmonauts Georgi

Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and ViktorPatsayev. Yesterday the crew brought the

flight and the experiment programme on thescientific Salyut station to a full conclusionand received an order to land on Earth. Thereturn to Earth and the soft landing took

place today on the predetermined site. Thereasons for the deaths of the cosmonauts are

being investigated. ,

Tlce Finnish Broadcasting Corporation30 June 1971 ,5.30 p. m. ( 1 st news item)

As yet there has been no official statementon the reasons for the accident which ledto the deaths of three Soviet cosmonauts.Cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolsky, VladislavVolkov and Viktor Patsayev were founddead in their seats in the spacecraft inspite of a technically successful landing.Soljuz 11 landed on the surface of the Earthafter midnight last night.All phases of thelanding were successful to the last, but afterthe braking phase radio contact with theship was lost. The cosmonauts had yesterdayended their stay in the Salyut space stationand had moved to Soljuz in the evening.The cosmonauts had spent 24 days in allon their flight. The flight broke the dura-tion record of space flights and before thefinal catastrophe it was considered one ofthe most successful space ventures. Con-

jectures as to the reasons for the accidentseem more and more to concentrate on theend of the weightless state. According tothe news agency telegrams experts emphasizethe dangers connected with the suddenreturn into the conditions of the Earth aftera prolonged stay in a weightless state.

Soviet space experts hold, according toAFP.that the present tragedy means in the futurethat the bulk of the Soviet space programmewill move to automatic space flights. Duringthe day many telegrams of condolence havearrived in Moscow, from, among others,several Heads of State. President UrhoKekkonen has dispatched a telegram ofcondolence to the President of the USSRNikolai Podgorny. In his telegram Presi-dent Kekkonen requests that President Pod-

gorny convey his expression of sympathyto the families of the space researchers who

gave up their lives. Reino Paasilinna reportson how this mornings announcement of thedeaths of the crew of Soyuz 11. GeorgiDobrovolsky, Viktor Patsayev, and VladislavVolkov has been received in the Soviet

Union. The people of Moscow have receivedthe news of the deaths of the cosmonauts

with whom they had become familiar withshock but calmly. Here the press, radio andtelevision have day by day reported on thelong and pioneering flight. Yesterday eve-

ning in the nationwide radio and televisionbroadcast a medical expert reported onfactors to do with the space flight and thehealth of the crew. Everything was in order,there was no reason for concern.After this

the television commentator in the spacecentre took direct contact with the cosmo-

nauts. The crew of Soljuz 11 was in goodhealth and sent at the same time its greetingsto the meeting of representatives of theSoviet Writers Association which was in

session at the time. This morning, whennews of the accident arrived, the meeting of

representativeswhich continues its work in

the great Congress Palace of the Kremlin,honoured the deceased heroes of space witha minutes silence. Soviet citizens, who areat the moment returning from work, discusswhat has happened and at the same timewait for results of the investigation which has

begun. Many think that it is incomprehen-sible that so successful a space flight couldend in the death of the crew. People havenot, however, gathered in the streets toponder on the question and traffic goes onas usual. During the day no official state-ment has been issued concerning the courseof the flight other than the bulletin givenout in the morning by news agency TASS.

fllssi lIimanlw from the United States

News of the tragic and in all respectsamazing deaths of the Soljuz 11 cosmonautswas received in the United States early thismorning. The first to react was the Vice-President of NASA George Low who issuedthe following statement: The loss of thethree cosmonauts is a terrible tragedy. I

address my profoundest sympathy to theirfamilies and colleagues. We have an enor-mous respect for their achievements in space.Our hearts are with them now at this mo-ment of loss, said the Vice-President ofNASA. It goes without saying that the deathsof the Soljuz 11 crew during the last minutesof a brilliantly successful, record-breakingflight has shocked space scientists and astro-nauts in Houston in particular. As moreexact information is not to be had,American

experts have publicly abstained from specu-lation as to the cause of death of the cosmo-

nauts, but unofficial reports from Houstonrefer to two possibilities: the oxygen ap-paratus of the command craft went sud-

denly out of order soon after Soljuz IIsre-entry at top speed into the atmosphere,


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or, death could have been caused by thecosmonauts long stay in a weightless state,which could have caused yet unknown phys-iological changes, say experts in Houston.

They also point out that after the previouslong-duration flight the cosmonauts havehad

difficultyin

walking, theyhave felt

dizzy and disturbances have been detectedin heart functions. Recovery has taken abouta month. This new space tragedy shocks thewhole world. Investigation of its causes is

meaningful to the development of both USand Soviet space programmes, states Hous-ton. In this respect closer cooperation be-tween the space powers is really necessary.

- In the forenoon news broadcasts in the USstatements and conjectures by Europeanspace experts have also been reported on.The White House has not yet issued astatement on the Soljuz 11 tragedy but it ispresumed in Washington that PresidentNixon will express his condolences withinthe next minutes during his daily pressconference.

Mikko Valtasaari from France

The French President Georges Pompidou,the Cabinet and Minister of Science,Francien Gavier Hortolier, each dispatchedtheir separate messages of condolence to theSoviet Union in consequence of the accident

disclosed today. The messages which wereaddressed to the Soviet Government, Sovietscientist and the families of the cosmonauts,stated that the cosmonauts valuable achieve-ments had been greatly admired in France.The Cabinet message also acknowledged, asit stated, the symbolic value of the spaceexperiment, the other messages, on the otherhand, did not refer to the experiment itselfat all. Whereas, of the press, the authorita-tive afternoon newspaper Le Monde has been

the first to draw conclusions. Naturally theyare not flattering towards the Soviet space

programme,In

general expertshave con-

cluded that the cosmonauts death wascaused by some trouble in the regulation ofair or pressure which took place when theSoljuz capsule cut down its speed outsidethe atmosphere. If so, it would have beena small but fatal flaw, which probably wasknown on Earth directly at the time itoccurred. The cause can easily be locatedwhen the capsule has landed intact. Con-sidering that most of the Soljuz programmesto date have not served their purpose com-

pletely, the incident can, according to LeMondes experts, be

interpretedthat Soviet

scientists have not succeeded in developingas indefectible space capsules as theAmeri-cans. At the same time the consequencesof such a minor flaw illustrate the dangers

of manned flights in general. This wouldspeak in favour of greater emphasis onunmanned flights in the space programmesof both Super Powers, concludes Le Monde.

Summary of Case 11

Compared with the previous Case, similar

findings can be made. Radio Moscowsnarration style was chronological andmentioned only briefly at the end of itsnewscast the possible reasons for thedisaster. In the late brief newscast at

8.30 p. m. no new information was pre-sented. The BBC, on the contrary, specu-lated with many possible explanations.The most revealing difference, however,lies in the implications of the event. TheBBC alluded immediately to the Soviet-American rivalry in space research usingsuch sources as own correspondent: Our

correspondent says that this recent Soviet

space flight had enthused the Soviet citi-zens to a degree that they no longer feltbehind the Americans in space research

but at

bbc and radio moscow.pdf

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