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p One of the main areas of Reagan’s “crusade” against communism is the development of information services abroad. The core of this development is radio propaganda against the socialist countries. On July 19, 1982, Ronald Reagan declared:

p “We intend to move forward consistent with budgetary requirements with a programme to modernize our primary means of international communication, our international radio system... The sad fact is that the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty have been neglected for many years.”^^1^^

p This statement, however, is not true, for all the US Administrations have devoted considerable attention to increasing radio propaganda, especially propaganda beamed to the socialist countries. Suffice it to recall the steps taken in the late 1970s by President Carter with the aim of expanding the VOA, RFE and RL activities.

p On the recommendation of President Carter, who believed that the people in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were the main listeners. Congress increased subsidies to the three state-supported propaganda radios, of which the VOA broadcasts only some of the time to the peoples of Eastern Europe, and RFE and RL—all of the time. Under Carter’s Presidency 28 more powerful, longer-range radio transmitters were to be installed, 16 of them for broadcasting to Eastern Europe.^^2^^

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p Broadcasting abroad intensified markedly after the Reagan Administration took office. The extreme right-wing forces in the US Congress actively supported Ronald Reagan in this undertaking. The Senators and Congressmen emphasized in their statements the strategic importance of radio in the psychological warfare against the socialist countries. Now and then they would employ military terms.

p Congressman John G. Fary of Illinois cited the following excerpt from a Chicago newspaper published in Polish in support of his position regarding the importance of the VOA, RFE and RL:

p “The strategic role of the radios should be reappraised and dramatically upgraded on our list of strategic priorities. Our great resources and technology should be fully exploited in a crush programme aimed at increasing the impact of shortwave radios to its maximum. These instruments represent our only means to erode the Soviet System...”^^3^^

p Another Congressman, Robert H. Michel, Illinois, stated:

p “The Voice of America and Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty are worth three divisions of troops—at least.”^^4^^

p Congressman Gus Yatron of Pennsylvania also spoke of a radio war, using military language:

p “Unbeknown to many Americans, we are involved in an international radio war...

p “I am not alone in believing that the radios should be considered as elements in our national security. International broadcasting is an important weapon in our arsenal.”^^5^^

p Many Congressmen have put forward a proposal to allocate funds to increase the capacities of US foreign broadcasting. In a reference to the calculations made by the archconservative Heritage Foundation, which provides ideological inspiration for the present US Administration, Congressman John LeBoutillier of New York holds that the past ten years have seriously undermined the efficiency of the work of the VOA and RFE/RL "With the pursuit of detente and the proclamation that America must get over its inordinate fear of communism, the radios have been seriously underfunded and allowed to lapse into technical obsolescence.”^^6^^

p Many noted experts in the field of propaganda and psychological warfare, including Thomas Sorensen, believe it possible to influence the social life of communist states through various media: trade, press, cinema, scientific, cultural and sports contacts, literature, exhibitions, etc. But radio is, in their view, the principal medium, and cannot be compared with any others in range and effectiveness. John B. Whitton, a noted 48 radio broadcasting expert, stated back in 1963 at a Princeton University Conference: "We possess in the radio alone a marvellous instrument to reach the minds of men right around the world.”^^7^^ Radio still remains the quickest, most widespread and accessible medium of disseminating information.

p Many radio warfare specialists in the USIA and various research centres hold that radio offers the opportunity of effectively influencing not so much the minds as the feelings of people because listeners cannot absorb within a short time all the nuances and details of news reports.

p John B. Whitton and another specialist in broadcasting to other countries, Arthur Larson, stressed the particular merits of foreign radio propaganda for the West:

p “Another reason why the radio is more potent than any other medium of communication is its tremendous range. While the press campaign from abroad stops at the frontier, the newscaster and radio commentator can speak to us from distant capitals. The entire world is their province...

p “Not only is the range of radio almost unlimited: there is no adequate defense to its disturbances and dangers.”^^8^^

p An important distinctive feature of radio propaganda facilitating its penetration of audiences and ensuring a high degree of efficiency is its ability to make its listeners feel that they are actually participating in what is going on in the world and that these events are real. The radio appeals to every listener much more than a newspaper appeals to its reader; it talks more privately with him and therefore can be more convincing.

p Radio is inferior only to television where it concerns the ability to present world events as actually happening and immediate but it is far quicker and therefore has the first say. More often than not a short news report broadcast on the radio can have a greater ideological and psychological impact than a lengthy logically substantiated article published the next day.

p In most instances radio broadcasts reach their listeners at odd moments, requiring from them less concentration of attention and less brainwork; therefore the audiences are not sufficiently critical of the content and orientation of radio broadcasts. With this in view, Western radio stations use in psychological radio warfare those methods which affect their listeners so as to stir up the superficial layers of their consciousness and rouse them to action, while suppressing their resistance and determination.

p Aware of this aspect of radio broadcasting, the special services of the NATO countries have turned radio into an important instrument of psychological warfare. In their 49 Psychological Warfare Casebook, William E. Daugherty and Morris Janowitz give radio first place on the list of methods of psychological warfare.^^9^^ Analysing the role of the US mass media in psychological warfare, aforementioned John B. Whitton stressed that the "dramatic development" in this field was the invention and use of the new medium—radio.^^10^^

p The use of radio for broadcasting to the socialist countries, particularly to the USSR, is referred to in the United States plainly as "radio war" and "radio aggression”.

p The Reagan Administration has surpassed all its predecessors in the scope of radio warfare. Subversive radio propaganda against the countries of Eastern Europe and the states which have embarked on the non-capitalist path of development has become an ugly feature of Washington’s activities in the 1980s.

p The Reagan Administration regards the radio corporation RFE/RL as the most effective weapon in the psychological war against the countries of Eastern Europe.

p On January 31, 1984, there were 1,674 employees at RFE/RL, of whom 1,000 worked in Munich where 90 per cent of all radio programmes are prepared. Forty-six radio transmitters beam propaganda on 80 different frequencies for a total of 148 hours a day or, on average, 1,020 hours a week in Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish and 15 languages of the peoples of the Soviet Union.^^11^^

p The 1984 annual report of the Board for International Broadcasting points out that with personal support from the President and the Congress, "RFE/RL funding has been substantially increased, both for the short and long run.”^^12^^ Indeed, on August 1, 1985, Congress approved the allocation to RFE/RL of 250 million dollars for the fiscal years 1986 and 1987.

p In the 1980-1982 period Ronald Reagan reorganized the Board for International Broadcasting and almost entirely replaced the leadership of RFE/RL. Frank Shakespeare, USIA Director in the 1969-1973 period and Reagan’s ideological associate, was appointed Chairman of the Board for Internationa! Broadcasting. Frank Shakespeare, however, did not get along with the RFE/RL leadership; having made many enemies among the congressmen and journalists, he is resigning as from January 1, 1986. In accordance with reorganization begun in August 1982 at Senator Pell’s initiative and with Reagan’s support, all members of the Board are the only directors of RFE/RL with authority to make political decisions 50 and appoint the most important employees of the radio stations. The Board for International Broadcasting includes nine members appointed by the President and approved by the Congress. (Every year one-third of the Board membership is replaced.)

p James L. Buckley, former New York Senator and a Department of State counsellor, was appointed President of RFE/RL. The post of Director of Radio Liberty was established and given to George Bailey, a CIA officer who had for a long time worked for the anti-Soviet Russian-language magazine Kontinent and the right-wing Axel Springer Group newspaper trust. Soon after, however, he had to leave the post of RL Director. Another CIA officer, Gerd von Doemming, was appointed Director of RL’s Russian Service.

p George R. Urban was appointed Director of the Radio Free Europe Division at the Board for International Broadcasting. A Hungarian by origin, he was Director of the BBC European Service in the 1948-1960 period and from 1974 on worked at RFE in London.

p Ronald Reagan believed that RL’s Munich leadership did not understand the importance of his policies and supervised their replacement personally. The new heads of RL adopted a policy of whipping up rabid anti-communism and antiSovietism even further. RFE broadcasts became even more subversive and anti-socialist in content. Speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in October 1982, RFE/RL President Buckley said that the US President was calling for an open recognition of the government policy of supporting individuals and groups in the socialist countries who were, in one way or another, opposing the existing social system and, in this connection, pointed to the need for the radio stations to adopt an offensive line. He gave to understand that the efforts aimed at undermining the listeners’ confidence in their own governments would be intensified.

p The RFE/RL leadership set about implementing Ronald Reagan’s programme. Russian Service employees (people of Jewish origin who had left the Soviet Union a short time before) were particularly enthusiastic in conducting psychological warfare and radio aggression against the Soviet Union.

p Since 1982, with a view to increasing the efficiency of interference in the internal affairs of the socialist countries, RFE/RL began to undertake measures jointly worked out by the US National Security Council, the Department of State, the Board for International Broadcasting and the USIA.

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p By 1985 it was envisaged that the number of RFE/RL employees would be increased by 200 persons. In 1984 alone it was necessary to recruit 100 persons, mainly in the national services. The directorship finds it extremely difficult to recruit people for Radio Free Europe and almost impossible for Radio Liberty. The recruits are mostly former Soviet citizens of Jewish origin.^^13^^

p The Munich radio centre is undergoing complete reconstruction and modernization. Facilities are being modernized in the city of Gloria in Portugal where there are 19 of the 45 short-wave RFE/RL relay stations; satellite-assisted communications are being established with New York and Washington; the eight obsolete 50 kW short-wave transmitters in Biblis and Lampertheim in West Germany are being replaced with four new 100 kW transmitters. It should also be mentioned that there is cooperation between RFE/RL and the Voice of America and other US organizations in the development and use of direct radio communication satellites for broadcasting abroad.

p In 1982, on Ronald Reagan’s instruction, the National Security Council took steps to find installation sites for the new RL and VGA transmitters capable of broadcasting directly to the Soviet Central Asian republics, as well as to the countries of the Middle East which pursue a policy independent of the United States. In pursuance of the National Security Council’s recommendation, the Department of State started diplomatic negotiations with the governments of several Asian countries with the intention of obtaining appropriate sites for the installation of transmitters. The talks, however, did not yield the desired result.

p In May 1983 the Turkish government declined a proposal by the United States to deploy 11 RFE/RL and VGA relay stations on Turkish territory. As was noted by the Turkish newspaper Milliyet, Ankara expressed concern that the establishment of US radio facilities in the country might be detrimental to good-neighbourly relations between Turkey and the USSR. The same concern is shared by many public organizations in West Germany, Portugal and Spain where either RFE/RL headquarters or transmitters and relay stations are located.

p The Reagan Administration has provided RFE/RL with facilities to improve and intensify the following activities:

Expanding the opportunities for gathering information about the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe;

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p Making a more thorough study of Eastern Europe, including the USSR;

p Increasing the number of business trips by RFE/RL employees to the USA and Western Europe; Modernizing RFE/RL studio facilities; Expanding the production capacities of the modern equipment available to handle the factual material and prepare texts; Setting up broadcasts via communication satellites. The RFE/RL leadership instructs the national services to give primary attention and more time in their programmes to events in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and its republics and less to world events and those in the United States. Although news reports, political commentaries and analyses make up a greater part of the radio programmes. Western radio stations, in an effort to attract larger audiences, deal extensively with important sports and cultural events, as well as with various historical subjects if they can be interpreted to advantage from the viewpoint of psychological warfare.^^14^^

p Reappraisal of the VGA’s activities and role is an integral part of the campaign launched by Ronald Reagan with a view to mobilizing his information services to the struggle against the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe. In his speech at the VOA on its 40th anniversary Ronald Reagan stated that the 53 challenges the Americans faced were "no less grave and momentous than those that spawned the Voice 40 years ago"^^15^^.

p Referring to the President’s statement, US journalist Robin Grey, who is familiar with the VOA and the problems faced by US propaganda, wrote:

p “The Reagan Administration is trying to recapture those good old days of World War II. Then, VOA combatted German and Japanese propaganda with its own version of the truth. This time, the enemy is the Soviet Union. The Reagan Administration, especially Charles Z. Wick... seems to many VOA staffers to be eager to load propaganda guns, to let loose salvos of ‘truth’ at Moscow in what the Administration sees as a life-and-death struggle with the enemy.”^^16^^

p President Reagan, USIA Director Charles Wick and his friend James Conkling, then VOA Director, gave this principal US broadcasting body new political instructions, with primary emphasis being placed on the VGA’s task clearly and effectively to reflect US policies. In the autumn of 1981 Conkling told his staff he was considering "allowing the network’s foreign language broadcasters more leeway in selecting and interpreting the news...”^^17^^

p James Conkling appointed Philip Nicolaides/ a former Houston radio commentator, the VGA’s new coordinator for commentary and news analysis. Prior to his appointment Nicolaides made the accusation in his memo to the VOA Director that the radio station was suffering from sentimentality and stated that the Voice of America should restore its function as a propaganda agency and reverse the "tendency toward mush". He stressed that the VOA was, as all the world understood, a propaganda agency. Concerning the Soviet Union, it should take efforts "to ‘destabilize’ the Soviet Union and its satellites by promoting disaffection between peoples and rulers...”^^18^^ Depicting the VOA as an offensive weapon of psychological warfare waged by the Reagan Administration against the Soviet Union did not cause any strong protests on the part of the VOA staffers, though there were some who did not like Nicolaides’ call to remember the experience of the Second World War, but now in the context of the struggle against a new enemy.

p The VOA Director placed Nicolaides under his protection and took steps to change the staff and put into key positions those who, as the US press put it, stuck to the aggressive style of propaganda.

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p In the autumn of 1981 rumours were rife that a list of VGA staffers to be dismissed—from the leadership down to editors and rank-and-file workers—was being prepared. This was due to Ronald Reagan’s intention to change the nature of the radio programmes. The main initiator of the plan of turning the VGA into a more active weapon of US foreign policy was Richard Allen, later appointed Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

p The autumn of 1981 witnessed an event which played a role of catalyst precipitating the campaign for reorganizing the VGA apparatus. Richard Allen raged on the phone at directors Wick and Conkling over a story that a VGA correspondent had filed about the CIA-organized arms supply to Afghan counter revolutionaries. The VGA report did no more than repeat a recent ABC expose. The point of Allen’s rage was not whether the story was true or not (it happened to be true) but whether the VGA, as a United States tax-supported radio operation, "should tell the truth if the facts supported Soviet propaganda or contradicted American policy"^^19^^.

p In the first months after his appointment James Conkling, Wick’s old friend, who was ignorant of the problems of propaganda and radio broadcasting, was “coached” by the USIA and by November 1981 returned to his office to put things in order there.

p In November of the same year Deputy Director William Haratunian was dismissed from the VGA. Later other leading VGA employees were replaced.

p “The old newsroom group that had stubbornly fought ambassadors and uptown, that had lobbied Congress to get the charter approved, and that privately and publicly had argued for news ‘credibility’—this VGA group had been decimated in about four months.”^^20^^

p When the VGA staffers publicly expressed their displeasure with the new directorship. Wick’s men reminded them that it was not recommended that they talk to journalists. On the VGA and USIA directors’ instructions, members of staff were to be cleared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.^^21^^ A toplevel staff shake-up,is still going on. Upon instituting it, USIA Director Charles Wick stated that "there might be Soviet ‘moles’ among the VGA ranks"^^2^^.^^2^^.

p The shake-up also affected the VGA directors who were alleged to be insufficiently conservative. In March 1982 James Conkling was replaced by John Hughes who only held this post for four months to be replaced by Kenneth Tomlinson. On 55 August 27, 1984, Tomlinson was in turn succeeded by Ernest Eugene Pell, who had been Deputy Director for the VGA’s programming.

p Conkling had expanded the VGA’s political sections, and the radio station started broadcasting anti-Soviet editorials.

p After the appointment of John Hughes to the post of VGA Director, the station started broadcasting in a sharply antiSoviet manner in two more languages—Pushtu to Afghanistan and Azerbaijani to the Soviet Union. The replacement of Conkling by Hughes was due to the fact that despite the politicization of the VGA, its activities were subject to growing criticism by the conservatives. "Conservative Republicans, including close advisers to President Reagan, have contended that it failed to present government policy vigorously, particularly in its broadcasting to the Soviet Union and other East European countries.”^^23^^ Under John Hughes’ directorship, the VGA broadcast in 41 languages for a total of 950 hours a week and produced editorials of a primarily anti-Soviet nature every day.

p Under Tomlinson’s leadership "the Voice of America has become less the voice of America... but of the Administration’s foreign policy"^^24^^. In April 1984 Reader’s Digest wrote:

p "... Information and ideas are among the most powerful weapons, and international radio is a direct and effective means of employing them.

p “Weapons that win men’s minds are every bit as potent. The United States must beef up this arsenal, starting with the Voice of America.”^^25^^

p Tomlinson strove to make propaganda against the USSR more offensive and aggressive, full of criticism of Moscow’s foreign and domestic policies. He tried to make extensive use of emigres who had fled the Soviet Union and whose stories about democratic America and the lack of freedom in the USSR would sound, in his opinion, more convincing to radio listeners in the USSR.

p The present authors have calculated that the Voice of America devotes more than 80 per cent of its air time to broadcasts to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

p All in all, the VGA broadcasts in almost 50 languages for a total of 1,000 hours a week. Apart from this, the VGA makes its programmes available to local radio stations in other countries. These programmes, prepared in the central offices or by VGA employees in various parts of the world, are transmitted to 4,000 local radio stations abroad, mainly in Latin America.

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p In 1984 the VGA’s budget came to 153.5 million dollars and its staff comprised 2,700 people. They are mostly professional workers of the USIA foreign service, many of whom have worked abroad and believe that information can always be presented in different ways. The Voice of America has 15 correspondents posted abroad and runs 26 studios, mainly in Washington. There are also studios in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami.

p At present, in accordance with the modernization programme which will use up 1,500 million dollars by 1990, there are plans to increase the VOA’s capacities for broadcasting to the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and developing states. In 1985 about 200 million dollars were allocated for-modernizing the VOA’s worldwide broadcasting system. These measures include:

p Completing the construction of powerful radio broadcasting stations in Sri Lanka and Botswana that will considerably increase the range of VOA broadcasting to Soviet Central Asia, Western China as well as East and South Asia;

p Establishing a network of powerful medium-wave transmitters in the countries of the Caribbean for beaming propaganda against Cuba and the surrounding countries;

p Replacing the facilities at RIAS;

p Replacing all the equipment in 19 of the 26 radio studios in the United States and installing the latest technology.

p At present the Voice of America has 41 transmitters in the United States and 64 transmitters operating from Britain, West Germany, Greece, Morocco, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Thailand and Botswana. The total capacity of all 109 transmitters is 22 million watts.

p The modernization programme incorporates a secret contract stipulating the use of a private radio station in Costa Rica for broadcasting on the MW and SW bands, particularly to Nicaragua. "Another major element in the Western Hemisphere programme is to be... a short-wave and mediumwave relay station in Puerto Rico to cover the Caribbean, Central America and South America. It is projected for completion in August 1990.”^^26^^

p The appointment of Ernest Eugene Pell as VOA Director is associated with Reagan’s and Wick’s intention to devote primary attention to the technical improvement in the arsenal of official propaganda. Pell has been particularly enthusiastic in his efforts to get the latest technology introduced at the VOA within the shortest possible time.

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p The House of Representatives and the Senate are constantly providing full support to all the initiatives of the Reagan Administration towards intensifying the United States’ aggressive broadcasting policies with regard to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Their support is expressed above all in the increase in annual allocations for the VOA, RFE and RL In November 1981 the US Senate issued Resolution 243 stipulating that "... an inter-agency study should be conducted by the United States Government to determine the feasibility of direct broadcast satellite use by Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and the Voice of America...”^^27^^

p Many Congressmen and Senators, regardless of their party affiliation, have either put forward their own initiatives or supported the Reagan Administration’s steps to expand and intensify the psychological radio war against the socialist countries. For example, in his speech in support of modernizing the US international radio broadcasting system Jack F. Kemp, a member of the House of Representatives, New York, said:

p “Radio, and not television or newspapers, is the principle source of information abroad." That was why he supported VOA Director Tomlinson’s efforts aimed at "expanding our international broadcasts" and the need, stressed by Tomlinson, "to modernize the Voice of America’s broadcasting equipment"^^28^^.

p Another Congressman, Robert H. Michel of Illinois, pointed out that "... one way of hurting the Soviet Union would be to make our international broadcasting stations—the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty—the best and most technically advanced in the world"^^29^^.

p Concerning the reasons for increasing funds for modernization, John LeBoutillier, a member of the House of Representatives from the state of New York, once said: "Increased funding is urgently needed to modernize equipment, particularly to combat jamming by the Soviets and to extend the broadcast signal to regions not now reached.”^^30^^

p The Voice of America incorporates RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) with a staff of more than 600 and a powerful transmitter. RIAS broadcasts propaganda to the German Democratic Republic. As US propaganda experts admit, "RIAS ... has long been recognized not only as the most successful of all official US operations in the foreign information field but also as the epitome of dynamic ’psychological warfare’."³¹ Here is an assessment of RIAS’s political makeup by John 58 Taber, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. During a RIAS budget hearing he said: "We don’t need to spend much time on RIAS; we all know what a wonderful job it’s doing.”^^32^^

p US specialists in psychological warfare take particular note of RIAS’s services during the disturbances in the German Democratic Republic in June 1953. In 1950 RIAS started broadcasting special programmes for workers that helped prepare the ground for protests in June 1953 and later gave a signal for the commencement of the disturbances. According to US estimates, RIAS instructions were the main factor in the organized nature of the disturbances.

p In recent years RIAS has abandoned open calls for disobedience to the authorities in the German Democratic Republic and for sabotage, but continues its subversive activities in a covert form.

p A prolonged campaign to influence East German schoolchildren gives an idea of RIAS’s new methods. RIAS broadcast its answers to the questions asked during lessons in the schools. Its specialists had studied the class timetable and the contents of textbooks, mainly on social subjects. They also 59 took into account the time when schoolchildren come home from school.

p The overwhelming majority of RIAS employees are citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany, the West German government covers the lion’s share of RIAS’s expenses, which in 1982 amounted to 63 million marks. Work has been started to set up a RIAS TV studio, for which the US government has earmarked seven million dollars.

p Another branch of the Voice of America is Radio Marti which beams propaganda broadcasts to Cuba.

p In the past three years the British government has on many occasions spoken of its intention to reduce the BBC External Services’ budget. It was planned to discontinue BBC broadcasts to France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, the African Horn, Burma and Malta. At the same time, it was announced that broadcasts to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe would not be reduced.

p But the government’s initiative met with considerable opposition in the British Parliament and was severely criticized in the press. The cessation of broadcasts to Brazil and the African Horn aroused the strongest objections. The main argument raised by the opponents of the government’s plan was that the ending of BBC broadcasts might, in their view, weaken the Western world’s ideological influence in those regions of the world.

p Protests were also voiced overseas. The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a special meeting to discuss the issue of reducing the budget of the BBC External Services. The US Senators urged the Thatcher government to refrain from the planned cuts.

p The BBC directorship instructs its external services to carry on so-called “factological” propaganda and supply their listeners with "balanced information". Ostensibly objective, BBC broadcasts give their listeners a distorted idea of the aims and objectives of the USSR’s policy of peace. The BBC is increasingly playing upon the difficulties experienced by the Soviet economy for propaganda purposes. Referring to the actual errors in the Soviet economy discussed in the Soviet press, the BBC deliberately and maliciously links them to alleged mistakes in the Soviet Communist Party’s policy and the faults of socialism as a whole. BBC broadcasts are primarily intended for inculcating in their listeners a feeling of mistrust towards the Soviet Communist Party’s policies and discontent with Soviet government. Attempts are also being made to play upon the national feelings of the peoples of the USSR.

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p Actively engaged in subversive propaganda against the USSR and Eastern Europe is the West German radio Deutsche Welle (DW). It was founded in May 1953 by the Association of Public Law Broadcasting Organizations. On November 29, 1960, a law was enacted on the basis of the West German Constitution whereby Deutsche Welle was allowed to engage in broadcasting and was placed under the Bonn government’s control. Since 1962 its employees have belonged to the Department on the Protection of the Constitution.

p The DW headquarters is situated in Cologne. The radio station is one of the most important instruments of West German international propaganda. At present it broadcasts a total of 589 hours a week in 34 languages.

p While upholding the thesis on the existence of a single German nation, DW belittles in its German-language broadcasts the achievements of the German Democratic Republic. The East European service, set up on Konrad Adenauer’s direct instructions, broadcasts anti-Soviet material in Russian for a total of 225 minutes a day. Since 1966 it has been headed by Botho Kirsch, who in the early 1960s was a Frankfurter Rundschau correspondent in Moscow but was expelled for publishing slanderous material. Kirsch did not enjoy the respect of his colleagues.

p Here is what the newspaper Deutsche Zeitung wrote about Botho Kirsch: "Constantly vehement and the only Moscow correspondent expelled by the Soviets, he has to contain his rage here and is now primarily engaged in making enemies for himself. In early April he submitted his study of the costs and content of the Deutsche Welle and Deutschlandfunk, which the latter described as a falsification.”^^33^^

p The DW programmes were so anti-communist that they essentially contradicted the policies of the Bonn government. Therefore, under public pressure, in 1975 the radio station underwent reorganization with the result that the head of the East European service, Botho Kirsch, was left responsible for Russian-language broadcasts only and lost control of broadcasts to Eastern Europe.

p “But the changes did not prove to be very effective. The group of Sovietologists and specialists in Slavonic studies, which is still compiling programmes in Kirsch’s section, consists mainly of emigres. Moreover, former DW Director Walter Steigner, who resigned from his post in 1980, openly instructed his employees: "Our ideas should be dragged into the life of Communist states at all costs, without disregarding 61 either sophisticated psychological methods or affability and sympathy towards those whom in reality we hate.”

p The Deutsche Welle instructions with regard to propaganda can be briefly described as follows:

p —discredit in its listeners’ eyes Soviet foreign policy and present it as expansionist;

p —focus the audiences’ attention on the difficulties and failures in the economic development of the USSR, deliberately exaggerating them and thereby arousing among Soviet people a feeling of dissatisfaction, inferiority and, eventually, discontent with Soviet power.

Regrettably, it should be stated that recently some other Western radio stations such as Radio Canada International, the Voice of Israel, Radio Vatican and Deutschlandfunk have increased the amount of anti-Soviet and anti-communist material in their foreign broadcasts.