Here's the scenario: ABC-TV'S late-night news superstar, Ted Koppel, looks up at the video screen and asks, "What do you think, Vladimir?" The subject of their conversation is manipulation of the U.S. media. Vladimir, of course, is the Soviet Union's high-profile spokesman, Vladimir Posner, who is speaking to his supposed Amercian counterpart direct from Moscow. It all amounts to higher ratings for ABC.
Scene:
President Reagan has just finished his nationally televised State of the Union address. The Democrats follow, as is the custom, with their rebuttal. The ABC asks Posner what he thinks about Regan's call for higher U.S. defense spending and his warning of a greater Soviet military threat. For almost 10 minutes Posner answers questions from David Brinkley, in the process throwing some hard body punches at the substance of the Reagan address. Moscow is left with the "last word" and, through its mouthpiece, paints itself as the superpower peacemaker.
Scene:
It is February 1986, just days before the 27th Party Congress - the main event in international Communist Party politics that happens every five years - is scheduled to convene in Moscow. Vladimir Posner plays radio host to Dr. Radomir Bogdanov and Sergey Plekhanov, two experts from Moscow's USA and Canada Institute. "Vlad" and guests are broadcasting in English directly into North America. They explain how Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev is really very serious about annihilating all nuclear weapons by the year 2000. "How can even the progressive New York Times be so cynical about the general secretary's offer?" asks Posner.
U.S. TV and radio audiences notice that Posner has a native American accent, that his English is nearly flawless, and that he sprinkles his conversation with American idioms and colloquial expressions. He seems almost to be American. And he is very intelligent and sharp with his answers.
Scene:
It is shortly after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and a young Soviet diplomat is testifying before a congressional panel. On the news that evening. American TV audiences discover that his name is Vitaly Churkin and that his hair is perfectly styled, that his suit and tie could have been found in the pages of Gentleman's Quarterly, that his English is very good, and that he thinks well on his feet. He could pass as an American TV anchorman.
A Soviet spokesman with verve and style? an American observer might ask. Why now, in the mid 1980s, have the Soviets chosen to debut their media celebrities through such a public relations blitz in the United States?
Several Soviet-bloc defectors, all of them experts on disinformation techniques, agree that the new Soviet PR offensive is designed to sell a suave, "liberal" Gorbachev image to the U.S. public and to NATO allies. It is very high quality Soviet propaganda, perhaps the best ever, these experts say. Moscow aims to disarm the U.S. electorate, create a new liberal climate for the 1986 and 1988 elections, and, most importantly restart the massive flow of U.S. cash, credits, and high-tech hardware to the Soviet
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