77. Memorandum From the Director of Planning, Office of Plans, United States Information Agency (Anderson) to the Director (Murrow)1
SUBJECT
- Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe
Following are observations based on a reading of: (1) the basic policy papers of Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe; (2) the daily policy guidances and output of Radio Liberty to Russia for two days and of Radio Free Europe to Poland and Hungary for four days, selected at random; (3) summary comments prepared by the two organizations; (4) the audit report of Radio Free Europe; (5) representative publicity of Radio Free Europe; (6) an account of Free Europe Committee’s mailing operations; (7) a study of tours of East German refugees to Latin America and Asia.
Basic Policy: Radio Liberty speaks as an avowed émigré-American organization; Radio Free Europe speaks as a non-émigré, private, free world enterprise. The assessment of the situation and possibilities in both the Soviet Union and the satellites is realistic; there is specifically no expectation of nor notion of encouraging revolt or radical change by force. The injunctions against inflammatory material are clear.
The instructions for reporting on internal affairs are clear and adequately qualified, as are those on cross-play from country to country. Differences in the Polish and Hungarian audiences, for example, are clearly understood and the approaches suitably differentiated. Reliability is established as a prime criterion for both organizations. The difference between official outlets like the Voice of America and these outlets is clearly spelled out.
Daily Policy: Guidance is reasonably pertinent and clear, and, to the extent I can evaluate it, conforms to national policy. Policy on general stories tends to resemble our own, but there is a good deal of specialized guidance covering events within, or of particular interest to, a given country.
News: News coverage, even when dealing with difficult issues within an audience country, appears objective, balanced, and as accu [Page 201] rate as can be expected, particularly when read through back-translation. It is temperate in tone.
Commentary: I can’t judge the accuracy of commentaries when they get down to demonological affairs, but on the whole the commentaries are sober and non-polemical in tone. Obviously, to carry out their mission, both outlets need to deal in some unpalatable stuff. In two or three instances the commentaries got polemical: Radio Liberty on the Finnish War,2 “Stalin began one of the dirtiest wars in history,” and Radio Free Europe to Poland on new land taxes, “this party which is supposed not to talk in vain, will never learn anything.” These are exceptions to the general rule, but nevertheless appear to violate the basic policy proscriptions.
Other Programs: Music, interviews, literature, and special programs seem to be done with a good consciousness of the audiences’ interests.
General Conclusion: Within the framework of their respective charters, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe seem to me to be doing a responsible job. The validity of their charters at the present juncture of history is another question. Radio Free Europe has been moving more and more in the direction of “Europeanization”. Its extensive coverage of Western European economic affairs and progress toward economic integration has been precisely right.
Financing: The total income of Crusade for Freedom3 in Fiscal Year 1961 from contributions was $15,234,805.42. Of this, less than two million ($1,839,571.66) was from the general public. The public drive cost $439,835.44. Public information expenses were an additional $186,475.65. (Radio Free Europe uses about $10,000,000 of the money; the balance finances unattributed activities of the Free Europe Committee.)
Publicity: I now feel that the publicity of Radio Free Europe is as honest as it can be within its charter. Identification of the operation as a private venture is not played up; emphasis is on the fact that it is supported by contributions from the public. It appears that the management has made a deliberate effort to come as close to levelling as it can.
Mailing Operations: To date, the committee has sent 809, 412 selected books to selected addressees behind the Iron Curtain, all in the satellites. In the first eleven months of 1961, it sent 58,596, and received responses from no less than 26,156 of the recipients, or almost half.
[Page 202]Tours of Eastern Europeans: Four teams of East German refugees visited eight Latin American countries and four Asian countries in October–December, 1961, sponsored by the Free Europe Committee. Based on the committee’s report, including the itineraries and stats of the clippings, their work was genuinely effective.
- Source: National Archives, RG 306, Director’s Subject Files, 1962–1963, Entry UD WW 173, Box 8, Broadcasting—Private (includes RFE and RFA) 1962. Confidential. A typed notation in the top right-hand corner of the memorandum reads: “Mr. Wilson.” Wilson initialed below this notation.↩
- Presumable reference to the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union, 1939–1940.↩
- Reference is to the public fundraising drives to support Radio Free Europe, managed by the National Committee for a Free Europe (NCFE).↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩