-5 Foreign Media Reaction * The first Special Foreign Media Reaction Report on the shoot-down was edited and produced, drawing on special telegraphic reporting from USIA posts worldwide. Distribution was made to the President and key White House staff members, Cabinet Members and key officials of U.S. foreign affairs agencies. Other Initiatives * At Director Wick's instruction, Press Counselors from Western European and Far Eastern embassies in Washington were invited to USIA for a briefing at 4:30 p.m. by the Acting Deputy Director on USG initiatives to communicate the facts on the shoot-down to areas without ready access to commercial media. The briefing underscored the depth of concern with which the USG views the shoot-down issue. * Director Wick participated in the special meeting of the National Security Council chaired by President Reagon at 6 p.m. After the meeting, he gave new guidance to the USIA Task Force Chairman for Agency activities. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 * After meeting with Secretary Shultz, Director Wick alerted the USIA Task Force that the Television Service would be tasked with preparing a video document for presentation at the UN Security Council on September 6; a preliminary meeting with Ambassador Roger Kirk (acting for Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, out of country) at 3:00 p.m. provided general details of the U.S. presentation before the Security Council which would utilize a video document explaining the intercepts of Soviet pilots involved in the shoot-down. A follow-up meeting was scheduled for Sunday. The Voice of America * By temporarily patching together all its worldwide transmitter assets, VOA added another 34 transmission hours beamed daily at the USSR, making a total of 90 additional hours focused there daily since September 1. This was done without affecting other language programs or transmissions. engineers cautioned Agency management that the aged condition of the transmitters was such that a maximum effort could probably not be sustained for more than one week without incurring the danger of serious equipment breakdown.) (VOA -6 * The U.S.G. view on the incident was the subject of Saturday's VOA editorial for its 42 language service broadcasts. By the morning, an additional daily hour of programming in Russian to the Far Eastern USSR had been added for transmission -- making a total of 17 hours daily. Shoot-down developments continued to lead in all news and news feature coverage; Ambassador Hartman's interview continued to receive prominent play. TV Service Began to make preparations for in-house crash production of the UNSC video document beginning Sunday afternoon. Packaged and sent to all USIA overseas posts by rapid air delivery videocassettes of its interview with the President of the Airline Pilots Association and two Friday public affairs programs: *MACNEIL/LEHRER REPORT: Discussion of the Soviet behavior in their shooting down of an unarmed Korean airliner, by Soviet defectors Arkady Shevchenko and Yitzhan Tarasulo, and William Highland of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. *ABC NIGHTLINE: Discussion of the options available to the President in response to the Soviet's downing of the Korean airliner and speculation on how the various worldwide "peace movements" will respond. Press Service * Via Wireless File and telegram (USINFO) the following texts were sent to USIA's 126 country posts in four languages: Plane Incident Looms Large on Shultz-Gromyko Agenda (article on State Department briefing); VOA Editorial: Controlling Moscow's Missiles; Shultz Says USSR Hiding Facts on Plane Attack (text: Shultz statement on airline incident); U.S. Opinion Roundup: Korean Airliner Tragedy; Soviet Action Stirs World-wide Shock, Disbelief (global reaction to shooting down of plane); International Outrage Grows Over Soviet Action (coverage of United Nations); Shultz to Seek Explanation from Gromyko on Plane (staff article on background briefing); interview: U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Soviets Owe the World an Explanation, Hartman Says; Reagan Condemns Soviet Attack on Korean Jet; World Opinion Roundup: Korean Airliner Tragedy; Korean Plane Victims Mourned by Loved Ones (wrap-up on survivors); Reagan Says Airplane Attack Will Not Affect Arms Talks (Nitze briefing). -7 Policy Guidance * Prepared a revised Public Diplomacy Strategy for consideration by the Korean Intergovernmental Working Group 3 p.m. meeting at the State Department. * Produced and disseminated a policy guidance for treatment of the shoot-down, drawing on White House and State Department sources, backgrounder by Assistant Secretary Burt and press conference by Ambassador Nitze. Guidance was telegraphed to all overseas posts and distributed to Agency media. Begin preparation of background information reports on past incidents of Soviet attacks on overflying aircraft and the history of Soviet overflights of U.S. and other airspace. * Compiled Soviet statements following the shoot-down and prepared rebuttal talking-points. USIA Foreign Press Centers The Washington Center provided facilitative service to resident foreign correspondents, providing texts, backgrounder information, assistance with satellite feeds, etc. Foreign Media Reaction Unit *Edited and produced its second Special Foreign Media Reaction Report, with distribution as on Friday. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 After briefing by Director Wick, the Counselor, Director of the TV and Film Service and other Agency officers met with Ambassador Kirk and Assistant Secretary John Hughes to discuss production of the video document for the Tuesday UNSC meeting. A concept was agreed upon; the audio tape of the intercepts and transcripts in Russian and English were turned over to the USIA Task Force representatives who promised that a finished product would be ready for screening Monday morning for Ambassador Kirkpatrick on her arrival in Washington from Morocco. It was agreed that a TV Service team would go to New York to work out technical details for making a video presentation in the Security Council Conference Room and also at USUN in case it became impossible to show it in the UN itself. The Voice of America * News and commentary programs continued with extensive coverage of developments related to the shoot-down, focusing -8 particularly on USG statements on Secretary Shultz's Madrid trip and the continuation of arms control negotiations. Maximum transmitter output to the USSR was maintained. TV Service * Production of the video document began at 3 p.m., following the State Department meeting. To complete the 273 panels for the video document, TV drew on assistance for graphics preparation and electronic typesetting from the Publications Branch, for visual tracking with the audio materials on USIA Russian-speaking officers with general backstopping from the Counselor. Great care was taken to assure the security of the highly sensitive tape and transcript. Press Service A special Wireless File transmission was scheduled to transmit the following items on a timely basis to all field posts: Excerpts from the Eagleburger ABC-TV appearance; the text of the Burt CBS-TV appearance; reports on demonstrations In Washington and San Francisco; a roundup of world opinion for the day; a staff article on the White House meeting with Hill leaders; a staff article on the White House briefing on the President's intention to give a televised response on the plane incident the next day; the New York Times editorial, "Measure for Measure"; and a feature on the aircraft's black box. Foreign Media Reaction Continuing its series of coverage of world media reaction, the Media Reaction Unit produced a third Special Report on the "Downing of South Korean Passenger Jet," focusing on President Reagan's radio talk. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 * Working through the night, the Television Service completed the video document at 6:30 a.m. for a final review by the Director of TV/Films and the Counselor. At 10:00 a.m. the videotape was screened at the State Department by Ambassador Kirkpatrick, Director Wick and officials from other foreign affairs agencies, including principals of the USIA Task Force, during a strategy meeting chaired by Under Secretary Eagleburger. Proliferating Soviet propaganda attacks centered on the RC-135 flight were a principal topic of discussion. Among decisions made: aim for UN Secretariat scheduling of the Security Council special meeting for 11:00 a.m. Tuesday; re-edit the video presentation in a more extended, visual format; approval of USIA plans for placing of TV monitors in the UNSC conference room and for a TV viewing capability at -9 USUN for Ambassador Kirkpatrick's press briefing following her UNSC presentation. The Voice of America * VOA carried live President Reagan's message to the American people on its worldwide English service. The Russian, Georgian and Ukrainian services broadcast the speech in full in translated form one hour later. The Polish and Chinese services also carried the full speech at the beginning of their next broadcast times. The remaining 37 language services carried excerpts of the speech in subsequent broadcasts. * VOA transmitters continued to beam an additional 90 hours of transmission time to the Soviet Union. * An additional hour of Russian language programs continued to be broadcast to the Far Eastern USSR. The Television Service * At 2:00 p.m., the Director of TV & Films began the job of remaking the video document, relying once again on support from several other Agency elements and counseled by USAF intelligence experts in preparation of new graphics to assure accuracy in preparation of a new introduction showing the flight path of the downed plane. At the USIA TV studios, Director Wick provided ideas for the new presentation concept. Deadline for the new video was 8 a.m. Tuesday for screening by Ambassador Kirkpatrick prior to her 9 a.m. departure for New York. Press Service A special Labor Day holiday transmission of the Wireless File was scheduled primarily to provide posts with the White House fact sheet on the President's televised address to take place later in the evening (the text of the address was subsequently sent via USINFO) but also carried excerpts from that day's Washington Post editorial; a roundup of the latest worldwide press indictments of the Soviet Union; the text of the White House briefing prior to the President's speech; and remarks from Ambassador Dougan at the Tashkent UNESCO conference assailing the Soviets for the downing of the plane. Media Reaction The fourth Special Foreign Media Reaction Report on the shooting down of KAL 007 was edited and produced and distributed widely. |