SOVIET NEWS
IT WAS amusing to hear the LBC Tuesday morning news babbling gaily on about how Mr Gorbachev's 'new policy of openness' is reflected in Soviet reporting of the sinking of a passenger ship. In fact the official communiqué broadcast by Moscow Radio was hardly comprehensive: the Admiral Nakhimov had sunk after a collision, it said, measures had been taken, 'necessary assistance' was being given, and a govern- ment commission would take care of the rest. One of the BBC's seasoned experts at their Caversham monitoring centre tells us that this was a standard Soviet response to such a civil disaster. It was exemplary only by comparison with Soviet media coverage of the shooting down of the Korean airlin- er. Some readers may recall that vintage Tass report — a classic example of the difference between the truth and the whole truth — which concluded, The intruder plane did not react to the signals and warnings from the Soviet fighters and continued its flight in the direction of the Sea of Japan.' In the circumstances, perhaps we should not cavil at the initial refusal to provide the fullest possible infor- mation, but praise Tass for not reporting that the Admiral Nakhimov 'continued its voyage into the Black Sea'.
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