STEPHEN MILLER
Inside Radio
Free
Europe/Radio Liberty
If my fe ll ow citi zens knew me befo re I beca me pres iden t, they d id
so beca use o f these stati ons.
- Vaclav Have l
I
N JANUARY
I 9
83, [ became Spec ia l Ass ista nt to the new Pres id ent of
Radi o Free Europe/ Radi o Libe rty-James R. Buckl ey, th e fo rmer
Republica n Sen a to r from New Yo rk.
J
wo rked in RFE/ RL's Was h–
ington o ffi ce, but
J
made frequ ent trips to Munich, where RFE/ RL was
hea dq ua rtered. They were reputed to be sta ti o ns th a t, as a
Wa ll Street
Journa l
re po rter put it, broa dcast " pro-Wes te rn messages." But fa r from
being hack radio sta ti o ns tha t d roned o n a bo ut the ev il s o f communi sm ,
RFE/ RL was rega rded by ma ny peop le in Eastern Europe-includ ing
Vacl a v Have l, Adam M ichni k, a nd o th er lea ding di ss id ents-as in va lu –
a bl e, beca use they we re a re lia ble source of news .
RFE/ RL had a core o f pro fess io na l Eng li sh-la nguage jo urn a li sts w ho
wo rked o ut o f burea us in Was hington, New Yo rk, Lo ndo n, Pa ri s, Bru s–
sels, Rome, a nd Muni ch. Their news copy was di spensed
to
th e d iffe r–
ent la nguage se rvi ces, whi ch we re required to use thi s ma teri a l in their
ten-minute ho ur ly newscasts. T he la nguage se rvices-R FE broadcas t in
six la nguages, RL in fo urteen- a lso regul a rl y b roa dcast digests of the
edi to ri a l a nd o pini o n pages o f th e lea ding news pa pers in Wes tern
Euro pe an d the U.S. Fo r the rema inder of th eir prog ra mming th e se r–
vices ha d a good dea l of a utonomy; there was no centra l scripting .
" Th ese Muni ch-based sta ti o ns," Wa lter Laqueur says, " prov ided a free
fl ow o f info rma tion to the Eas t a nd contributed mo re th a n a ny o ther
Wes tern so urce to th e eme rgence o f a c riti ca l a ttitude beyond th e [ro n
C urta in a nd Ito l the eros io n o f Sov iet ideo logy."
In th e ea rl y
J970S,
w hen Senato r Fulb right a nd Sena to r C hu rc h tri ed
to close down the Radi os, a numbe r o f well -known jo urna li sts spoke up
fo r them, including Dav id H a lberstam. Testi fy ing be fo re Cong ress in
1973,
H a lberstam sa id th a t communi st a utho riti es "would li ke to
stomp IRFE I o ut.
It
is the o ne thing in th eir soc iety th ey ca n 't contro l in
