
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990                   TAG: 9005170307
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

PANEL WOULD END RADIO FREE EUROPE

A presidential commission recommended Wednesday that Radio Free Europe, the 40-year-old American propaganda operation that broadcasts to Eastern Europe, be phased out in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet rule in the region.

The recommendation would require action by the Bush administration to take effect. But the the unanimous finding - extraordinary for the usually routine annual report by the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy - is expected to carry weight.

And it instantly drew the indignant objection of the head of the independent board that oversees Radio Free Europe.

Radio Free Europe, founded in 1950 and originally financed by the CIA, is one of three radio services of the U.S. government. Its sister operation, Radio Liberty, broadcasts directly to the Soviet Union and is aimed particularly at Soviet ethnic minority nationalities.

The third service, the U.S. Information Agency's Voice of America, puts more emphasis on providing news of United States and makes more of an attempt to appear an objective provider of all sides of an issue.

The commission report called for the continuation of Radio Liberty and Voice of America.

- Los Angeles Times

by CNB