Page 221 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

210 COMMUNICATION AND CITIZENSHIP

Moscow correspondent Wyatt Andrews prefaces Gorbachev’s statement
on nuclear arms with a warning that this is an ‘unusual speech, full of
flowery language…as if he wanted to convince the world that he means
it when he says he wants no nuclear weapons’. The dubious character of
the speech, already established by Rather, is thus restated by
correspondent Andrews. After the clip showing Gorbachev’s speech,
Andrews makes the transition from the intent of the conference (the
Gorbachev ruse) to its effectiveness (the suckers in the audience).
Gorbachev, he tells us, was speaking to a ‘collection of one thousand of
the world’s most influential writers, businessmen and scientists’ and ‘If
Gorbachev was working on impressing them, he succeeded.’ In fact,
Rather had set up the function of this audience with his very first words:
‘A star-studded group of international movers and shakers was in
Moscow today.’
After the intent of the conference is made clear, its authenticity is
further questioned by inserting the story about Joseph Begun’s
continued imprisonment. ‘Mr Gorbachev’s speech concludes a week of
contradiction,’ Andrews tells us. While there have been releases of
political dissidents, Begun is still not free. The implicit conclusion is
that things have improved but not improved enough. As Andrews
concludes, ‘Gorbachev seemed to be fighting hard for the respect and
understanding of his powerful audience. In short, trying to earn from
one thousand influential private citizens what he has not earned from
the Reagan administration.’
Evidence that the CBS story is driven by shared American narrative
frameworks can be seen in its commonalities with the NBC and ABC
stories. Like the CBS story, NBC and ABC are skeptical of
Gorbachev’s motives. NBC calls the conference a ‘master stroke’ by
Gorbachev, raising images of motives not quite straight. It orients the
viewer to one more example of American perceptions of Gorbachev as a
trickster/magician who continuously pulls new rabbits out of his hat.
While it incorporates the Begun story towards the end, the NBC story is
heavily skewed in its content towards coverage of Andrei Sakharov.
This, of course, is not incidental. It ties in with the function that
Sakharov plays in the narrative. Sakharov is introduced by NBC’s
Moscow correspondent Stan Bernard with a great deal of dramatic
import: ‘In the grand Kremlin palace, the presence of this man startled.
Andrei Sakharov, the Soviet Union’s most famous dissident.’
Throughout the NBC story Sakharov gets as much airtime as
Gorbachev. The unique qualities of the conference shift from
Gorbachev to Sakharov in a subtle way. Gorbachev is seen as a