Rietumvalstu korespondenti PSRS Lielā bada laikā 20. gadsimta 30. gadu sākumā. (Latvian)

The article deals with the activities of the Western correspondents in Moscow in the early 1930s during the years of the Great famine in Ukraine. The USSR at that time was quite isolated. It did not have diplomatic relations with a number of Western countries. There were few Western tourists visiting Russia and there were very few Western journalists reporting on the Soviet Union from Moscow. International isolation contributed to the fact that the Great famine raging in Ukraine in 1932/33 went largely unnoticed by the international public until it was over. The Western correspondents in Moscow did not report the whole truth about the developments in the USSR for a number of reasons. First and foremost there was a strict Soviet censorship. It forbid the usage of the word "famine", instead the correspondents were made to use such expressions as "food shortages", "malnutrition", etc. If the journalists tried to evade censorship they risked being expelled from the country, as was the case of Muggeridge, Clyman, Scheffer and others. Expulsion frequently meant also a loss of job, which during the Great depression was a factor to count with. As a result foreign correspondents in Moscow made compromises and indulged in self-censorship. This practice was facilitated by their employers who needed news and were ready to sacrifice integrity of the information coming from Moscow. Another factor, which substantially limited foreign correspondents was the travel ban introduced by the Soviet authorities in the early 1933. No Western correspondent was allowed into Ukraine and the Northern Caucasus until September 1933. As a result they could not see the situation for themselves and confirm the rumours of the famine. The Soviet propaganda did its utmost to persuade the Western public that the Ukrainian famine is a myth. Given the ambiguous opinions of the Western correspondents in Moscow the Soviet regime largely succeeded in that. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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