ABSTRACT
This chapter examines only how the Soviet media dealt with the political emergency created by the incident. Usually Soviet leaders have an opportunity to work out a position, to draw up a plan of action, and then to play on certain few, well-considered propaganda themes. In the Soviet Union the needs of foreign and domestic propaganda are often in sharp conflict. Soviet leaders showed an extraordinary ineptness in dealing with the crisis. As world-wide attention continued to be focused on the death of the passengers on flight 007, the Soviet press also gave more space to the affair. The journalists expressed great interest in the questions — who had made the decision to shoot down the airplane and what was the extent of the involvement of the Soviet top military and political leadership. The Korean airplane affair considerably harmed Soviet interests. The shooting down of the airplane diverted public attention at a crucial time from the missile issue.
