ABSTRACT
Information exchanges—motion pictures, radio and television, and books and publications—are the most ideological exchanges for the Soviet Union because they threaten its monopoly on information. These exchanges proved to be the most difficult for the United States to carry out under the cultural agreement. The media of both countries seek to earn a profit from the sale of their products abroad, and this was one of the incentives for proposals for exchanges of motion pictures, books and publications, and radio and television programs through commercial channels. Both countries have very large film industries and huge domestic audiences, and the motion picture industries of the two countries had high expectations in 1958 when the first cultural agreement was signed. The Soviet Union and the United States are the world’s largest book publishers. United States Information Agency has offered practical advice to the Soviets on how to increase the distribution of Soviet Life.
