ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the competing views of the Soviet and United States governments were reported on British television news. East—west relations were already at a low point in September 1983, and the Korean airliner disaster plunged them even deeper into gloom. The TV Eye programme added to a growing list of articles and publications which contradicted the picture of the Korean airliner disaster initially presented by the US government. The chapter examines how the various theories about what befell KAL 007 were reported on the news. Although the US State Department never changed its position that the airliner had accidentally strayed into Soviet airspace there were major question marks over the claim. The peculiarities ‘pointed out by Moscow’ were resolved by journalists without serious consideration of the central Soviet allegation that the Korean airliner had been involved in an intelligence mission. Official western accounts presented the Korean airliner disaster as confirmation and vindication of the Soviet threat.
