University, Daily Kansan / Monday. October 23, 1989
Nation/World
7
East German media get glasnost
The Associated Press
BERLIN — In a crowded East Berlin subway train, commuters shake their heads in disbelief as they flip through the Communist Party newspaper Neues Deutschland, its pages brimming with workers' complaints and admissions of official bungling.
In an apartment not far from the Berlin Wall, an East Berlin family switches off a variety show on West German television to tune in to the state-controlled nightly newscast.
"We haven't watched it for years, but we make sure we do now," said Ulrike Schmidt, a 38-year-old schoolteacher.
In less than a week after the ouster of reform-resistant party leader Erich Honecker, East Germany's news media have shed their drab and dominear image and given voice to the troubled nation's problems.
Although the media still toe the party's 'leading role' line, the transformation has been as dramatic as it has been swift.
Long scorned by East Germans who looked west for the news, the media have embarked on a campaign of relative openness about the causes of the nation's recent unrest.
The shift has left many East Germans amazed and skeptical.
"For years, the media here were a joke," said Joachim Lenz, a 25-year-old student at East Berlin's Humboldt University. "They had nothing to do with reality, and the newspapers were full of interviews with happy workers while the rest were packing up to go West."
One of the most frequent demands made by pro-democracy activists has been for a freer, more lively press.
Although there still is no legal alternative to the state-run press, government media have begun to respond to the widespread calls for broader, more realistic news coverage.
A day after Egon Krenz took over as party leader last week, Neues Deutschland devoted four pages to critical examination of the nation's problems, including the flight of
more than 55,000 East Germans to the West.
For the first time in their 40-year history, East Germany's media have offered prompt coverage of the pro-democracy street protests and other opposition events.
On Saturday, two senior Communist Party officials engaged in an unusually candid debate with East Germans who had just marched through downtown East Berlin demanding reforms. Less than two hours later, footage of the heated exchange between East Berlin party chief Guenter Schabowski and Mayor Erhard Krack was shown on the nightly news show "Aktuelle Kamera."
East German television now routinely broadcasts live interviews with state officials, who were rarely seen a few weeks ago and whose policies were never questioned openly.
Direct criticism of officials in power remains absent, and no challenges are made to the Communist Party's monopoly on power.
World Briefs
RUSSIANS FORM FEDERATION: A federation of Russian environmental, patriotic and religious groups yesterday formed a federation to press for a multi-party political system and the preservation of Russian culture, a reporter said.
The People's Front of Russia is similar to grassroots political organizations that first appeared in the Baltic republic of Estonia in 1968. Other groups have been involved in bringing people in Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia and the Ukraine.
The organizations have been asserting the rights of indigenous ethnic populations, of which there are more than 100 nationwide.
The Russian group was formed after a two-day meeting in Yaroslavl, a Volga River port northeast of
Viktor A. Khovrin, a reporter for the Yaroslavl newspaper Northern Worker, said in a telephone interview that the more than 100 delegates adopted a policy to be sent to the Communist Party's monopoly on political power.
Delegates from more than 40 cities throughout Russia also pledged to work for development of Russian culture and language and preservation of Russian historical monuments, he said.
CHENEY BEGINS TOUR: Defense Secretary Dick Cheney arrived in Paris yesterday on the first stop of a three-week foreign tour that will focus on the changing situation in Eastern Europe and the reduction of conventional military forces.
Cheney scheduled meetings with French Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement, Premier Michel Rocard and other officials.
we will go to Portugal today for two days of NATO
tata and then will head for Britain, West German,
tata.
He also will be visiting with U.S. military forces abroad.
Cheney is expected back in Washington on Nov. 10.
ISRAEL OPENS EMBASSY: Israel soon will open a new embassy in Brussels to handle relations with the European Economic Community, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday.
The embassy, which will be in addition to Israel's embassy to Belgium and Luxembourg in Brussels, will open when a building is found and an ambassador is appointed, said the spokesman, who traditionally is not identified by name.
Starting today, Foreign Minister Moshe Arens will hold a two-day meeting in Brussels with Israeli diplomats in Europe, discussing Israel's relationship with the European trade bloc after it becomes an integrated market in 1992, the spokesman said.
State to lose seat if illegal aliens count
The 12-nation group plans to lift virtually all trade barriers, between them in three years.
Arens also will meet with officials of Brussels and Luxembourg on a European visit that will last from today to Thursday, he said.
By Derek Schmidt
Kansan staff writer
Counting illegal aliens in the 1990 U.S. Census guarantees that Kansas will lose a seat in Congress, the state's U.S. representatives said.
The U.S. House voted two weeks ago to count illegal aliens for congressional districting purposes. The illegal aliens will be included in the 1990 census where they are at the time of the 1990 census.
States with large illegal-alien populations are pressing to count them because the increased number of illegal-alien populations
A House-Senate conference committee now will work on the final version of the bill, but congressional staff members said provisions to count illegal aliens would be retained.
all five Kansas representatives voted against counting illegal aliens
"We all know the Census Bureau doesn't count everyone who happens to be in the country on April first," said Rep. Jan Meyers, R-3rd District. "For instance, foreign diplomats and foreign tourists
are not counted, even though they are persons, and
they are in the country legally.
"This is not the Constitution according to James Madison, but rather Lewis Carroll. Only the Mad Hatter could have dreamed up such a policy."
Brian Gaston, Meyers' press secretary, said counting the large illegal alien populations in Texas, Florida and California would make the Kansas population proportionately smaller.
"If they count illegal aliens, we will surely lose a Gasson said. If 'they don't count them,' the outcome
Political observers have predicted that Kansas would lose a seat after the 1990 Census. The 5th District, represented by Republican Bob Whitney, will be absorbed by other districts, they say.
Al Powers, Whittaker's press secretary, said Whittaker had opposed counting illegal aliens for more than a year because he wanted to retain Kansas' fifth seat.
Powers said 16 of the 20 members of the conference committee wanted to count illegal aliens, so they almost certainly will be counted.
Sarah Coleman, press secretary for Rep. Pat Roberts, R-1st District, said Roberts voted against counting illegal aliens because he thought it would cause Kansas to lose a seat.
Scott Swenson, press secretary for Rep. Dan Glickman, D-4th District, said Glickman was concerned that not counting people who were in the United States at the time of the census would be unfair. People deserve representation, Swenson said, regardless of whether they are here legally or illegally. However, Glickman decided to vote with the rest of the Kansas delegation.
"He did it strictly to maintain any hope there would be to save the fifth congressional seat," Swenson said. "I think that Kansas is going to lose a seat regardless."
Ken Murphy, press secretary for Rep. Jim Slattery, D-2nd District, said Slattery had sponsored legislation to prohibit counting illegal aliens. And Slattery was disappointed with last week's vole.
"He's not very confident that we will retain the seat." Murphy said.
Lebanese peace plan passed, Aoun says 'No'
TAIF, Saudi Arabia — The Lebanese parliament on Sunday passed a new power-sharing accord to end the country's 14-year-old civil war, but Christian leader Gen. Michel Aouen rejected the pact.
The Associated Press
"What the deputies approved in Taif is a crime I will not accept," Aoun said at a news conference at the suburban Babaad, a district of suburban Baabda, east of Beirut.
"I have demanded a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, but they came up with a peace plan full of ambiguities about this issue, which constitutes Lebanon's sovereignty." Aoun said.
Fifty-nine of 62 deputies present voted for the draft charter but made their action contingent on approval by Aoun and his rival, Moslem leader Salim Hoss. Two deputies abstained, and one voted against the agreement.
He said he could accept the political reforms in the accord, which would give more power to the
Moslems, but "the deputies have actually exceeded their jurisdiction and constitutional rights by voting in these ambiguities that compromise Lebanon's sovereignty. I reject this plan and reject the United States approval of it."
Aoun did not specify what he meant by U.S. approval.
In Washington, the White House declined to discuss the peace plan. "We're going to withhold comment until things are pinned down a little bit more," a White House official
said on condition of anonymity.
Just as the parliamentary session began in Taif, Arab League envoy Lakhdar Ibrahim flew to Beirut for separate talks with Aoun and Hoss. The Arab League has been sponsoring the peace efforts.
Aoun heads a Lebanese Christian government competing for legitimacy with the predominately Moslem Cabinet headed by Hoss. There was no immediate reaction from Hoss.
Aoun also said that if the Syrians threaten to resume fierce shelling that battered Beirut from March to September, his troops were ready.
Attorney general tells about scams
By Derek Schmidt
By Derek Schmidt Kansan staff writer
Prosecuting people who try to defraud consumers can be tricky, said Robert Stephan, attorney general. Stephan spoke to about 50 people in a conference about credit, which was held at the Lawrence Holdome.
Consumer scams take many forms, the Kansas attorney general said Saturday.
"There's a very fine line between what's a violation of the law and what's legal," Stephan said.
He mentioned one scam involving a classified ad in a newspaper in eastern Kansas. The ad said, "Send $1 immediately," and gave an address. People called the attorney general's office to complain that they got nothing in return, bt nothing was promised, Stephan said. The person who placed the ad made about $35,000, he said.
"The media really don't have any choice in regard to these ads in many instances," he said. "Just because the ad's there doesn't mean they endorse it.
"Sometimes we're a little eager to give our money away."
Charities that have names closely resembling reputable charities also are a problem, Stephan
said. For example, people often confuse the American Heart Disease Foundation with the American Heart Association. The AHDA, Stephan said, has only two paid employees and last year spent for fund raising $8 million of the $9 million it raised.
The federal government loses $2.2 billion annually from tax deductions for false charities, Stephan said.
"Today, we have to be very, very careful and make sure we know exactly what we're doing." he said.
Bogus invoices are being used more to rip off consumers, Stephan said. For example, he said, one company printed fingers walking through yellow pages, the non-copyrighted logos of the Yellow Pages, on invoices and sent them to consumers. Many people assumed the bill was from the Yellow Pages, when, in fact, it was merely an unrelated company's solicitation for money.
The scam was uncovered when the attorney general's consumer protection division received a phony bill for $196, Stephan said.
More than 1,000 calls a month pour into the attorney general's consumer protection hotline, said Mary Horsch, Stephan's press secretary.
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