For weeks, Moscow's 50-man corps of Western correspondents has buzzed with an exciting rumor. Last week rumor became official fact. Abruptly summoned to the Foreign Ministry building by Ministry Press Chief Mikhail Kharlamov, the newsmen were told that 43 years of direct Russian censorship were at an end.
But most veteran news hands were less than dazzled by the announcement. As if to confirm their suspicions, Spokesman Kharlamov went on. It was true, said he, that the official censorship agency, Glavlit, would stop blue-penciling outgoing copy, but the correspondents would be expected to...