ORDINARY PEOPLE : SOVIET-U.S. ‘CITIZENS’ SUMMIT’ ON TV

A televised “citizens’ summit” linking ordinary Americans and Soviets in a verbal give-and-take with Phil Donahue will be good for both nations, the Soviet co-host of the program said Monday.

“The more of it, the better for all of us,” television commentator Vladimir Pozner said, speaking over a satellite hookup linking Moscow with Seattle.

Pozner and Donahue will be hosts, in Seattle and Leningrad, for the one-hour program Dec. 29 to give 150 to 200 citizens from each country the chance to talk with each other over the satellite hookup between KING-TV, an NBC affiliate, and Gosteleradio, which is Soviet Television.

Donahue, appearing in a television studio here while Pozner’s bigger-than-life image was flashed on a screen behind him, said the two sides were overdue for a people-to-people show.

The talk show host acknowledged some might consider the show’s promoters naive, but asked: “What’s the alternative (to talking with each other)? . . . grab the kids and wait for the big one?”

While the program won’t be a single event that will change the world, he said, “We’re overdue in the business of asking each other about our lives . . . our hopes for the future.”

Donahue also said he believed the question-and-answer session is a result of the Soviets seeking more time before American TV audiences.

“I think this is about (Mikhail) Gorbachev,” he said. He said he expected more encounters as relations open between the two countries.

Asked whether his country was “going the Western route” in media relations, Pozner responded, “I believe we are starting to understand the power of the media.”

Others answering questions at the Seattle end of the Moscow-Seattle news conference Monday were Marilyn O’Reilly of Multimedia Entertainment, Donahue’s production company, and Ed Wierzbowski of the Documentary Guild, an independent producer in Massachusetts.

Wierzbowski, who has been involved in several “space bridge” hookups linking Soviet and American audiences, was contacted by KING about 1 1/2 years ago, and he raised the question with Soviet officials.

Sturges Dorrance, KING-TV general manager, said final arrangements were made last month in the Soviet Union.

O’Reilly said she would assist in selecting audience participants in both the Seattle and Leningrad areas, and would try to avoid people with ideological positions.

She said she would select factory workers, housewives, farmers, professionals, doctors--a cross-section of society, and people willing to speak up.

“I expect people to be very happy to participate,” she said.

Donahue said he would be as curious as anyone watching when the questions start to fly at the cross-world get-together.

“There is no precedent here,” he said.

Pozner, who appears regularly as a commentator on “Nightline” (ABC) and on British television, said he expected the talks to be “very frank, very friendly,” when the two groups confront each other on the big screen.

“They (will) really want to open up and talk to each other,” he said, insisting there would be no effort to taint the Leningrad audience with people who would reel off the official Moscow line.