The News as Seen Through Soviet Union’s Eyes: Film at 11:30

Yes, it’s February once again. Which means that out there in the vast wasteland, it’s ratings sweeps time, and TV newscasts are at their, er, best. It’s as though, between sweeps periods, the world spins along in suspended animation but now, suddenly, it has come alive: “The planet is in danger and by tomorrow it may be too late. Tune in Thursday!”

Or, “Action News 2” and its “Home Sick Special”--”Your own house could be poisoning you!”

Sick of the fright-night tactics? Bored silly by yet another “Eye On L.A.” excursion to Tahiti? Yearning for a news report that actually has some news ?

Try “Vremya,” the Soviet Union’s official daily national newscast, currently airing on Orange County Public Broadcasting System station KOCE (Channel 50) on a two-week trial run. “Vremya” made its debut Monday night in the less-than-prime-time 11:30 p.m. slot, but given that the best Los Angeles PBS station KCET (Channel 28) could do was the midnight time slot,we should be thankful.

In many ways, even though it’s a show that most people probably won’t find habit-forming, “Vremya” is a real eye-opener. For the unprecedented chance it offers--to look through the same lens that filters the world for millions of Soviet citizens--it’s a must-see.

“Vremya” is airing in dozens of U.S. cities, yet another tangible sign of the much-ballyhooed “new openness” between the two countries. Presumably, the Soviet people will be given a look at American television in exchange. Let’s just hope--for our sake and theirs--it’s not Geraldo’s special on “When the Other Woman Is a Man.”

Monday’s first 30-minute installment of “Vremya” was highly revelatory, more for what you could read between the lines than for actual information gleaned. What is most apparent is that production values, and even basic competence, are nowhere near the same as with national network news here. As Times Television Critic Howard Rosenberg pointed out, stories on “Vremya” sometimes “appear to have been edited (or censored) by chain saw.” In that respect, “Vremya” more closely resembles the products of first-year college broadcasting students, or one of the slapdash local news shows that often pop up on public-access cable systems.

Far more significant than the technical shortcomings of “Vremya,” though, are the differences in content between Soviet and U.S. newscasts. Monday’s top story was a lengthy profile of a Soviet Buddhist leader running for political office, newsworthy because only recently have the Soviet Union’s Buddhist communities been allowed by the Communist Party leadership in Moscow to participate in elections. The story itself suggested no illicit sexual liaisons with buxom secretaries; unearthed no private bouts with alcoholism, drug addiction or depression; and included no sideswipes at rival candidates.

On one hand, that approach may paint a falsely rosy picture of the Soviet political process, which certainly must suffer some of the same ills that plague ours. Still, it was downright refreshing to see a political piece that concentrated on issues and a candidate’s positions and qualifications, not on his personal habits.

The second story of the evening was a feature on a new electrolyte copper factory in the Ural Mountains. Reflecting the traditionally heavy Soviet emphasis on productivity and technology, much was made of the fact that this factory now is capable of turning out electrolyte copper film only 18 microns thick, where previously the thinnest it had been able to produce was 35 microns.

I suppose inquiring minds want to know.

Again, hardly earth-shattering stuff in and of itself. But highly revealing for what the show’s powers-that-be consider to be big news. The only time we’re likely to see a major national news story on a manufacturing plant is if it explodes, closes and lays off thousands of workers, or if its operators have bilked the government on a multimillion-dollar defense contract.

The specter of glasnost may hover over the Western world like Casper the Friendly Ghost, but “Vremya” is still filled with propaganda. Undoubtedly, though, it now is a more subtle brand than it must have been in the pre-Gorbachev era. Stories are laced with editorializing, praising the Soviet government and the character of the people. When mention is made of the U.S.S.R.’s less-enthralling accomplishments, clumsy attempts are made to ameliorate tragedies past.

In one report, for instance, there was a reference to the Stalin era, now officially sanctioned as fair game for criticism. It was brought up as an example of “the terrifying pages of our past, which,” we were quickly informed, “have passed forever. . . .”

The choice of two stories “Vremya” picked up about the United States was especially interesting.

The first was about our very own oil spill off Huntington Beach. The snippet showed footage of waves crashing on Newport Beach as a voice-over explained that “as a result of an oil spill, the coastal waters of that state were contaminated.” The whole state? “Due to precise work of the coastal service, the uses of cleaning services and volunteer assistance rendered by the population, it becomes possible to partly eliminate the consequences of the contamination.” OK, so they won’t win any Emmys for newswriting.

The next segment was a report on last weekend’s prison break from the Joliet Correctional Center in Illinois, complete with pictures of armed guards and German shepherds searching surrounding areas for the six escapees.

Both were legitimate news stories, but given that they were the only stories about the United States shown by “Vremya,” it would be easy to get the impression that this country is nothing but a polluted wasteland overrun by criminals. . . .

Film at 11:30.