CRISIS IN THE KREMLIN : Coup Keeps Denver Publisher Busy
DENVER — A Denver publisher that is the sole North American distributor of the independent Soviet news agency Interfax has been in the middle of the Soviet crisis, feeding news to the White House, newspapers and TV networks.
“We were supposed to start (distributing Interfax) on Sept. 3, but we’ve been working straight since 9:15 p.m.” on the first reports of the coup, said Pamela Lush, founder of DGL International Publishing.
“We’ve been here for three days straight and have had to bring in night crews,” she said.
Moscow-based Interfax Ltd., started by Soviet journalist Mikhail Komissar, was opened two years ago in the atmosphere of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s perestroika reforms. It now has 70 journalists and 150 stringers in all 15 Soviet republics, Lush said.
Interfax U.S. is a joint venture between Interfax in Moscow and DGL. Lush counts the White House, the only non-paying customer, as the Denver company’s most important client.
“We give the White House the information first,” Lush said, often reading the information over the phone and faxing it later.
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