A Columbia Broadcasting Corporation television team failed to obtain permission from Soviet authorities to photograph the baking of matzoh in Moscow, it was reported here today from the Soviet capital.
The television crew was told by the Soviet officials that while they themselves had no objection, the leaders of the Jewish religious community would be opposed. A second attempt by the CBS crew to get approval also failed.
Observers here expressed the view that the Jews had been given a hint to refuse such permission because the Soviets did not want to appear to be banning normal press coverage of an event totally unconnected with any question of security. It was suggested that conditions for matzoh baking in Moscow are so poor and primitive that the Soviet officials were loath to let them be shown on television in the West.
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