October 3, 1986

In considering ''disinformation'' as a means to undermine the Libyan leader, the Reagan Administration has not only risked damage to its credibility but also cast doubt over its news policy. On the one hand, the Administration has encouraged selective leaks of intelligence information, some of it of questionable accuracy. But it has coupled this with a concerted effort to punish journalists and newspapers that seek to publish accurate information, if the Administration finds the disclosure sensitive or potentially embarrassing. This two-pronged approach to the news was underscored today as the Administration virtually conceded that it was practicing ''disinformation'' in seeking to topple the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

The Reagan Administration faced a growing controversy today over reports that it had made selective disclosures of news and ''disinformation'' about Libya and its leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. The issue arose after a report by Bob Woodward in The Washington Post today that the Administration had devised a policy that included leaking false information intended to convince Colonel Qaddafi that Libya was about to be attacked by the United States or that he was about to be overthrown. The Post traced the ''disinformation'' plan to a memo written by Adm. John M. Poindexter, President Reagan's national security adviser. But today, Administration officials said the program did not originate with that memo, but grew out of a mid-August State Department document to the White House laying out a ''deception'' campaign. That document represented a consensus at interdepartmental meetings, the officials said.

When officials of Hyundai Motor America were preparing to introduce the automobile into the American market earlier this year, one question they grappled with was the pronounciation of the name. To make things easy for customers, they adopted an English sound that rhymed with the days of the week, as in ''Sunday, Monday, Hyundai,'' a pronunciation rather different from the way Koreans say it. As things have turned out, they need not have worried. Even if some Americans may not know how to pronounce the name, they have been buying the Hyundai Excels by the boatload. The yen's sharp increase relative to the dollar, which pushed up the price of Japanese cars, helped make the Hyundai the single biggest-selling import model in August.

''As a friend of that Government we are saying, wake up!'' - Senator Richard G. Lugar, addressing South Africa. [ A1:6. ]

Henri Bendel plans to leave 57th Street in 1988 for a site four times as large on Fifth Avenue, its owner said yesterday. The chic retailer has had its only home at 10 West 57th Street for 74 years. But now it plans to occupy six floors and 80,000 square feet in a 58-story tower to be built diagonally across from Trump Tower. Since its founding in 1896 as a hat shop on East Ninth Street and its move to 57th Street in 1912, Bendel has remained a single-store company in an era of rampant retail expansion.