Coalition for a Democratic Pacifica
New York
East Coast Happpenings
Death Watch
On Wednesday October 13, Governer Ridge signed the DEATH WARRANT for Mumia Abu Jamal, a black journalist and former Black Panther, who was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer, because he did not have a fair trial. On Thursday Mumia was moved to "Phase 2".
"Phase 1" is DEATH ROW
"Phase 2" is DEATH WATCH
"Phase 3" is DEATH (scheduled for December 2, 1999).
Go to Philadelphia on Saturday October 16, to
Fight for Mumia!
Call the Free Mumia Coalition hotline for details: 212-330-8029.
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The New School, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, Paper Tiger TV are
sponsoring a public forum about the Pacifica crisis with fired Pacifica
reporter Larry Bensky and WBAI's Bernard White.
The discussion will
follow the screening of "FEAR AND FAVOR IN
THE NEWSROOM" on FRIDAY October 15th at 7:00pm at The New School.
Narrated by Studs Terkel,"FEAR AND FAVOR IN THE NEWSROOM," features
distinguished journalists who have been censored, squelched or fired for
aggressively
reporting on the wealthy and the powerful. The Village Voice described
FEAR AND FAVOR IN THE NEWSROOM "tough, gutsy and vital"
The forum following the screening will discuss the current crisis at the
Pacifica network. The panelist include LARRY BENSKY, fired "National
Affairs Correspondent,
Pacifica Radio 1987-1998" and current host of "Sunday Salon" on
KPFA-Berkeley; BERNARD WHITE, acting Program Director of WBAI; JILL
NELSON, journalist, former staff writer for the
"Washington Post Magazine," Professor of Journalism at the City College,
author of "Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience;" and
filmmaker RANDY BAKER.
Tickets for this event are $10 and $5 for low-income and students (New
School students
get in free).
Tickets can be purchased at The New School Box Office at
66 West 12th St. or by calling 212 229-5488. For more information about
the October 15th forum, call The New School at 229-5353
For more information on FEAR AND FAVOR IN THE NEWSROOM, call (800)
848-3023
or vist the Fear and Favor website
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The Pacifica Crisis
F R E E
K P F A
Administrative Leave
Dennis Bernstein is escorted from Pacifica radio station KPFA in Berkley, California
after the last broadcast of his radio show Flashpoints
Hear the Audio of the Last Minutes of KPFA
MFB does an hour of damage control on WBAI
In a controlled setting, on the telephone from Washington D.C., Pacifica's Executive Director Mary Frances Berry answered questions from WBAI news director Jose Santiago and news editor David Sears.
Nobody else was allowed access (Dr. Berry was originally supposedly going to speak at the Community Church
in Manhattan on Tuesday, August 2, which would have been open to the public, but she cancelled at the very last minute due to what is now believed to have been an "influence-ia" attack.)
During the limited press exposure, Dr. Berry admitted that she "knows very little about broadcasting", and also explained that the reason armed security guards were hired
was because "the police told us to do it" [for security] - an odd acquiescance perhaps, coming from such a seasoned civil rights activist as Berry, who says she has been in many police confrontations and spent more than one time in jail.
Dr. Berry discussed the probationary program put into effect at KPFA, during which time KPFA will be monitored by Pacifica in regard to increasing both diversity and market share (a potentially conflicting assignment). To this end, KPFA will be compared to the other stations in the network that are doing better, said Berry, in the area of "diversity" - stations such as KPFW in Washington D.C. and KPFT in Houston. (Even WBAI does better than KPFA in this respect, Berry charged).
But talk of "diversity" is a red herring - is "diversity" a code word for "black"? - KPFW has a large black audience, but they are listening to mostly music, because KPFW has become a jazz station. And the Counterpunch article entitled Race and Power at Pacifica Radio explains how KPFT in Houston has been raped of all its diversity - in the form of its community programming.
Dr. Berry also said that WBAI would only be sold "OVER MY DEAD BODY". However, the press conference held by Board member Pete Bramson, in which he details what was being planned and discussed behind closed doors concerning the sale of KPFA, illustrates once again that Mary Frances Berry cannot be believed.
Follow the Links on THE WBAI UNION PAGE for more event information and crisis background
Terrible Things Happened at KPFA
Many Photos and Links Here
Click Here for audio archives of the ongoing KPFA PROTEST
In what may be the first live protest streamed in the MP3 format,
activists and ex-staffers at KPFA netcast their objections to being
ousted.
The stream can be heard by opening the location kpfa.bpm.ai:5732 with the Winamp MP3 player.
Download WinAmp here.
Democracy Now Censored
The webactive web page now has the archive for Democracy Now July 15
(They have removed the segment on the crisis at Pacifica)
Audit Initiated
16 members of the California legislature have signed on to a call for a
legislative audit of KPFA/Pacifica Foundation to determine if it has violated the public trust in its nonprofit status. This is an EXTRAORDINARY action on the part of California legislators.
Suit filed against Pacifica
Pacifica was sued this week by 18 members of local advisory boards from four of its five radio stations. The suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, asks for an injunction to stop Pacifica from removing the power of local boards to name national board members.
The egregious and arrogant behavior and escalation of repression has happened since the event in February when the Pacifica Board finally succeeded in changing the bylaws of the Pacifica Foundation. Prior to that time each station selected two members of it's Local Advisory Board as representatives to the Mational board, and that was abolished in February. The plaintiffs in the suit are a variety of Local Board members.
The full text of the lawsuit is posted at
FreePacifica
Funds are needed to support this final effort to block the antidemocratic changes recently enacted.
Send contributions to:
DAN SIEGEL, SBN 056400
SIEGEL & YEE
499 14th Street, Suite 220
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 839-1200
Telefax: (510) 444-6698
(write "Pacifica suit" in the memo area of your check),
What Can You Do?
- Contact Dr. Mary Francis Berry
Pacifica National Board Chair
Pacifica Foundation
624 Ninth St. NW # 700
Washington, DC 20425
Tel: 202-337-0382
Fax: 202-376-7558
Email: mfberry@sas.upenn.edu
- Contact Lynn Chadwick at lynnchad@aol.com
- Get more background by visiting these web sites:
 Pacifica Accountability Committee
Endgame at KPFA
FreePacifica
SavePacifica
- Join a List: just say subscribe in the body and address email to:
freepacifica-request@recordist.com (full discussion of issues)
freepac-request@recordist.com (announcements only)
- Join a group: Get involved on the local and national level
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R.I.P.
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PACIFICA