Doug Henwood wrote:
> FAIR News Release
> April 19, 1999
>
> For Immediate Release:
>
> FAIR's Radio Program Pulled From Pacifica's KPFK Show
> Featured Interview With Fired Pacifica Broadcaster Larry Bensky
>
> CounterSpin, the nationally syndicated radio show produced by the
> media watch group FAIR, was pulled from its scheduled 3:00pm
> airing on Friday, April 16th by station KPFK, the Los Angeles-
> based Pacifica network affiliate. Phone calls by CounterSpin to
> KPFK management to determine why KPFK did not air the show
> were not returned.
>
> FAIR believes the show was suppressed because it featured an
> interview with the recently fired Pacifica network host Larry
> Bensky. Bensky, one of the Pacifica network's most recognizable
> voices, was fired on April 9th following the airing of his network
> show, Sunday Salon, which featured a segment discussing the
> dismissal of Nicole Sawaya, a popular station manager at KPFA,
> the Pacifica affiliate in Berkeley, California.
>
> CounterSpin invited Bensky to discuss his firing, the Sawaya
> dismissal, and overlying issues of Pacifica accountability. The
> Sawaya and Bensky dismissals have stirred public concern,
> resulting in an April 15th demonstration at KPFA which reportedly
> drew between 700 and 1,000 protestors. (Archived editions of
> CounterSpin can be heard on the FAIR web site at: www.fair.org)
>
> A Pacifica representative was invited to appear on a future show to
> present the network's point of view. Pacifica declined the invitation.
>
> "As a show concerned with censorship, CounterSpin relies on the
> atmosphere of openness and critical thinking provided by non-
> commercial radio," says CounterSpin producer and host Janine
> Jackson. "It would be a distressing commentary on the state of
> free speech at the Pacifica network if CounterSpin was pulled from
> their airwaves for doing just the kind of work we've always done,
> raising just the kinds of questions we regularly raise about media."
>
> Contact: Steve Rendall at
> <mailto:SRendall at fair.org>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> ________________________
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> http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica
>
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-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu