Marc Cooper really out to be ashamed of himself -- but I guess his idea of politics these days consists of interviewing Pat Caddell and getting warm and gushy over Jerry Brown, so I shouldn't be too surprised. I particularly like his comment about "Internet strategists" -- kinda reminds me of when Steve and Cokie got their knickers in a twist about the 'people' having too easy access to their elected betters and too ready access to information unfiltered by their Deep Thoughts. Please, I know the free-pacifica list is full of all sorts of weirdos, but the folks doing the real work, like Lyn Gerry, are perfectly reasonable people and Pacifica owes its sponsors accountability. This is not a minor quibble, the fundamental structure of the network must be changed.
Anybody in the Houston area, meet us in front of KPFT tonight at 5:00 - 6:30 for a demo.
--
Joseph Noonan jfn1 at msc.com
---------- Forwarded message ----------
August 9/16, 1999
Pacifica on the Brink
America's only progressive network, Pacifica Radio, teeters on the edge of
collapse. Both sides in the dispute helped push it to this point. Now both
sides must work together to pull it back. Federal mediation currently under
way must be pursued as the only way out.
The national Pacifica management unleashed the current round of troubles
when, at the end of March, it failed to renew the contract of Nicole
Sawaya, the popular general manager of Berkeley affiliate KPFA. An on-air
staff rebellion ensued. A few programmers were fired for their defiance,
but the staff mutiny was left unaddressed. For a hundred days Pacifica
neither sought serious compromise with its enraged KPFA staff nor attempted
to quell the on-air rebellion. When finally in mid-July Pacifica moved to
regain control of KPFA, it stumbled badly. An order was given banning any
more on-air dirty laundry, but one obstreperous programmer, clearly looking
to extend the conflict, defied the order--and Pacifica took his bait. All
hell broke loose. Within minutes regular programming had been pulled and
replaced by archive tapes, staff and programmers were put on paid leave and
dozens of staff and protesters who had entered the building were arrested
for refusing to leave. The station was boarded up.
Since then, the station has become the target of near daily demonstrations
and protests. After five years of taking a lot of exaggerated criticism for
purportedly being home to power-hungry centralizers, the Pacifica national
office wound up becoming the caricature drawn by its worst enemies: The
managers of America's only progressive radio network called in the cops.
But the other side bears equal responsibility for this fiasco. It has also
become a caricature: A group of committed leftists ripping apart their own
institution in a factional dispute. Pacifica's critics claim they have been
muzzled. On the contrary, for more than three months KPFA staff have had
unfiltered access to the air to put forward their grievances. Off the air,
some full-time Pacifica critics have been running a vigorous Internet and
e-mail campaign hinting at some sort of dark conspiracy.
Every timid step by Pacifica to renew and expand what has been an ailing
operation has been met with politically charged hyperbole and distortion.
The handful of people who work in Pacifica's national office for low wages,
and the dozen or so liberal do-gooders who volunteer on its nonprofit
board, may very well be ineffective managers. But one reason for their
intransigence is the hounding they have suffered in this crisis. Pacifica's
critics have branded them criminals and "Pinochetistas" and accused them of
plotting to seize the network for their own gain. The personal phone
numbers, e-mail and even home addresses of the board and national staff
have been posted on the Internet, resulting in round-the-clock harassment.
In some cases, the protesters have contacted the employers of the board
members to argue that they are criminals and scabs.
Both sides must now step back from the brink and invest their energies in
the mediation process--which so far has been mostly about the shape of the
table. For its part, Pacifica management must immediately settle the crisis
it provoked in Berkeley and reconsider its firing of Sawaya. Also, Pacifica
executive director Lynn Chadwick must be ready to resign if that's a
necessary confidence-building measure. Further, board chairwoman Mary
Frances Berry, who has been mostly AWOL during this crisis, must provide
more effective and visible leadership. When she has spoken out, it has been
to frame the staff rebellion as resistance to increased racial diversity.
Berry's formulation strays far from reality, and she would do much better
to focus on improving Pacifica's management skills.
On the other side, those critics who wish to "save" Pacifica should take
care that they not burn it down in the process. They must understand that
change and growth are necessary. Even before this crisis, Pacifica's signal
covered 22 percent of America, but the network's stations had only a
million or so listeners and substantially fewer than 100,000
subscriber/sponsors. KPFA staff must also find ways to distance themselves
from the Internet strategists who wish only to exacerbate the conflict. Out
of the current mediation must come a mutual acknowledgment that the
survival of Pacifica is more important than the personalities and conflicts
of the moment. Because Pacifica is the one truly noncommercial island in a
sea of corporate and conglomeratized media, ways must be found to make it a
stronger and clearer voice into the next millennium. All sides in this
dispute agree with that notion. The first step is to ratchet down the
rhetoric and find effective ways to discuss needed change. Both sides have
to recognize that neither one holds a monopoly on either righteousness--or
recklessness.
Marc Cooper bio
______________________________________________________________________
Marc Cooper, a Nation contributing editor and host/executive producer of
RadioNation, hosts a daily drive-time show on Pacifica's KPFK.
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