Schubb was doing another reach out to the community the other day and defended having other opinions (particularly Arianna Huffington) on to have "debates." But what Schubb doesn't say is that when Huffington is on Cooper's show, there is no heated debate. Cooper kisses her royal behind. I can see no evidence that KPFK is having these people on to debate them, rather it is always a chummy chat where Huffington gets a large span of time to promote her views. So this reasoning of Schubb's is not even based on reality. These other voices are coddled celebrities who you can see any day of the week in the mainstream press. I really resent them taking up airtime on the Pacifica stations when Pacifica voices are not heard on the mainstream airwaves. In my opinion, it just gives them more power and our voices less.
Marta Russell
jf noonan wrote:
> 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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-- Marta Russell author, Los Angeles, CA Beyond Ramps: Disability at the End of the Social Contract http://www.commoncouragepress.com/ramps.html