Ian
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Doug Henwood
> Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2000 6:53 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject: Fwd: {FP} Pacifica Moves National Headquarters to DC
>
>
> From: Andrea Buffa <ma at igc.org>
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
> January 6, 2000
>
> CONTACT:
> Andrea Buffa, Media Alliance,
> (415) 546-6334 x309
>
>
> Embattled Pacifica Foundation Moves National Headquarters
> from Berkeley to DC
>
> KPFA listeners and Bay Area media activist shocked by nighttime move.
>
> Berkeley, CA-Last night, after dark, movers employed by the Pacifica
> Foundation pulled up in front of the Foundation offices next to KPFA
> radio and began moving the organization's headquarters to Washington,
> DC. "Without any warning or announcement to the community, Lynn Chadwick
> moved the Pacifica Radio office in the middle of the night away from
> the community that has sustained it for close to 50 years," said YunJong
> Suh, a KPFA listener and free speech activist. Suh was attending a meeting
> at KPFA when the movers arrived at about 9:30 PM.
>
> Although rumors had been circulating since July about the possibility of
> Pacifica moving out of the Bay Area, community members were surprised to
> learn that the move had happened and concerned about continuing attempts
> by the Pacifica leadership to insulate itself from criticism.
>
> "Moving their offices from the Bay Area to Washington DC further isolates
> Pacifica from its base within the community. I view it as another blow
> against the mission of Pacifica and against free speech radio," said Sheri
> Gendelman, chair of the KPFA local advisory board.
>
> "Pacifica's actions have already shown how incredibly removed this
> organization's leaders are from the people who support progressive
> community radio. Now they are physically removing themselves from the
> community that is most well-educated about its anti-democratic and
> censorious actions and is most willing to act to hold Pacifica's leaders
> accountable to the organization's mission, said Andrea Buffa, executive
> director of Media Alliance.
>
> "I'm dismayed at this move. I believe that they're doing it to avoid the
> activism in Northern California. By doing this I think that they're hoping
> to make things easier for themselves, and I think they're going to be
> surprised that it is not going to do that," said Alice Chan, a KPFA
> listener and member of North Bay for KPFA.
>
> The Pacifica Foundation is the nonprofit parent organization of KPFA in
> Berkeley and four other independent radio stations throughout the United
> States. In July, the Pacifica leadership closed down KPFA, the oldest
> listener sponsored radio station in the country, arrested KPFA journalists
> and close to 100 free speech protesters, and provoked some of the largest
> demonstrations seen in Berkeley since the Vietnam War. Pacifica has also
> censored and fired journalists at several of its stations for reporting on
> the crisis within the progressive radio network.
>
> Two lawsuits have been filed against Pacifica. One lawsuit, filed
> on behalf
> of local advisory board members, seeks to reverse governance changes that
> concentrated all decision-making power for the organization in
> the hands of
> the Pacifica Foundation's national board and stripped local
> station boards of
> their authority. The other lawsuit was filed by Pacifica
> listener-sponsors to
> remove the Pacifica board for extraordinary acts, culminating in the armed
> occupation and shut down of KPFA last summer. Pacifica is also under
> investigation by the California Legislature's Joint Legislative Audit
> Committee.
>
> ##
>
>
> -
> /*This message comes via the freepac list. */
>