October 26, 2000
Pacifica Management Gives KPFT Producer The Boot
KPFT management has fired George Reiter, producer of a new show called Thresholds, because he participated in yesterday's protest to support "Democracy Now!" Hundreds of Pacifica listeners and staff participated in similar protests yesterday--including staff at KPFA and WBAI--but no one else lost their shows because of their participation.
Reiter, who is a professor of physics at the University of Houston, was called by KPFT Program Director Edmundo Resendez today and told that his show would be cancelled because of Reiter's participation in the protest. Reiter said that his show had been doing well since its inception six months ago; KPFT listeners say that he has one of the few progressive shows left on KPFT today.
This is not the first time that Pacifica managers have fired employees when they exercised their free speech rights. Robin Urevich, who produced news for Pacifica's KPFK in Los Angeles, was banned from the station in 1999 when she wrote an article critical of Pacifica policies for an alternative newspaper. Pacifica has also used its "gag rule" as an excuse to fire KPFA programmers who mentioned the crisis within the Pacifica network on the air--even when mainstream media outlets were reporting on the crisis. And Pacifica Network News Director Dan Coughlin was removed from his job when he ran a two-minutes news story on a national boycott of Pacifica programming.
Here's how you can fight back:
1. Call KPFT's Station Manager Garland Ganter and Program Director Edmundo Resendez and tell them to put Reiter's show back on the air, and get rid of the gag rule at KPFT. Studio # 713-526-5738 Office # 713-526-4000
2. Help us take back Pacifica Radio by getting Michael Palmer and John Murdock off the Pacifica Foundation Board of Directors Now!
Main offices for phone, fax, email action:
Epstein Becker & Green Washington, D.C. 1227 25th Street, NW Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20037-1175 Phone: 202/861-0900 Fax: 202/296-2882
CB Richard Ellis 2500 W. Loop South Suite 100 Houston, TX 77027-4502 Phone: 713-840-6500 Fax: 713-960-8583
Michael Palmer, treasurer of the Pacifica board, has publicly advocated selling one of the Pacifica stations. He has been an active participant in the Pacifica Board's executive commitee throughout some of their most outrageous actions - from the decision to lock out the staff of KPFA with armed guards in the summer of 1999 to the removal of Pacifica Network News director Dan Coughlin from his job when he ran a 2 minute piece on a one-day boycott of Pacifica programming. Palmer works for CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate company with offices throughout the world.
John Murdock, a recent addition to the Pacifica board, is a corporate attorney whose law firm, Epstein Becker & Green, specializes in "maintaining a union-free workplace." Murdock's law firm is representing the Pacifica Foundation in lawsuits that have been filed against the board by concerned listeners, local advisory board members, and other national board members. Murdock has taken a leadership position on the board and has already volunteered to rewrite the bylaws of the Foundation.
Pacifica listeners throughout the country plan to tie up the phone and fax lines and overwhelm the e-mail systems of Epstein Becker & Green and CB Richard Ellis Associates. We also encourage pickets and other protests at these companies until Palmer and Murdock resign from the Pacifica board.
These men have no place driving the agenda at the only progressive radio network in the United States. Let’s save "Democracy Now" and take back Pacifica!
See offices above for fax and phone numbers. Following are the addresses of other offices for leafletting, pickets, protests:
Epstein Becker & Green:
Dallas Park Central VII 12750 Merit Drive Dallas, Texas 75251-1219
Los Angeles 1875 Century Park East Suite 500 Los Angeles, California 90067-2506
New York 250 Park Avenue New York, New York 10177-1211
San Francisco Two Embarcadero Center Suite 1650 San Francisco, California 94111-3994
CB Richard Ellis:
Washington, DC 700 14th St. NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20005
Los Angeles CB Richard Ellis 333 S. Beaudry Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90017
San Francisco Embarcadero Center West 275 Battery St. Suite 1300 San Francisco, CA 94111-3305
New York 50 Broadway 18th Floor New York, NY 10004
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