<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>I have always had an impression of WBAI internal politics being incredibly
<BR>hyperbolic and overwrought, almost like left splinters which decry the group
<BR>they just split with as representing the bourgeoisie. Like Trotskyist groups
<BR>that make divorces among party members a question of political principle, it
<BR>seems that every personality conflict or inability of a person to handle a
<BR>job at WBAI becomes blown up into a 'battle of political principle.' My very
<BR>first impression of the current battle was here we go again, Utrice and her
<BR>crowd condemning everybody who didn't agree with her as racist and sexist,
<BR>Amy and her crowd condemning everybody who didn't agree with her as the class
<BR>enemy. I was quite skeptical of it all, for whatever their role in internal
<BR>WBAI politics, I thought they both produced good shows which, despite my
<BR>disagreements with some of their particular stances, were intelligent and
<BR>thought provoking. You don't find very much of that anywhere on the radio,
<BR>and even on WBAI, I think that it is more the deviation than the norm. So, it
<BR>was "here we go again,' broadly left folks cutting each other up while the
<BR>folks with the real power make mincemeat of us all in Washington DC. I
<BR>suppose if something thinks that left-liberal Democrats like Mary Frances
<BR>Berry are the enemy, they are more inclined to believe that this is a real
<BR>struggle going on, but those are not my politics, and I believe that any
<BR>change that is going to come about in my lifetime in this country will have
<BR>Mary Frances Berrys in the political coalition that makes them.
<BR>
<BR>Now I have to admit that as time went on, Utrice appeared more and more heavy
<BR>handed, and it did increasingly seem like she was/is unwilling to allow any
<BR>dissent from her line. The Alton Maddox nationalist side of her is becoming
<BR>more prominent. WBAI programming is increasingly haphazard, and the station
<BR>is clearly consumed by this internal warfare. It also appears that the battle
<BR>is now taking on a native born African-American vs. African-Caribbean
<BR>immigrant complexion, which just compounds the general divisiveness of it
<BR>all. The Major Owens incident, when Utrice stopped an on air interview with
<BR>him, just made me conclude that whatever the original dynamic, she was just
<BR>going over the line of what was permissible on a free speech radio station.
<BR>
<BR>But Murdock made some telling points. The anti-Pacifica folks have gone on at
<BR>length about how he was part of a union-busting law firm, and naturally that
<BR>resonated with me. But he says, "Wait a minute, nobody holds Juan Gonzalez
<BR>responsible for everything his employer, the New York Daily News, does;
<BR>instead, we hold Juan responsible for what he does as an individual.
<BR>Shouldn't I and other members of the Pacifica Board be entitled to the same
<BR>consideration?" That makes sense to me, unless someone can show me that he
<BR>has personal involvement in the union busting work of the firm. I am not
<BR>prepared to take a position that people must work for ideologically pure
<BR>employers; in my view, that would only ensure that people like Juan are not
<BR>in a position to exercise the influence they do. [What has always impressed
<BR>me about Juan is that he is not just a left journalist, which he is quite
<BR>good at, but also a left organizer, as seen in his very important role in the
<BR>_Daily News_ strike.]
<BR>
<BR>I also think that part of what makes this affair so messy is the way in which
<BR>personnel issues have become so intertwined with the political direction of
<BR>the station and the network. As a unionist, I insist that my employer takes
<BR>the stance that Murdock did, that personnel matters are confidential, and
<BR>that they should not be the subject of public discussion. I would go
<BR>ballistic on an employer representative which violated the confidentiality
<BR>and privacy of a fired or disciplined employee. It may be that this principle
<BR>provides Pacifica and Utrice with cover, but it is an important principle
<BR>that must be defended. It is a particularly important principle in the
<BR>context of a radio station, where one side of a dispute, basically the
<BR>employer, could use their access to put out a very partial story that the
<BR>other side, the fired/disciplined employee, would have no opportunity to
<BR>dispute. I think a dangerous line is crossed when these matters are made the
<BR>subject of on air discussion. As hard as it may be to do, I think that there
<BR>should be an attempt to separate discussion of the political direction of the
<BR>station and network from particular personnel disputes.
<BR>
<BR>I also think that Murdock made a good point about people reporting on
<BR>themselves. I do believe in a concept of professional journalism, where the
<BR>journalist makes the maximum, good faith effort to distinguish between what
<BR>is actually taking place and what her/his views and commentary on that event
<BR>are. I know all of the arguments, which are very close to the arguments about
<BR>objectivity in social science and in teaching, on why it is impossible to
<BR>create a boundary which has hermetically sealed reporting on the one side,
<BR>and hermetically sealed commentary on the other side. But I find that the
<BR>worst journalism, which is really not worth even reading, takes place in
<BR>tabloids like the _New York Post_ where little or no attempt is made to
<BR>separate the two. We also have the equivalent of left tabloid journalism, and
<BR>that is not much better. Certainly if you are reporting on yourself in the
<BR>midst of a huge, bitter controversy, it becomes extraordinarily difficult to
<BR>obtain any separation of reporting and commentary. If the reporting was done
<BR>by folks not directly involved in the dispute, it would be a whole lot easier
<BR>for them to separate out what was purely personal and to avoid the loss of
<BR>perspective that comes from being at the center of all of this craziness.
<BR>
<BR>So I don't know if Murdock convinced me, but he did make some points with
<BR>which I am inclined to agree.
<BR>
<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I just listened to a RealAudio version of the program, and I didn't think
<BR>Gonzalez was trounced at all. I thought he was pretty good, in fact, and
<BR>Murdock came off like some oily Clintonian talking, unbelievably, about
<BR>healing and dialogue. I was reminded of that old comment about Clinton -
<BR>from the president of the Arkansas AFL-CIO, I think - that he'd shake your
<BR>hand while pissing down your leg.
<BR>
<BR>What was convincing about Murdock, Leo?
<BR>
<BR>Doug</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BR>
<BR>
<BR></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Leo Casey
<BR>United Federation of Teachers
<BR>260 Park Avenue South
<BR>New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
<BR>
<BR>Power concedes nothing without a demand.
<BR>It never has, and it never will.
<BR>If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
<BR>Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who
<BR>want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and
<BR>lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
<BR><P ALIGN=CENTER>-- Frederick Douglass --
<BR>
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