To: Our colleagues in radio and TV broadcasting
and in minority journalism
Re: Response to the "Diversity Coalition"
On June 26, 1999, a group called the Diversity Coalition issued a press release claiming that the current crisis at KPFA, the Pacifica Radio station in Berkeley, California, is the result of resistance to change and opposition to diversity.
The writers apparently did not see or chose not to consider the May 21, 1999 open letter from 13 African American programmers at KPFA to Pacifica National Board Chair Mary Frances Berry:
"KPFA's African American programmers will not be complicit in any Pacifica-driven purge of KPFA staffers under the guise of 'diversity'... A fractured, untrustworthy management is incapable of making decisions with the foresight that can bring about meaningful change for African Americans in the KPFA community... This crisis that has ensued as a result of the actions of [Pacifica Executive Director] Lynn Chadwick has threatened the diverse program base that we are building in both listenership and financial support."
The African American programmers' letter is much more relevant to what is really happening in Pacifica than the vague generalizations in the Coalition letter, which was written by people who do not work at KPFA - in fact, only one of them has ever worked at the station.
We ask you as broadcasters and journalists to consider how you would feel at your workplace, if:
This is Lynn Chadwick's record over
just the past 90 days, a record so egregious that the Coalition chose to
avoid it entirely in its letter.
But this is why the unanimous response at KPFA has been against Chadwick.
The paid staff is unanimous against her actions. The unpaid workers at the station are unanimous against her actions. The Local Advisory Board is unanimous against her actions.
Those of you who know Pacifica and KPFA's history of disputes and battles know that internal unity is not easy to come by. And yet Chadwick, by her actions, has united all constituencies at the station--against her. Yet, we will join Chadwick and the Coalition in denouncing racist, homophobic, or misogynist slurs against any party to this conflict.
Our concern is that by raising the issue of slurs and by calling themselves the "Diversity Coalition," the writers of the letter are insinuating that Chadwick's critics tolerate such slurs, that we are against diversity. That would be just another slur in a cycle of recriminations that were initially provoked by Chadwick's actions. It would be a classic tactic to discredit and divide the broad consensus in the KPFA community.
The KPFA staff remains one of the most
diverse in public radio. This is true in spite of Chadwick's firing of
Pacifica's leading African American producer of national series Bari Scott
and the firing of Arab-American General Manager Nicole Sawaya for not being
a "team player" (ever heard that before?). The reality at KPFA--not what
Lynn Chadwick says to cover her tracks--is that the majority of staff who
recently have left the
station disgusted with Chadwick's reign
have been women of color.
Apparently, these people don't count in Chadwick's version of diversity--perhaps because these staff were too independent and critical of management, because they were too talented and outspoken and popular, because they were perceived as leaders and therefore as a threat.
Diversity is, has always been, and will continue to be an issue at KPFA not because of Lynn Chadwick, but because we at the station have always made it our priority. We appreciate the work done by the organizations listed in the Coalition letter to fund and support diversity in programming. But like most of our colleagues in both public broadcasting and in the commercial media, we work in the complex real world of diversity. There are compromises and defeats, for sure, but we are committed to the struggle and oppose management's attempt to use our diversity against us by telling the rest of the media that we aren't good enough yet.
No, we aren't good enough yet, but please remember who we are.
KPFA is one of the most progressive, diverse, politically and culturally alternative, public broadcast institutions in what is rapidly becoming a corporatized and homogenized public radio world. We come from a resolutely non-commercial station that is regularly under attack for its progressive views and commitment to free speech. We run the only full-time Apprenticeship Program in Pacifica that is dedicated to training women and people of color in radio production. We have done the work to make the nation's first listener-sponsored station financially successful, with a large and growing audience.
Finally, we want to ask the Coalition: When did your governing boards authorize the use of the organizations' names in support of your opinions on the KPFA-Pacifica conflict? Since many of you are funders, isn't there a clear threat to media workers who disagree with you, who might want to fundraise from or partner with you and your organizations in the future?
We are eager to get past this crisis. We believe the Pacifica Foundation needs to be spending its time and energy leading the fight for democratization of the media and for the expansion of the public broadcasting sphere.
But we can't move forward in unity or get to the root of this crisis if Pacifica and the Coalition resort to unfair and unfounded accusations of a lack of diversity. The Coalition's letter is a diversion, not a guidepost to a larger program that can unite rather than divide us.
Signed,
Michael Yoshida, KPFA Engineer;
C.S. Soong, Associate Producer/Host, KPFA Flashpoints;
Aileen Alfandary, KPFA News Co-Director;
Mark Mericle, KPFA News Co-Director and
CWA steward;
Lewis Sawyer, KPFA Local Advisory Board;
Beatriz Flores, KPFA Producer;
Kevin Cartwright, Director of the KPFA
Minority and Women Apprenticeship Program;
Max Pringle, Associate Producer, KPFA
Morning Show;
Philip Maldari, Host, KPFA Morning Show;
Kris Welch, Host, KPFA Living Room;
Aaron Glantz, KPFA Sacramento Bureau Chief;
Walter Turner, Host/Producer, Africa Today;
Matthew Lasar, Author, "Pacifica Radio:
the Rise of an Alternative Network";
Sharon Wood, Filmmaker;
Sherry Gendelman, Chair, KPFA Local Advisory
Board;
Gina Hotta, Program Director, Asian Cultural
Center*;
Max Blanchet, Haitian-American Council
(BAHACO)*;
Wendell Harper, KPFA News;
Alan Snitow, Former KPFA News Director,
Nick Alexander, KPFA News;
Dennis Bernstein, Host/Producer, KPFA
Flashpoints;
Sep Ghadishah,KPFA Programmer;
Kayumanggi Kaloy, KPFA Programmer;
LaVarn Williams,Coordinator, KPFA 50th
Anniversary Committee.
*Organizations for identification only
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