From the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Feb 12, 1997:

From Oakland to Marin County, forum attendees have leveled scathing criticism at the forums' strictly controlled format and the lack of management participation.

At the San Francisco forum, held in the Women's Building in late January, listener frustration was palpable.

Just before this third forum began, management had already made one significant programming change: the addition of a new one-hour talk show with leftist journalist Larry Bensky, planned for this spring.

That left many attendees feeling that KPFA management wasn't paying attention to what listeners wanted, or to how they felt about the way the station is being managed.

In fact, the forum, moderated by facilitator Tomas Moran, addressed only programming questions. The forum gave participants no opportunity to question KPFA's governance, nor did it allow participants to directly question programming director Ginny Berson, who was present.

The lack of opportunities to ask questions seemed to most infuriate some attendees. "This process is geared to prevent those of us in this room from talking to each other and holding management accountable," San Francisco activist Sharon Martinas said.

Moran listened to audience complaints but would not change the meeting's format, and he insisted that, aside from the new talk show, KPFA had not planned any other program changes.

But it appears that somewhere in the station's chain of command, someone is not being completely truthful.

The Bay Guardian has received confirmation from Jerry Brown that in December, program director Berson offered his We the People talk show an extra hour, before any forums were held. Brown even wrote a fund- raising letter to his supporters telling them the show was being lengthened.

Brown told the Bay Guardian plans for extending the show's length now seem to be on hold. But, he said, "the conversation is not over by any means."

And despite assurances to the contrary, KPFA management has again hedged on whether the acclaimed Flashpoints, the station's last remaining investigative show and one of its top fund-raisers, will continue to air.

Program director Berson's responses to questions on the matter have been contradictory, at best.

In a Jan. 21, 1997, letter to the National Lawyers Guild she wrote, "KPFA is not now and never has considered canceling Flashpoints." (This despite the station's well-publicized attempt to ax the show in 1995.)

But at the San Francisco forum Berson said, "At this point the only decision that has been made is that we will be adding a daily one-hour talk show with Larry Bensky. No other decisions have been made." Later that week Berson told the Bay Guardian, "Here's what's been decided: the Flashpoints people are going to stay at the station doing the kind of stories they're doing now. Whether that will be at a different time or format, I don't know."

But she added, "Some of them may want to do something else. It's their choice."

Flashpoints producer Dennis Bernstein is pessimistic. "What's most important to me is for the station to guarantee Flashpoints a daily slot in prime time with the proper resources to do the work that can really make a difference," he said.

Coproducer Julie Light said she has also been receiving mixed messages from KPFA management. "I have been told changes are being considered and also told no decisions have been made," she told the Bay Guardian . But, she added, the real question is how a resource-starved Flash points will be treated. "The issue is not just what time or format we're in, but what kind of resource are available to do good work," she said.

Former KPFA development director Maria Gilardin, who is now active in the dissident listeners group Take Back KPFA, said Berson's reasoning sounded suspiciously like further consolidation of political voices.

"That's the magazine format: you create little segments that are limited in time and can't go into any kind of depth," she said. "It ends up being political censorship, because if you only allow a little bit of time you will never present a new idea."

Berson confirmed to the Bay Guardian that station management had turned people away from the forum while holding places for specially invited major donors.

In a forum-invitation letter obtained by the Bay Guardian, station management offered major donors a special registration phone line, and referred to the donors as "key people like you who we thought would be most interested in helping us."

Critics say such special treatment is reflective of a two-class system at a supposedly democratic station; those who can pay large sums are given privileges.

"To turn people away [from the forum] and tell them it's full is fraudulent," Gilardin said. "It's stacking the deck."