KPFT Fires Producer Who Protested for "DN!"

###################################################
 Sent:        9/4/1945 3:11 PM
 Received:    10/26/2000 3:42 PM
 From:        Andrea, ma@igc.org
 To:          info@media-alliance.org
 
 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 30 second  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 30 second 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 are encouraged to call fax  and e-mail Epstein Becker & Green and CB Richard Ellis Associates about destructive impact their employees are having on alternative media in this country. We also encourage pickets and 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
 

Home
Lawsuits
Stringers Strike
Overview
Document Archive
Chronology