CounterSpin Broadcast Halted In-Progress by Pacifica Station WPFW

On April 20th, CounterSpin, the national radio show produced by the media watch group FAIR, was taken off the air while in-progress by WPFW, the Washington, D.C.-based Pacifica affiliate.

The show included a segment on media coverage of the use of depleted uranium weapons by NATO forces in the Balkans, followed by an interview with Larry Bensky, a broadcaster recently fired by Pacifica.

WPFW aired the depleted uranium segment in its entirety, pulling CounterSpin off the air in the middle of the Bensky interview. Listeners heard an Emergency Broadcasting System announcement, followed by music,
which ran for the duration of the half-hour (11-11:30am) CounterSpin slot.
 

The suppression of the Bensky interview on WPFW comes on the heels of Los Angeles Pacifica affiliate KPFK's suppression of the entire CounterSpin broadcast on April 16th. (See FAIR's April 19th release, "FAIR's Radio Program Pulled From Pacifica's KPFK," )

Neither station has returned repeated calls by FAIR/CounterSpin asking for an explanation of their actions.

Contact: Steve Rendall at