from the Portland Free Press, March/April 1997
Another Pacifica Investigator
is Out
by Per Fagereng
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For more than a year Pacifica Radio has been under investigation by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and now the second serious investigator is out of a job.
The first to go was Brian McConnville, who was fired by the CPB's inspector general in 1995. The reason given was McConnville's management style, although he had received good evaluations during his two years there. The investigation was taken over by the inspector general himself, Lester Latney. He let it be known that he was in no hurry to complate the investigation, and later he left his job because of ill health.
The investigation is of the Pacifica National Board's closed meetings, which, by this time, amount to five. When Latney left, Deputy Inspector General Michael Donovan became acting IG and took charge. He said he hoped to have the investigation completed by the end of January 1997, and that it would include all of the secret meetings. The date was later moved up to the middle of February, but by that time he too was gone.
The process went like this: A new inspector general was named and, at the same time, the deputy IG post was abolished. So Donovan had no job to return to.
Once again, the investigation has been taken over by the inspector general. This latest IG is named Joe Arvizu, formerly with the National Credit Union. He calls the investigation a "routine audit" and says Pacifica will be first on his list. It will include possible violations of CPB's open- meeting rules.
When Donovan left, he had not finished his probe, but he turned over his notes. Arvizu says he will go to Berkeley in the middle of March, to meet with Pacifica people and -- perhaps -- with critics such as Jeff Blankfort. A month later, in April, he intends to complete his report and will not make it public until then.
"I will look at the facts," says Arvizu, "and will let the facts speak for themselves."
In a phone conversation with Arvizu, Blankfort says he suggested that the latest investigator "get himself a lucky charm" to ward off the fates that befell his three predecessors.
NLRB Rules Against WBAI
On 12 February, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), acting on a complaint by the United Electrical Workers (UE), ruled that Pacifica's New York Station, WBAI, must include unpaid volunteers in the union's collective bargaining unit.
UE had charged that the station, under orders by Pacifica, had tried to destroy the union by removing 90 percent of its bargaining unit. The NLRB also ruled that the station's bookkeeper should stay in the bargaining unit.
The union sees this ruling as a major victory, and hopes that serious bargaining will take place after months of stalling. WBAI still demands a no- strike clause that would prohiobit even informational picket lines (such as occurred last fall) and hiring and firing "at will."
Z Breaks the Silence
Pacifica's troubles have been festering for a long time, but the major journals of the Left have kept their silence. Finally, in February 1997, that silence was broken by Z Magazine in an article by Michael Albert. [Editor's Note: Thank Zeus PFP does not have the problem a "major journal of the Left" -- we have been reporting the story for over two years.]
After a brief account of Pacifica's history and today'c corporate domination of the media, Albert noted two controversial changes imposed by Pacifica:
Complaints were largely dismissed by Pacifica, says Albert. He notes charges of union busting, gag rules and secret board meetings. The result is a climate of fear. Says Albert, "Everyone at the stations I spoke with agrees agrees the day-to-day mood there is deplorable. Employees will not comment publicly because they believe that to do so would mean the loss of their jobs."
Albert calls for several reforms, including an elected board with open meetings and an end to gag rules. To bring the reforms about, he would "convene a national board of progressive leaders with unimpeachable records." This board would gather information and hold hearings, then publish its recommendations.
Meanwhile, other Left journals have kept their silence, as did FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), the group that keeps tabs on the lies and omissions of the corporate media. I talked with one person at FAIR who seemed genuinely distressed at Pacifica's troubles, but had little stomach for making it public.
Another figure on the Left was urged to make a public statement. Former governor and presidential-candidate Jerry Brown has a national call-in program on Pacifica; he would be in an ideal position to break the gag rule. But so far he has not.
Another Disclaimer
In January, the board of directors at KBOO Radio in Portland voted to air the following disclaimer before Pacifica news:
"The Pacifica Foundation is presently in a labor dispute with unionized workers, and initially hired a union-busting firm to advise them. They are no longer using that firm, but no resolution has been reached. The Pacifica News teams belongs to a separate union and is not involved in this labor dispute. The KBOO Board of Directors supports Pacifica's union employees and volunteers, and will continue to monitor and report on the situation."
A day or two after this decision, KBOO station manager Suzanne White got a phone call from Pacifica's Gail Christian. According to White, Christian threatened some kind of legal action. KBOO's position is that it is free to air what it wants, as long as it doesn't interfere with Pacifica's broadcast. Gail Christian later phoned a second time, but made no mention of any legal action.
Meanwhile, in Austin, Texas, KOOP (the station that made the first Pacifica disclaimer) got a visit from Mark Schubb, general manager of Pacifica's KPFK (Los Angeles).
According to Schubb, he was in Austin to visit friends and relatives. One acquaintance, who is KOOP's station manager, invited him to a a board meeting. Schubb says he was not there to represent Pacifica.
A person at the meeting says Schubb warned against stories from "left-wing sources," saying "those leftists can't be trusted." Schubb told this reporter in a telephone interview that this story is totally false --"a crock of ....."
KOOP's disclaimer was called inaccurate by Pacifica news producer Julie Drizen. She said that the news team belongs to a different union and is not involved in the labor dispute. KOOP then revised its disclaimer, but this too was called inaccurate by Drizen and Pacifica's Station Relations Director Mary Tilson.
A more recent reponse camr from Burt Glass, Pacifica's new communication's director. He said that KOOP's and KBOO's disclaimers are "misleading to listeners." Of KBOO's disclaimer he said," It's full of innuendo that runs counter to Pacifica's fifty-year history of labor support and current good-faith negotiations."
I asked Glass if :misleading" was the same as "inaccurate." He said the disclaimer was "inaccurate by omission" in that it did not include more information about Pacifica, though he did not specify what more information about Pacifica would have been sufficient.
Before coming to Pacifica, Glass worked for various non-profits such as the League of Conservation Voters. He also worked for the Justice Department's community policing program.
KPFA Reaches Out
People at Pacifica and its stations have complained to me that dissidents present false information on the Internet. This raises the qustion of what avenues are available for debate and dissent since board members are not elected and gag orders are imposed.
In January, KPFA (Berkeley) began a series of forums (some called them "focus groups") in which the station and its listeners engaged in a dialogue. People who attended where given sheets with the following questions:
"What do you consider KPFA's greatest programming strengths?"
" When you're listening to KPFA, what makes you change stations or turn the radio off?"
"What suggestions do you have to improve Programming?"
"What haven't we asked you regarding Programming that you want KPFA to know?"
People discussed these questions in small groups and spokespersons reported their consensus.
Some dissidents saw the forums as a success -- not in terms of communicating with management but, instead, with other listeners.
At the San Rafael forum, a listener reported that Program Director Ginny Berson "sat stone-faced and unavailable behind a large piano" while a facilitator dealt with the audience.
Dissidents charge that KPFA tired to pack the meetings. They produced a letter from management to "our special group of key-people" urging them to attend a meeting. At two of the meetings, a total of 32 seats were reserved for the high donors who got these letters. But according to the facilitator Tomas Moran (who did not learn of this move until the decision had been made) it did not change the results of the meetings.
Before the third meeting, management announced a new one-hour talk show hosted by Larry Bensky. It was also said that Jerry Brown's show would get another hour, although this was later denied. Some people feared that this would come at the expense of "Flashpoints" an investigative program.
Management denied that "Flashpoints" was being cancelled, but Berson was quoted in the 23 February 1997 Bay Guardian as saying the show might be shifted to "a different time or format."
Tomas Moran, the facilitator of the meetings, wrote a report that has been presented to KPFA management and to the public. The report goes into much detail, and shows that some of the dissidents' criticisms are shared by many listeners:
Credit for Pacifica
One thing to keep in mind is that Pacifica broadcasts a lot of excellent programming. Dissidents I've talked to recognize this; their fear is that management puts the network at risk. Management charges that that's what the dissidents are doing.
Pacifica's "Democracy Now!" has been airing taped commentaries by Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was framed for a murder and is now on Pennsylvania's death row. The commentaries were produced by Janice Leber of the Prison Radio Project. On February 24, "Democracy Now!" was dropped by WRTI, a station affiliated with Temple University in Philadelphia.
Pacifica's Executive Director Pat Scott and news producer Julie Drizin have rightly charged WRTI with censorship. Last year National Public Radio backed down from airing these programs in the face of such pressure.
Because WRTI acts on behalf of several other stations in Pennsylvania, it means, said Drizin, that Abu-Jamal has been silenced "in the state that's planning to execute this man."
[Editor's note: The PFP is on the side of free speech and real people's power to work out the rules by which they will be governed. This ideal of 1776 is no less valid today.]
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