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From: "Lyn Gerry" <redlyn@loop.com>
To: progressive-radio@tango.rahul.net, laamn@labridge.com, media-l@tao.ca
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 22:28:39 +0000
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Subject: Knock It Off, Pacifica --Editorial in SF Bay Guardian, 6/18/97
Cc: dadelson@ucla.edu, xchas@delphi.com, sabina@tgci.com,
        aml@chumbly.math.missouri.edu
Return-Receipt-To: "Lyn Gerry" <redlyn@loop.com>
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Knock it off, Pacifica

 BACK IN 1984 , when Pat Scott was an aide to Pacifica supporter and
 Berkeley mayor Gus Newport, she and a few other Pacifica workers and
 community activists met to write a manifesto expressing their
 concerns about the network. It began as follows: 

 The Pacifica Network is in serious trouble. In a time of worldwide
 crisis, instead of responding with depth and passion, Pacifica is
 purging itself of its most radical elements. Careerism is replacing
 commitment. Power in Pacifica has become concentrated in the hands of
 a few. This power block, unaccountable to anyone, is bringing Cold
 War ideology to the airwaves. This is being accompanied by a
 politically selective process of firings and hirings. A process which
 has been obscured by a smoke-screen of personal attack. 

 The manifesto goes on to call for democratic elections of station
 boards, collective decision-making among all paid and unpaid staff,
 and community participation in programming decisions. The complete
 text is here. 

 What a difference 13 years makes. 

 As Belinda Griswold reports, on June 14 and 15 Pacifica's national
 board met -- with Scott as chief executive -- and summarily dismissed
 criticism from local advisory boards. Many of the critics raised
 exactly the same issues Scott had brought up in 1984. 

 That's why Scott's current arrogance and rejection of criticism are
 so frustrating. Once again we are forced to ask, What, exactly, will
 it take for Pacifica's board and national staff to realize that
 accountability and openness are not the pet ideas of the lunatic
 fringe but a basic, and legally mandated, principle of all nonprofit
 community-supported institutions? 

 Pacifica, don't forget, is just such an institution. It's one of
 progressive America's most valuable assets, a public radio network
 capable of reaching millions -- not the personal property of its
 board and administrators. It's been built from the ground up by
 progressive money, progressive ideas, and progressive vision. 

 This kind of behavior from Scott and the Pacifica board embarrasses
 all of us who have supported and would like to continue to support
 KPFA, Pacifica radio, and all the causes they have represented. Come
 on folks: Knock off the secrecy and quit treating your supporters as
 if they don't matter. Or you'll risk losing the community that keeps
 the network alive. 

============================

San Luis Obispo Declaration referred to in the above editorial:

STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
DRAFTED AT SAN LUIS OBISPO
JANUARY 7 & 8, 1984

PREAMBLE 

The Pacifica Network is in serious trouble. In a time of world- wide
crisis, instead of responding with depth and passion, Pacifica is
purging itself of its most radical elements. Careerism is replacing
commitment. Power in Pacifica has become concentrated in the hands of
a few. This power block, unaccountable to anyone, is brining Cold War
ideology to the airwaves. This is being accompanied by a politically
selective process of firings and hirings. A process which has been
obscured by a smoke-screen of personal attack.

This situation could only come into being because of basic weaknesses
in Pacifica's present structure and the lack of a sense of vision and
purpose. 

BASIC PRINCIPLES
1. PACIFICA BOARDS.

     Station boards should be democratically constituted and
     representatives of the constituencies the stations seek to serve.
     They should be completely independent of the station manager and
     accountable directly to those constituencies. 

2. STATIONS WORKERS (paid and unpaid).

     Station administrations should be based on a collective
     decision-making process. Staff (paid and unpaid) should be
     represented on the station board. 

     Recruitment and training should reflect the ethnic and cultural
     make-up of the constituencies the station seeks to serve. This
     training should be invested in people with a genuine commitment
     to the principles of Pacifica Foundation. 

3. PROGRAMMING.

     Stations must implement the 1981 program director's resolution
     which specified that programming should be planned and evaluated
     on the basis of Pacifica's purposes as enunciated in the Articles
     of Incorporation. 

     Pacifica's air must expand to completely reflect the diverse
     nature of progressive political movements and thought throughout
     the world and across the entire spectrum. 

     Pacifica must commit itself to reaching a major portion of the
     United States population with programming based on Pacifica's
     principles. 

     Final programming decisions and judgements must be made by the
     listeners and the communities Pacifica seeks to serve. 

San Luis Obispo meeting, Jan. 7 & 8, 1984
Nancy Clark
Ken Cloke
Osama Doumani
Peter Franck
Steve Goldfield
Richard Hanson
Judy Hirsch
Jane Hunter
Gus Newport
Mary Beth Roehm
Herb Schulsinger
Patricia Scott
Fernando Velazquez
http://www.radio4all.org
http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica


-- End --