from The Nation
Letters -- June 9, 1997

Berkeley, Calif.

Following a pattern of irresponsible reporting that has made him a pariah among thoughtful progressives, Alexander Cockburn unleashed another tired tirade of lies and halftruths, this time directed at Pacifica Radio ["Beat the Devil," May 5]. Cockburn failed to call Pacifica to gain any insight or background beyond the Internet gossip lists. Let's set the record straight:

Pacifica is not about to "eviscerate" local programming. In fact, about 85 percent of it nationwide is locally produced. Most of our national programs have local roots. Democracy Now! grew out of the work of its host, Amy Goodman, the former news director at our New York station, WBAI. Living Room, with Larry Bensky, is a co-production with our Berkeley station, KPFA. RadioNation is a co-production with our station in Los Angeles, KPFK.

 Pacifica did not hire Arnerican Consulting Group to bust our union. We did hire A.C.G. to advise us on labor law-not to negotiate union contracts-for a one-time fee of $1,000, not $30,000. After the firm's reputation was made known to us, we terminated its contract.

 Cockburn omits important information in his attacks on Burt Glass and David Fenton. Glass spent most of his career working for disarmament at Peace Action (SANE! Freeze) and Physicians for Social Responsibility. Fenton has worked on behalf of such clients as Nelson Mandela and the A.N.C. and Greenpeace. We think their progressive credentials are in order. Cockburn's one valid point is his criticism of management for blowing up in a letter to our New York station's public affairs director.

 Something is going on at Pacifica a difficult but essential change in our organizational culture. In the past, programs were not evaluated and so stayed on the air too long. News coverage became driven by ideology and so grew stale. Our buildings and equipment fell into disrepair Steps are now being taken to turn things around. Programs are reviewed on a regular basis and, unlike before, have no guarantee of renewal. New studios have been built or refurbished. More on-air talent is paid instead of volunteer resulting in more accountability and higher quality. And we're seeing results: more listeners--up 51 percent in four years; listener donations on the rise--up for five straight years.

 Some things will not change at Pacifica, including our commitment to a progressive vision, alternative viewpoints, freedom of the press and an independent funding base. Unfortunately, the changes are threatening to some, who fear, correctly, that employees at all levels will be held to a higher standard. Some of them romanticize the old, anything-goes mindset that nearly left Pacifica irrelevant. And some, like Cockburn, take a perverse pleasure in fomenting infighting among progressives, while our true opponents shake their heads, chuckling.

 Patricia Scott
Executive director Pacifica Foundation

 New York City

Alexander Cockburn is right, we are in the midst of a "Pacifica Nightmare." Pacifica/WBAI management has chosen to ignore the decision of the Region 2 National Labor Relations Board, which rejected its attempt to remove about 90 percent of the current collective-bargaining unit at WBAI from union protection. As a result, the WBAI union (part of U.E. Local 404) has filed unfair labor practice charges with the N.L.R.B. Pacifica management was arrogant enough to put its refusal in writing.

The unprofessional memo from Pacifica management to Mario Murillo is indicative of the level of Pacifica's regard for those who produce the actual product that the Pacifica Foundation puts out. There are many other, less publicized examples of contempt for the rights of workers, including the firing of WBAI's chief engineer and subsequent attempt to have him denied unemployment pay, and the removal of copies of Cockburn's "Pacifica Nightmare" piece from staff mailboxes at KPFK by the management of that station.

Worst of all has to be the fact that Pacifica, and the station management, are spending large amounts of the listener-sponsors' money on busting the unions and keeping the national board meetings secret. At a WBAI local board meeting in November general manager Valerie Van Isler admitted that WBAI had spent $32,000 fighting the union in 1996 and that other Pacifica stations had spent an additional $30,000, which is the figure previously cited as having been paid to the American Consulting Group. Pacifica is now spending listener-sponsors' money on appealing the N.L.R.B. decision; on fighting charges of unfair labor practices; and on bringing lawyers into hearings on denying unemployment benefits to fired workers.

Were any other institution to have racked up such a list of egregious anti-labor activities it would long ago have been exposed on the Pacifica airwaves.

R. PAUL MARTIN,
Chief steward, WBAI/U.E. Local 404

COCKBURN REPLIES

 Petrolia, Calif

"Alternative viewpoints, freedom of the press"? Don't make me laugh. Not only were anonymously distributed copies of my column removed from KPFK offices by general manager Mark Schubb and program director Kathy Lo, who rummaged through staff mailboxes to find them, but news director Frank Stoltze was reprimanded by Lo for posting a copy on the newsroom door While this may be called "office policy" and glossed over, the following may not. The 1996 Pacifica Employee Handbook prohibits discussing Pacifica's labor troubles in public. To do so is to risk "termination of employment and legal action." A memo from Schubb reminds his staff that airing "dirty laundry" is an infraction "that will absolutely lead to being permanently removed from the station." The memo directs radio hosts to refuse callers with Pacifica labor questions.

Let's set the record straight, indeed: My colleague Philip Higgs did call Burt Glass, who refused all but the most tepid questions. As for the $30,000 figure, if I and my numerous sources are incorrect and a firm that regularly reaps hundred-thousand-dollar contracts from such clients as Union Carbide and Sony would "advise" Pacifica for over a year for the ridiculous sum of $1,000, open the books and show us. Incidentally, the $1,000 figure also appears in a once-confidential "cheat sheet," written and circulated by Glass, of Pacifica party line answers to pesky press inquiries. The memo also suggests this response: "To this day we have been unable to verify…allegations that [A.C.G.] had participated in some anti-union activities in its history." Gag orders and secret board meetings (of which the inspector general's office of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting found the Pacifica board guilty) should not be procedures associated with public radio.

Some of Scott's boasts are legitimate, and I said that some cleanup at Pacifica is merited. But what is eroding is the sense that Pacifica is, or could be, a foco of radical resistance in today's political culture, as opposed to a "professionalized" way-station for people heading eagerly toward the big time.

 ALEXANDER COCKBURN