In an interview with Michael Albert that appeared in Z earlier this
year, Pacifica Radio executive director Pat Scott stated that Pacifica was
“proud to broadcast programs such as Artbeat and others that receive
funding from charitable non-profit foundations.” Scott also noted that,
since “only two percent” of Pacifica’s funding comes from charitable
foundations, there’s no need to “be concerned with undue foundation
influence” at Pacifica.

What Pacifica’s executive director failed to mention, however, is
that a billion-dollar “charitable non-profit” foundation – the
Carnegie Corporation of NY – apparently gave the Pacifica
Foundation a $25,000 grant in 1996 to help fund the most
influential morning program aired by Pacifica: the “Democracy
Now” show. And sitting on the Carnegie Corporation of New York
board of trustees are such “friends” of media democracy as Time
Magazine Editorial Director Henry Muller, CNN Co-Anchor Judy
Woodruff, and former US Senate Armed Services Committee Chair
Sam Nunn.

Besides sitting on the Carnegie Corp. Board, Time Magazine’s
editorial director also sits on the board of trustees of Stanford
University. And, coincidentally, the Carnegie Corp. gave “needy”
Stanford 5 grants, totalling $2.7 million, in 1994 and 1995. Yet I
suspect most Pacifica radio listeners don’t know about this because
folks who criticize liberal establishment foundations from a radical left
perspective still don’t get much airtime on Pacifica’s radio network.

Bob Feldman
Brookline, MA

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