WBAI - meeting in Berkeley re the crisis

Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 15:15:24 -0800
From: Lester Radke
Subject: CdP Meeting on WBAI

Thanks to the well over 100 folks who came to the Coalition for a democratic Pacifica's emergency meeting on the WBAI crises Tuesday night. I will send out a full report later, including meeting times and contacts for the 6 committees established to deal with the crises.

Also, thanks to Dennis Bernstein for briefing us on the latest developments, as well as members of the KPFA staff who attended the meeting.

2 resolutions were passed, both unanimously. In addition, there was overwhelming (over 90 folks) support for removing PNN immediately from KPFA, both the 3:30 slot and from the 6-7 news slot.


The 6 Committees

Labor - the Committee is designed to garner support from the labor movement
Steve Zeltser - (415) 641-4440

Alternative Fundraising for KPFA - designed to keep funds from misuse by Pacifica
Diane Soloman - (408) 297-2239 e-mail: ameetingoftheways@yahoo.com

Picketing of Epstein, Becker and the devil's advocate in San Francisco
John Sheridan - (510)652-6272 e-mail: johnsher@lanminds.com

Technical/Internet/Micropower Committee
I'll send out the contact person when I send out a full report of the meeting

Emergency Response Committee
Mary Berg - (510)428-0949 e-mail: pro-audio@bigfoot.com

PNN Removal Committee
Les Radke - (510)527-0560 e-mail: les@delong.org
next meeting : Tuesday, Jan 2 of the new millennium : 1029 Delaware Street, Berkeley

LAB members and candidates present at meeting:
Ted Friedman
Maria Gilardin
Les Radke
John Sheridan
Irwin Silber
Dane Soloman
Thenmozhi Soundararajan
Joe Wanzala

Resolutions passed (both unanimously, no abstentions)

*
The Coalition for a democratic Pacifica urges that a state of emergency be declared immediately at KPFA, and accordingly that (1) any or all programs be pre-empted as necessary, and (2) regular and crisis bulletins be issued for the duration of the emergency, in order to keep the listeners and Pacifica community fully informed.

*
The Coalition for a democratic Pacifica supports, in principle, the proposals of Larry Bensky for replacement programs for Pacific network news. _______________________________________________________________________________

These proposals, printed below, will be more fully discussed at the next committee meeting of the PNN Removal Committee. The consensus was that for the half-hour program there should be 10 minutes or so of International and national news summaries, as well as the focus being on the concentration of media as a context for the current Pacifica crises.
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Emergency Program Proposal - 12/23/00 Larry Bensky

3:30 PM daily, M-F
"Pacifica Held Hostage"

A half-hour daily program to replace Pacifica network news, which is no longer a news program reflecting the values and journalism of Pacifica.

Every day there will be updates on the Pacifica situation at the five stations, the news bureau, the tape archive, and with the affiliates. There is an abundance of material available for this program!

Content will include:
Updates on programming and personnel at Pacifica stations
Updates on the national board actions
Updates on the legal situation: group and individual
lawsuits
Interviews with current and past employees and volunteers (including Bensky, Avery-Brown, Sawaya, Coughlin etc.)
Discussions of local board actions
Profiles and interviews with affiliates
Analysis of Pacifica finances


6:30/6:45 - 7:00 PM
"Newsmakers"

In order to make up for any content time lost by the dropping of the now useless Pacifica Network News feed (which the news department may still want to monitor, for actualities that can be used in KPFA produced stories), a new segment called "Newsmakers" will appear on a daily basis.

A rotating group of interviewers, including (but not limited to!) Phillip Moldari, Andrea Lewis, Kris Welch, Dennis Bernstein, Wayland Southon, Pratap Chatterjee, Leslie Keane, Larry Bensky and Walter Turner will assist the news department by providing live or taped interviews 15-20 minutes in length. The news department will be in complete editorial control of these interviews - some of which, when appropriate, may be pre-recorded, edited versions of interviews done on live programs earlier in the day or week.

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