Oct 25 Oakland Press Conf & picket At Pacifica Interim Executive Director Daniel M. Siegel

While Oakland School Board member, Pacifica Counsel and now Interim Pacfica Executive Director
Dan Siegel refuses to allow any publicity about the elections at KPFA on the air as well as
the playing of candidates carts he has used his position to intervene in the election against
candidates at KPFA and WBAI. He also is refusing to allow the candidates statements and
answers to a series of questions to be placed on the website.

http://lsb.kpfa.org/2007-10-24-openlettertopublic
KPFA.org

An Open Letter to the Pacifica Community
From Dan Siegel, Interim Executive Director
October 24, 2007

Dear Friends,

Pacifica's local station board elections have taken a particularly nasty turn. A group of candidates running for the KPFA local board have issued statements that contain little more than personal attacks on their opponents and station staff. A candidate at WBAI engages in blatant race-baiting.

As a community and a progressive organization we must ask ourselves whether this type of rhetoric is acceptable. Pacifica has important challenges. We live in a nation whose leaders wage unjust and unpopular wars around the globe, attack our civil rights and liberties, oppose efforts to achieve racial justice and equality for all people, and pursue policies that widen the gap between rich and poor. The often toxic debate within Pacifica restricts our ability to respond to these issues, saps the morale of our hard-working and underpaid staff, and discourages people of good will from participating in our organization.

Many people are now calling for administrative and legal responses to abusive candidate speech. We are reviewing our options, but libel laws, difficulties in distinguishing between reasonable criticism and "personal attacks" (as well as deciding who should be empowered to make such judgments), and Pacifica's tradition of support for free speech make such measures problematic.

In the end, Pacifica's members will decide whether hate speech and hateful speech will be tolerated in our community. We need leaders who will work to improve our programming, broaden our listener base, and attract needed financial support. I urge all of you to carefully review the candidate statements and to cast your ballots for candidates who reflect both your views on how this organization should be run and your values on how democratic debate should occur in a progressive organization that reflects the diversity of our society.

Dan Siegel
Interim Executive Director
Pacifica Foundation

"that contain little more than personal attacks on their opponents and station staff." Personal?

Not personal… My preferred style is not to scream and yell. Style. Style but are these attacks just "personal?" what is the context: an election (and there's a W H O L E history before this election as well)…. in which one group who already have access to more ready-money and station resources, including the incredibly powerful tool of on-air time, is allowed, just as in elections in the USA where money equals access, to mail to every single KPFA member -- for a hefty price or not so hefty for some, but in this day when immigrants and families of immigrants have their own expenses, where renters and even home-owners are stretched to the max...

And even though we love Dan Siegel for showing up at Oakland's port and Sasha Lilley for doing great interviews, there is, at times, an inherent tension created, even within paid staff, within themselves, between wanting to protect each and every of their paid positions and benefits packages (including Dan Siegel's) and asking the hardest questions that need asking first and thinking about how much it will pay later. Sometimes those two lines of motivation coincide, and maybe can always, but sometimes they may not.

Why did one KPFA news reporter call devastated hungry New Orleans émigrés who were witnessing their families dying around them with no help "looters?" Because he saw it on the wire, and in an effort to appear "objective" re-iterated that line unquestioningly. Is it a personal insult for People's Radio candidates to have pleaded for years to change this policy of relying so heavily on the corporate wire for news? We are told there are limited resources; and doubtless this is true! But how many people might be more willing to volunteer to gather and help produce news if the atmosphere at KPFA strongly encouraged, pleaded for such instead of mostly or solely for more money for benefits.

For myself, a working person, I would never, never want to see any staff member at KPFA summarily thrown away. But I would be wrong not to see that staff members, including Dan Siegel, have a monetary stake in defending their source of livelihood AT ALL COSTS. Let's have a dialog. If the memo People's Radio published was based on "lies," or misunderstandings, what were those misunderstandings? Let us air them, not dismiss them as "personal attacks" without addressing their specifics.

Examples from history of times when it wasn't nice to………..but what if wasn't done?

Richard Phelps likes to claim that others attack him anonymously, but it's now clear that his supporters (or himself??), will happily engage in anonymous attacks if it suits them.

Since most protests in front of KPFA occur directly outside the Web Worker's window, I must implore protesters to not make sexually suggestive faces, remove clothing in a perverse way, or do the so-called "booty dance!" Such attempted distractions are will not be met with interest by the Web Worker! Keep it clean! If the protest gets boring, participants should be sure to check out the following links and subscribe to the KPFA eNewsletter: kpfa.org/video: Clips from KPFA's recent events myspace.com/kpfa: Add a little piece of progressive radio to your top 24 warcomeshome.org: The future of Radio Journalism - share and participate mailinglists.kpfa.org/archive/: Subscribe to our eNewsletter - a linky, clicky, joy in your inbox about every 2 weeks!

Dear Chris Stehlik,
Before you again accuse anybody else of anything, will you please set your own house in order? You are in charge of the KPFA listener membership list, and I am supposed to be on it--we've discussed that over the phone several times now. I would like you to resolve this problem and give me a ballot instead of giving me a run around.

Be sure to watch the usual video that these people release.

The camera will point upward and never into a reflective surface, so you can't see that less than five or six people actually participate.

All of them will crowd around the door or entrance, pretending to be a crush of people, then you will see each of those people 'testify' for the camera.

If they are lucky, they may get a sympathetic person going in or out, but that's about it, but they will tout this as a "huge success" or a "big turnout of support".

Isn't it interesting that the KFPA web master apparently has time to chatter on Indybay but
is unable or unwilling to post the statements of the candidates on the KPFA web site and also the
questions asked of each candidate.
Obviously some of the staff have an axe to grind at KPFA and here is another example of what they
are spending their time doing.
Maybe the "neutral" KPFA and Pacifica election supervisors and interim executive director Daniel
M. Siegel can get the KFPA web master working on the web site for the electon.

Dear Daniel,
We have spoken several times over the phone. I told you each of those times that I am NOT the person that can help you. You need to contact the local election supervisor Jenay Jenkins, or the National Election Supervisor Casey Peters. These are the people that can help you get a ballot, not me. Asking me for a ballot is as useful as picking a random person on the street and asking them for a ballot. I am NOT, as you mistakenly think, 'keeper of the list'. I gave the list to Jenay Jenkins. If you were inadvertantly left out, it is her or Casey's responsibility to add you to the list if you make a case as to why you should be on it. If you want to vote, your time would be best spent contacting them.

Aaron Fan considers the KPFA website to be the most butt-kicking one in the Pacifica network, and even among more worthy contenders. Aaron Fan believes in free speech, and that all statements, even rambling windy ones which only refer to one actual listener candidate, or ones which use the word "black" too often and pronounced "hate speech," should be published. Pacifica iED believes in publishing "hate speech," but not the windy speech.

Aaron Fan's link here points to a <a>scientifically-designed ballot, guaranteed to give KPFA the best governance possible. It will still suck, but it will suck less. Please vote the Aaron Fan ballot, or similar (if you know what you are doing, it is OK to shuffle ranks 3-7, but do not duplicate rank).

All the best-looking Foundation members will be voting the Aaron Fan ballot, or a considered variation. If Aaron Fan voters danced in the web worker's window, he'd want encores not modesty.

This announcement is not authorized by Aaron Aarons.

It is interesting that KPFA web master Michael Manoochehri has time to attack the press
conference about the lack of publicity about the KPFA elections on the air but apparently he\
has NO TIME to update the calendar of demonstrations at KPFA. It must be that management doesn't
have time to supervise the staff who agree with their political line.

http://www.kpfa.org/demonstrations, you get Mayday info!!
by w
Thursday Oct 25th, 2007 11:15 AM
This is it! Nothing about Saturday at all . . .

List of International Worker's Day Demonstrations and Events, May 1st, 2007
Oakland
March to the Federal Building
9am
100th Ave. and Int. Blvd. in Oakland

Palo Alto
Other Voices: TV Show
7pm
Community Media Center, 900 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto
More Info: Peninsula Peace and Justice Center (650)326-8837

Sacramento
March: Full Rights for All Immigrants!
10am
California State Capitol, 10th and L, Sacramento
More Info: (916)712-4251

San Francisco
March for Immigrant Rights!
12pm
Dolores Park, San Francisco
More Info: SF Labor Council (415)440-4809

San Jose
March from Story and King Roads
4pm

Prayer Vigil in Support of Immigrant Families
5pm
City Hall, 200 East Santa Clara Street
More Info: PACT (408)757-2280 and CCIR (408)757-6340

Santa Rosa
El Gran Paro Economico 2007: Ningun Ser Humano es Illegal
11am
665 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa
More Info: UFW (707)528-3039

Add a Comment
Check the Homepage too!

do you think the webmaster is the one deciding that statements will or will not go up? Maybe the statements aren't up because they contain distortions and outright lies about people BY NAME. Maybe perhaps maybe gee willickers maybe someone told him to hold off while they review the liability???? But I know for some of you it is hard to not rip on a staffer any chance you get.. it's all part of your campaign to drive good workers away from the station.. and you've never had a professional life in an organization so you can't even imagine that the person who physically pushes buttons to make something appear on the website is not the same person who decides on compiles and edits the content..

please add this video directly to indybay. a lot more people will see it if you do...

Hey Indybay, in regards to the Pacifica elections, you can read a posting I wrote today about Pacifica, KPFA and WBAI elections radio drama, "Ballad For A Radio Drama" at http://nopolicestate.blogspot.com
Power to the people. Peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind.

Carla

please publish your articles directly to indybay, thanks!

WBAI is bankrupt. Dan Siegel and Casey Peters of the Pacifica National Board are corrupt. Dan Siegel has been temporarily placed on the Pacifica National board for one month to sabatoge the elections and allow the WBAI, KPFA and Justice and Unity corruption to continue.