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Corporate Programming And Pacifica's Convention Coverage: An Open Letter To Pacifica
Nora Barrows-Friedman challenges the programming done during the recent Democratic Party Convention. Charging that the programming is becoming more like corporatized NPR and this is supported by KPFA management and their supporters within the station.
From: Nora Barrows-Friedman
Date: Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 10:34 PM
Subject: An open letter to Pacifica and its listeners
An Open Letter to Pacifica and Its Listeners
August 28, 2008
As a programmer, listener and staff member at KPFA, Pacifica's flagship
station, I have to publicly denounce the national coverage that was forced
upon our listenership during the DNC.
It is our duty as a so-called "alternative" media network to monitor the
centers of power; instead, what we heard was overt cheerleading for the
Democratic party and its Presidential candidate.
As former VP Al Gore prepared to take the stage this evening, thousands of
people in New Orleans were preparing to take shelter and once again brace
for the worst as a new storm brewed overhead. A KPFA reporter brought us
the voice of Malik Rahim who demanded that the Democratic Party, the
Republican Party and its respective candidates stop what they were doing
and come down and protect the people in New Orleans.
After this passionate report, the kind of segment that KPFA should be
proud of, the DNC anchors barely segued into a breathless excitement of Al
Gore's moment in the spotlight at the Pepsi Center.
What a shame. Lou Hill did not establish Pacifica so that voices of poor
people would be overshadowed by corporate politicians' quadrannual beauty
pageants. If we were truly the "alternative network," providing
"unconventional coverage" of the political conventions, then we would have
heard more from New Orleans, we would have been out in the streets, we
would have stopped the regular programming to go be the voice of those who
are truly voiceless.
We should have been reporting from the trenches, not from within the
fully-secured and sanctioned establishment of the DNC. We should have been
marching with the poor, with the anarchists being beaten by riot squad
paramilitary police forces, with the activists at the Food Not Bombs
table. That's more the voice of the people than anyone inside the Pepsi
Center, certainly more than the nominated head of the Democratic Party. We
have more in common with the people in the streets than we do with the
corporate politicians who send our people to fight their wars, consume
their chemicals, and swallow their foreign policies as our children remain
uneducated, without healthcare, and bracing for the next shoe to drop.
There is a disturbing trend happening within the network that must be
addressed and challenged. More often than ever before, programmers and
station managers are tending to lean toward NPR-style programming and news
structure; moving away from the original mission of Pacifica in favor of
mainstream "liberal" content. During the DNC, anchors offered challenges
to the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates' positions that were
tepid at best, and sounded tokenized.
Democracy Now! produced some very good, hard-hitting segments (Jeremy
Scahill dissecting Joe Biden's interests in bombing Afghanistan and the
larger Democratic party's abysmal foreign policies; Iraq Vets Against the
War speaking out and leading protests; protesters getting pepper-sprayed,
etc.). I had hoped to hear similar analysis and truly alternative
coverage, and was really disappointed at the lack of creativity and
follow-through that the Pacifica National coverage presented to our
listeners.
At KPFA in particular, we still do not have a show that addresses and
serves the Black community. Managers have decided to keep Youth Radio off
the air. At fundraising meetings, programmers and staff have exalted the
KQED style of fund drives. The KPFA News department still uses Associated
Press and Reuters wire copy verbatim, without reference or context -- an
expensive "service" that listeners looking for an alternative pay for, and
do not deserve.
Listening to the Pacifica cheerleading section on-air in Denver, a few
days after the horrific and unprecedented police attack inside the KPFA
building -- KPFA management is responsible for calling on Berkeley Police
to come inside our so-called community radio station, which resulted in an
unpaid programmer, a pregnant Black single mom, being beaten, hog-tied and
arrested for "trespassing" -- I am ashamed to be an employee of Pacifica
Radio.
This is not what we come to work, every day, with our without pay, to be a
part of. As not only a programmer, but a lifetime listener (my parents met
at KPFA in the late 1960's as unpaid programmers themselves), I demand a
full investigation and challenge to the Pacifica programming management.
Take a good look in the mirror, and let's start the revolution already.
In real, uncorporatized and sustained struggle,
Nora Barrows-Friedman
Senior Producer and co-host, Flashpoints
Date: Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 10:34 PM
Subject: An open letter to Pacifica and its listeners
An Open Letter to Pacifica and Its Listeners
August 28, 2008
As a programmer, listener and staff member at KPFA, Pacifica's flagship
station, I have to publicly denounce the national coverage that was forced
upon our listenership during the DNC.
It is our duty as a so-called "alternative" media network to monitor the
centers of power; instead, what we heard was overt cheerleading for the
Democratic party and its Presidential candidate.
As former VP Al Gore prepared to take the stage this evening, thousands of
people in New Orleans were preparing to take shelter and once again brace
for the worst as a new storm brewed overhead. A KPFA reporter brought us
the voice of Malik Rahim who demanded that the Democratic Party, the
Republican Party and its respective candidates stop what they were doing
and come down and protect the people in New Orleans.
After this passionate report, the kind of segment that KPFA should be
proud of, the DNC anchors barely segued into a breathless excitement of Al
Gore's moment in the spotlight at the Pepsi Center.
What a shame. Lou Hill did not establish Pacifica so that voices of poor
people would be overshadowed by corporate politicians' quadrannual beauty
pageants. If we were truly the "alternative network," providing
"unconventional coverage" of the political conventions, then we would have
heard more from New Orleans, we would have been out in the streets, we
would have stopped the regular programming to go be the voice of those who
are truly voiceless.
We should have been reporting from the trenches, not from within the
fully-secured and sanctioned establishment of the DNC. We should have been
marching with the poor, with the anarchists being beaten by riot squad
paramilitary police forces, with the activists at the Food Not Bombs
table. That's more the voice of the people than anyone inside the Pepsi
Center, certainly more than the nominated head of the Democratic Party. We
have more in common with the people in the streets than we do with the
corporate politicians who send our people to fight their wars, consume
their chemicals, and swallow their foreign policies as our children remain
uneducated, without healthcare, and bracing for the next shoe to drop.
There is a disturbing trend happening within the network that must be
addressed and challenged. More often than ever before, programmers and
station managers are tending to lean toward NPR-style programming and news
structure; moving away from the original mission of Pacifica in favor of
mainstream "liberal" content. During the DNC, anchors offered challenges
to the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates' positions that were
tepid at best, and sounded tokenized.
Democracy Now! produced some very good, hard-hitting segments (Jeremy
Scahill dissecting Joe Biden's interests in bombing Afghanistan and the
larger Democratic party's abysmal foreign policies; Iraq Vets Against the
War speaking out and leading protests; protesters getting pepper-sprayed,
etc.). I had hoped to hear similar analysis and truly alternative
coverage, and was really disappointed at the lack of creativity and
follow-through that the Pacifica National coverage presented to our
listeners.
At KPFA in particular, we still do not have a show that addresses and
serves the Black community. Managers have decided to keep Youth Radio off
the air. At fundraising meetings, programmers and staff have exalted the
KQED style of fund drives. The KPFA News department still uses Associated
Press and Reuters wire copy verbatim, without reference or context -- an
expensive "service" that listeners looking for an alternative pay for, and
do not deserve.
Listening to the Pacifica cheerleading section on-air in Denver, a few
days after the horrific and unprecedented police attack inside the KPFA
building -- KPFA management is responsible for calling on Berkeley Police
to come inside our so-called community radio station, which resulted in an
unpaid programmer, a pregnant Black single mom, being beaten, hog-tied and
arrested for "trespassing" -- I am ashamed to be an employee of Pacifica
Radio.
This is not what we come to work, every day, with our without pay, to be a
part of. As not only a programmer, but a lifetime listener (my parents met
at KPFA in the late 1960's as unpaid programmers themselves), I demand a
full investigation and challenge to the Pacifica programming management.
Take a good look in the mirror, and let's start the revolution already.
In real, uncorporatized and sustained struggle,
Nora Barrows-Friedman
Senior Producer and co-host, Flashpoints
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Comments
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put your money where your pocketbook is, if you're so conflicted, go somewhere where you could do what you do and you have an employer that supports your work. Otherwise, it sounds insincere to say you're ashamed and yet pick up the paycheck.
>>Otherwise, it sounds insincere to say you're ashamed and yet pick up the paycheck.
This is just like the classic Rethugnican troll posts -- "Don't like cutting taxes for mega-corporations in California? Then leave!" Anytime someone protests they're supposed to just move away instead. Great "solution".
This is just like the classic Rethugnican troll posts -- "Don't like cutting taxes for mega-corporations in California? Then leave!" Anytime someone protests they're supposed to just move away instead. Great "solution".
I checked in after work a few times and wasn't interested in what KPFA had on for convention coverage. I checked KQED, too, and wasn't interested in that, either. I've been listening to KCSM or a corporate rock station. That's what bad programming does- it drives listeners away. Just thought I'd throw in an on-topic comment here...
Nora, we missed you and all the rest of the Flashpoints team. I, and am sure many others, did not listen to KPFA at all or mostly not at all from 8/25-8/28 and waited until today, 8/29 at 5 p.m. for Flashpoints (with the exception of Guns & Butter on Wed at 1 p.m. to give us updates on the 9/11 Inside Job), and the evening news, which provides too much election coverage of the Republicrats, Tweedledee and Tweedledum. I do not listen to Democracy Now in the morning because I have to have peace in the morning and politics does raise the blood pressure, not to mention the fact that Amy Goodman is obviously a Democrat. Also, we can read and hear her program online, and I saw that it had lots of Republicrat garbage, so I know I did not miss much. It is outrageous and unconscionable that the Local Station Board cancelled so many regular programs for which the subscribers pay in favor of the Democrat-Republican drinking parties and now, according to the KPFA website, it appears there is no labor programming on Labor Day, as KPFA prefers the Republican drinking party to labor coverage, which means KPFA is soon gone. The vicious police brutality against Nadra Foster on August 20 at the KPFA station appears to have been staged my management to accelerate the commercialization of KPFA. And it appears most subscribers do not care as only 3400 voted out of 25,000 alleged subscribers in the last election for the LSB. This writer has been listening to KPFA almost from its inception and it has always been a bourgeois station. Now that the Democratic Party cannot deliver enough crumbs to the workingclass to make it look like it is doing something, Democratic Party mouthpieces like KPFA cannot be supported if they promote the Democrat-Republican parties. Whatever happens, you have the whole-hearted recommendation of all your listeners for whatever work you choose as you are an outstanding radio-journalist.
In these times of super mainstreamed excitement about Obama, supporter of the death penalty and redirecting troops to Afghanistan where 60 children were bombed to death in their sleep the other night by US planes, we are faced with the continual dumbing down of conscience and minimization of corporate death squad take over of the planet. I am ashamed to be amerikkkan, where we are now supposed to be placated by the new brown face of corporate backed militaristic do-good profiteering. I know that the corps like the spinelessness of the Democrats and are happy to fund the crust thrown to the masses afraid to really get their hands dirty by standing for the absolute voiceless on the very bottom of the pit that is amerikkkan reality.
As i sit in my funky but dry shelter, a major hurricane hurls towards Mississippi and Louisiana where inadequate refuge exists for those again facing deathly destruction. Katrina's legacy continues with the largely poor, black and Indigenous populations most impacted now facing another hit. Did Obama, Biden or any of the other do-gooder Democrats address this? Does anyone care that millions of mothers and their children do not have basic needs covered any longer? How about the traditional Native Americans who NEVER have voice, even among the protesters at the DNC and heading to the RNC?
What is wrong with this picture and how come it keeps looking as bad as the last one to me?
GENERAL STRIKE ON ELECTION DAY!!! SHUT IT ALL DOWN!!! THERE ARE MORE OF US THAN THERE ARE OF THEM AND THEY NEED US MORE THAN WE NEED THEM!! SHUT THEM DOWN!! WE CAN DO IT!!!
In cynical yet peaceful struggle,
swaneagle
As i sit in my funky but dry shelter, a major hurricane hurls towards Mississippi and Louisiana where inadequate refuge exists for those again facing deathly destruction. Katrina's legacy continues with the largely poor, black and Indigenous populations most impacted now facing another hit. Did Obama, Biden or any of the other do-gooder Democrats address this? Does anyone care that millions of mothers and their children do not have basic needs covered any longer? How about the traditional Native Americans who NEVER have voice, even among the protesters at the DNC and heading to the RNC?
What is wrong with this picture and how come it keeps looking as bad as the last one to me?
GENERAL STRIKE ON ELECTION DAY!!! SHUT IT ALL DOWN!!! THERE ARE MORE OF US THAN THERE ARE OF THEM AND THEY NEED US MORE THAN WE NEED THEM!! SHUT THEM DOWN!! WE CAN DO IT!!!
In cynical yet peaceful struggle,
swaneagle
I remember being very surprised last year to learn that KPFA was having trouble meeting its fundraising targets shortly after the World Can't Wiait demo in which the Flashpoints crew played a pivotal role. Surely, I thought, the thousands participating would have expressed their gratitude toward KPFA in the form of increased support. It occurred to me then that there might be something fishy in the accounting department. Now I read above that the KPFA elections have been suffering from low turnout. Is it possible that the rich are rigging KPFA's elections just as they are rigging the national ones? How secure is KPFA's electoral process?
The DNC and RNC may be "mainstream", but that's also where the platforms and programs of the next leader of US are laid out. KPFA would really be shirking its responsibility if it didn't cover the addresses and give some cogent analysis. Better that than the one-sided chest-thumping that passes for information coming from shows like FP.
The reality is that either McCain or Obama will be the next holder of the most powerful position on earth. Ignoring that fact is to act like a self-centered child.
It's impossible to get thoughtful analysis of what the powerful are up to unless you actually hear from the powerful. Ignoring them doesn't do a damn thing accept pad the righteous radical cred of the FP crowd. If all one does is listen to the propaganda of FP, one succeeds only in remaining ignorant and unable to respond to a reasoned argument coming from the "mainstream" because all one knows is rhetoric supporting what one already believes. So keep covering the conventions KPFA it's what you're supposed to do.
The reality is that either McCain or Obama will be the next holder of the most powerful position on earth. Ignoring that fact is to act like a self-centered child.
It's impossible to get thoughtful analysis of what the powerful are up to unless you actually hear from the powerful. Ignoring them doesn't do a damn thing accept pad the righteous radical cred of the FP crowd. If all one does is listen to the propaganda of FP, one succeeds only in remaining ignorant and unable to respond to a reasoned argument coming from the "mainstream" because all one knows is rhetoric supporting what one already believes. So keep covering the conventions KPFA it's what you're supposed to do.
It is interesting that one of Sawaya's loyalists now must defend the Pacifica/KPFA coverage of the corporate controlled love fest at the Democratic party convention. Although probably more than $100,000 was expended by the Pacifica news team under the direct management of Sawaya they apparently did not have time to cover the counter convention live and also forgot to cover or interview ABC reporter Brian Ross who was arrested for trying to expose the corporate connections of the Democratic party hacks and the union busters and corporate raiders.
Where were the Pacifica reporters on the role of corporate money at the convention. Were they trying to get into Pelosi's private $100,000 plate party to expose the real corruption or were they getting on bended knees to lick the political whores who run the Democratic party. You guess.
Lo and behold it was ABC that got a reporter arrested for covering the real story and Pacifica, the "Free Speech Radio" network was no where to be found.
This is all the evidence we need to see the direction of these wannabe NPR types running the network and KPFA. An corporate controlled ABC beat them to the punch and they can't even talk about it.
ABC Reporter's Attorneys Want All Charges Dropped
Civil Rights Groups Calling for Renewed Protection of First Amendment Rights
From the Blotter
Aug. 28, 2008—
Lawyers for an ABC reporter and civil rights groups are demanding that Denver police drop all charges against a reporter who was arrested yesterday while trying to shoot video on a public sidewalk outside the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver.
Asa Eslocker and a camera crew were attempting to film and talk to Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the hotel as part of a nightly news series on the corporate lobbyists and wealthy donors at the Democratic National Convention. Police arrested Eslocker and charged him with trespassing, failure to follow a lawful order, and interference with a police officer.
Eslocker's attorneys said Thursday that their client is "innocent of all three crimes."
"He and his news crew were standing on public sidewalks covering an event of public significance and performing a press function protected by the First Amendment," said a statement issued today by Eslocker's attorneys, Daniel Recht and Steven Zansberg.
Video of the arrest shows a cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant, accompanied by a team of five other officers, first put his hands on Eslocker's neck, then twisting his arm behind him to put on handcuffs.
"Frankly, we are outraged at the conduct of the individual officers. Their interactions with Mr. Eslocker are captured on tape." (click here to read the full statement by Eslocker's attorneys)
Civil rights groups also reacted today saying Eslocker's arrest is the latest in a series of incidents at the DNC that exemplify an assault on the First Amendment.
"Arresting a reporter for simply doing his job is both unconstitutional and un-American," said Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "That free speech is curtailed during the Democratic National Convention underscores the need for continued protection of civil liberties, regardless of the party in power."
Reporters Without Borders echoed calls for the charges to be dropped.
"The use of unnecessary force and the arrest of a journalist who was reporting an important political story is deeply troubling and unacceptable," the group said.
Attempts by ABC News to reach a press contact for the Denver police department were not successful.
Denver police Lt. Ron Saunier told the Associated Press that "the Denver Police Department is committed to looking into each and every allegation of unnecessary force," Saunier said.
Saunier said authorities have tried to accommodate the news media this week. "One instance with the media shouldn't paint the entire event," he said.
Watch Charlie Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos at the Democratic Convention TONIGHT at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
Click Here for the Investigative Homepage.
Where were the Pacifica reporters on the role of corporate money at the convention. Were they trying to get into Pelosi's private $100,000 plate party to expose the real corruption or were they getting on bended knees to lick the political whores who run the Democratic party. You guess.
Lo and behold it was ABC that got a reporter arrested for covering the real story and Pacifica, the "Free Speech Radio" network was no where to be found.
This is all the evidence we need to see the direction of these wannabe NPR types running the network and KPFA. An corporate controlled ABC beat them to the punch and they can't even talk about it.
ABC Reporter's Attorneys Want All Charges Dropped
Civil Rights Groups Calling for Renewed Protection of First Amendment Rights
From the Blotter
Aug. 28, 2008—
Lawyers for an ABC reporter and civil rights groups are demanding that Denver police drop all charges against a reporter who was arrested yesterday while trying to shoot video on a public sidewalk outside the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver.
Asa Eslocker and a camera crew were attempting to film and talk to Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the hotel as part of a nightly news series on the corporate lobbyists and wealthy donors at the Democratic National Convention. Police arrested Eslocker and charged him with trespassing, failure to follow a lawful order, and interference with a police officer.
Eslocker's attorneys said Thursday that their client is "innocent of all three crimes."
"He and his news crew were standing on public sidewalks covering an event of public significance and performing a press function protected by the First Amendment," said a statement issued today by Eslocker's attorneys, Daniel Recht and Steven Zansberg.
Video of the arrest shows a cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant, accompanied by a team of five other officers, first put his hands on Eslocker's neck, then twisting his arm behind him to put on handcuffs.
"Frankly, we are outraged at the conduct of the individual officers. Their interactions with Mr. Eslocker are captured on tape." (click here to read the full statement by Eslocker's attorneys)
Civil rights groups also reacted today saying Eslocker's arrest is the latest in a series of incidents at the DNC that exemplify an assault on the First Amendment.
"Arresting a reporter for simply doing his job is both unconstitutional and un-American," said Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "That free speech is curtailed during the Democratic National Convention underscores the need for continued protection of civil liberties, regardless of the party in power."
Reporters Without Borders echoed calls for the charges to be dropped.
"The use of unnecessary force and the arrest of a journalist who was reporting an important political story is deeply troubling and unacceptable," the group said.
Attempts by ABC News to reach a press contact for the Denver police department were not successful.
Denver police Lt. Ron Saunier told the Associated Press that "the Denver Police Department is committed to looking into each and every allegation of unnecessary force," Saunier said.
Saunier said authorities have tried to accommodate the news media this week. "One instance with the media shouldn't paint the entire event," he said.
Watch Charlie Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos at the Democratic Convention TONIGHT at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
Click Here for the Investigative Homepage.
The two corporate parties have spoiled the elections for the American people.
Four thousand people came to hear Ralph Nader at the University of Denver Magness Arena on August 27.
http://www.votenader.org/events/denver/
You can also hear the speech in four segments at:
[Check out especially the fourth segment.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIlPZ9kadMc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJRE81yoEW8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZXC_N2groY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ce6FH3Wa8E
At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 4th, during the Republican National Convention, the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign will also be holding a Super Rally for 2,000-2,500 people at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
Four thousand people came to hear Ralph Nader at the University of Denver Magness Arena on August 27.
http://www.votenader.org/events/denver/
You can also hear the speech in four segments at:
[Check out especially the fourth segment.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIlPZ9kadMc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJRE81yoEW8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZXC_N2groY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ce6FH3Wa8E
At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 4th, during the Republican National Convention, the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign will also be holding a Super Rally for 2,000-2,500 people at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
The last two segments, 5 and 6, on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NM9_PjIPxg&feature=user
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzaRYae-UqU&feature=user
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NM9_PjIPxg&feature=user
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzaRYae-UqU&feature=user
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