Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance, and the KPFA Board Elections
These two sides differing approaches to ethics in journalism can perhaps be best illustrated by a few examples involving the leader of the Independents for Community Radio slate, which is running against my slate. Tracy Rosenberg has used all candidate forums and on air spots to point out that she is executive director of Media Alliance, an organization whose stated mission is to promote “diverse, accountable and ethical media.” She has also been using Media Alliance’s e-newsletter and postal permit to promote her own candidacy. Unfortunately for Media Alliance, it is against the law for the director of a non-profit to use its resources for personal gain. That’s a very serious matter for a 501c3 non-profit. The members of Media Alliance, as well as KPFA, deserve better.
Journalism, Ethics, and the KPFA Board Election
KPFA Radio, America’s first listener-sponsored station, has an impressive history of groundbreaking journalism. Throughout its 61 years, the station has been justly famous for hard-nosed reporting, award-winning radio documentaries, cutting edge and wide ranging music, and coverage of some of the key events of our time—whether Iran Contra or the Iraq War.
It has also been no stranger to conflict. The conflict that besets the station today, however, could remake KPFA into something quite different than listeners have come to depend upon for decades. The outcome of the current local station board election will determine what the station will look like a year from now. And it will determine whether the KPFA programs that listeners tune into in the greatest numbers will remain at all—programs like Letters to Washington, Against the Grain, and even the Morning Show.
The slate that I am part of, SaveKPFA, believes that in a moment when professional reporting has become an endangered species in America, that KPFA should set the standard for critical, ethical journalism. Consistently high quality programming takes labor and resources, as well as a commitment to fairness, accuracy, and a willingness to ferret out the truth. Radical journalism is ethical journalism.
Our opponents revile professional journalism and openly have stated that they would like to get rid of the unionized staff at KPFA. They have long argued for a mainly volunteer station, where the door is wide open to 9/11 “truthers” of all stripes, Lyndon LaRouchites, gold bugs, and those who argue the government is spraying “chemtrails” on the U.S. population as a form of mind control. (Their allies have called for an investigation of Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman to find out if she is taking CIA money to cover up 9/11 “truth.”) The economic crisis of the past several years, which has hurt KPFA along with media outlets everywhere, has provided an opportunity for people like Ms. Rosenberg to bring their own brand of austerity to KPFA. Ethics and high quality journalism be damned.
These two sides’ differing approaches to ethics in journalism can perhaps be best illustrated by a few examples involving the leader of the Independents for Community Radio slate, which is running against my slate. Tracy Rosenberg has used all candidate forums and on air spots to point out that she is executive director of Media Alliance, an organization whose stated mission is to promote “diverse, accountable and ethical media.” She has also been using Media Alliance’s e-newsletter and postal permit to promote her own candidacy. Unfortunately for Media Alliance, it is against the law for the director of a non-profit to use its resources for personal gain. That’s a very serious matter for a 501c3 non-profit. The members of Media Alliance, as well as KPFA, deserve better.
Last month in the Huffington Post, Ms. Rosenberg published an article in which she attacked the slate that I am running with, SaveKPFA. In a story on the lack of truthfulness in journalism, she inaccurately accused the slate’s members of circulating misleading information about an event they were holding. Bizarrely, what Ms Rosenberg neglected to disclose in her piece on media ethics was that she is, in fact, a candidate running against the folks that she assailed. In other words, she failed to reveal her personal interests in having these candidates lose—an enormous breach of journalistic ethics.
If these breaches were not astounding enough, Rosenberg bought a website with our slate’s domain name and deceptively posted an endorsement for her own slate on it. When challenged, she said that we might be able to get the domain name–if we named a price. This unethical practice, of extracting ransom money for a domain name, was the recent subject of a NY Times article and is called “cybersquatting.” Needless to say, we refused to bow to such extortion. Now she wants your readers to believe that the budgetary problems at KPFA are all due to those of us running on the KPFA slate. Well to put it mildly, her numbers just don’t add up, especially when one considers that Pacifica has held on to $150,000 of money raised by KPFA. And let us not forget how well the other Pacifica stations have been doing in their fundraising efforts these past 2 years.
KPFA listeners need to ask themselves whether they would entrust the station’s governance to people with such a flagrant disregard for ethics.
If you support professional journalism, radical and progressive politics, and basic media ethics, I urge to you check out our website, savekpfa.org, and vote for those running with me on the SaveKPFA slate. Our endorsers include Norman Solomon, Raj Patel, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Pratap Chatterjee, Carlos Munoz, Ignacio Chapela, and Jello Biafra.
The SaveKPFA candidates are Matthew Hallinan, Margy Wilkinson, Suzi Goldmacher, Mal Bernstein, Terry Doran, Mark Hernandez, Dave Saldana, Jack Kurzweil, Tanya Russell, and Don Goldmacher.
KPFA Radio, America’s first listener-sponsored station, has an impressive history of groundbreaking journalism. Throughout its 61 years, the station has been justly famous for hard-nosed reporting, award-winning radio documentaries, cutting edge and wide ranging music, and coverage of some of the key events of our time—whether Iran Contra or the Iraq War.
It has also been no stranger to conflict. The conflict that besets the station today, however, could remake KPFA into something quite different than listeners have come to depend upon for decades. The outcome of the current local station board election will determine what the station will look like a year from now. And it will determine whether the KPFA programs that listeners tune into in the greatest numbers will remain at all—programs like Letters to Washington, Against the Grain, and even the Morning Show.
The slate that I am part of, SaveKPFA, believes that in a moment when professional reporting has become an endangered species in America, that KPFA should set the standard for critical, ethical journalism. Consistently high quality programming takes labor and resources, as well as a commitment to fairness, accuracy, and a willingness to ferret out the truth. Radical journalism is ethical journalism.
Our opponents revile professional journalism and openly have stated that they would like to get rid of the unionized staff at KPFA. They have long argued for a mainly volunteer station, where the door is wide open to 9/11 “truthers” of all stripes, Lyndon LaRouchites, gold bugs, and those who argue the government is spraying “chemtrails” on the U.S. population as a form of mind control. (Their allies have called for an investigation of Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman to find out if she is taking CIA money to cover up 9/11 “truth.”) The economic crisis of the past several years, which has hurt KPFA along with media outlets everywhere, has provided an opportunity for people like Ms. Rosenberg to bring their own brand of austerity to KPFA. Ethics and high quality journalism be damned.
These two sides’ differing approaches to ethics in journalism can perhaps be best illustrated by a few examples involving the leader of the Independents for Community Radio slate, which is running against my slate. Tracy Rosenberg has used all candidate forums and on air spots to point out that she is executive director of Media Alliance, an organization whose stated mission is to promote “diverse, accountable and ethical media.” She has also been using Media Alliance’s e-newsletter and postal permit to promote her own candidacy. Unfortunately for Media Alliance, it is against the law for the director of a non-profit to use its resources for personal gain. That’s a very serious matter for a 501c3 non-profit. The members of Media Alliance, as well as KPFA, deserve better.
Last month in the Huffington Post, Ms. Rosenberg published an article in which she attacked the slate that I am running with, SaveKPFA. In a story on the lack of truthfulness in journalism, she inaccurately accused the slate’s members of circulating misleading information about an event they were holding. Bizarrely, what Ms Rosenberg neglected to disclose in her piece on media ethics was that she is, in fact, a candidate running against the folks that she assailed. In other words, she failed to reveal her personal interests in having these candidates lose—an enormous breach of journalistic ethics.
If these breaches were not astounding enough, Rosenberg bought a website with our slate’s domain name and deceptively posted an endorsement for her own slate on it. When challenged, she said that we might be able to get the domain name–if we named a price. This unethical practice, of extracting ransom money for a domain name, was the recent subject of a NY Times article and is called “cybersquatting.” Needless to say, we refused to bow to such extortion. Now she wants your readers to believe that the budgetary problems at KPFA are all due to those of us running on the KPFA slate. Well to put it mildly, her numbers just don’t add up, especially when one considers that Pacifica has held on to $150,000 of money raised by KPFA. And let us not forget how well the other Pacifica stations have been doing in their fundraising efforts these past 2 years.
KPFA listeners need to ask themselves whether they would entrust the station’s governance to people with such a flagrant disregard for ethics.
If you support professional journalism, radical and progressive politics, and basic media ethics, I urge to you check out our website, savekpfa.org, and vote for those running with me on the SaveKPFA slate. Our endorsers include Norman Solomon, Raj Patel, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Pratap Chatterjee, Carlos Munoz, Ignacio Chapela, and Jello Biafra.
The SaveKPFA candidates are Matthew Hallinan, Margy Wilkinson, Suzi Goldmacher, Mal Bernstein, Terry Doran, Mark Hernandez, Dave Saldana, Jack Kurzweil, Tanya Russell, and Don Goldmacher.
For more information:
http://savekpfa.org/
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
If Media Alliance had not used its organizational resources on the democratization struggle of KPFA and Pacifica in 1999, there wouldn't be a KPFA today.
I realize Don Goldmacher and the rest of the Save KPFA crew weren't around during the struggle that led to the democratization of Pacifica and the re-opening of KPFA after the station was locked down and replaced with music from Texas, but if he had been on the inside then, he would know how absurd his charges are.
I direct an organization that was founded by professional journalists. But and this is the important part, professional journalists who had a profound and entirely accurate critique of most of the journalism they saw. They said that it was disconnected from communities and social change goals and sacrificed to the cult of objectivity the backgrounding and context necessary to tell stories accurately and help the audience determine where the truth lies.
Holding journalists accountable for living up to standards necessary to move us towards a just society is not the same as reviling professional journalists. Although like most media critics, I see a lot to revile out there.
I am also a believer in the statement that journalism is an action, not a job title and sometimes we are all journalists.
If all Save KPFA can come up with as a reason not to vote for me and the rest of the ICR slate is that we will fill the air with Larouchers, 9-11 advocates and stop the spray advocates, then they really are grasping at straws.
I don't mean to be rude to Don, but where has he been? The economic crisis of the past few years has hurt EVERYONE, not just media outlets, and thousands upon thousands of people have lost their homes and their livelihoods. I realize Don thinks the economic crisis is just an excuse for me to attempt to force my crazy sectarian programming beliefs on KPFA, but I think the evidence bears out that the economic crisis is in fact very real and it is causing most nonprofit organizations to have to reduce the size of their staff.
The mission of Media Alliance is below. It is about media working in the interests of peace and social justice.
"MA was founded with the belief that in order to ensure the free and unfettered flow of information and ideas necessary to maintain a truly democratic society, media must be accessible, accountable, decentralized, representative of society's diversity and free from covert or overt government control and corporate dominance. MA dedicates itself to fostering a genuine diversity of media voices and perspectives, holding the media accountable for their impact on society and protecting freedom of speech. Media Alliance is a media resource and advocacy center for media workers, non-profit organizations, and social justice activists. Our mission is excellence, ethics, diversity, and accountability in all aspects of the media in the interests of peace, justice, and social responsibility"
So back to 1999. At that time, Media Alliance sent out, over a period of 1.5 years, over 250 press releases and articles on the Save Pacifica Movement. It organized numerous benefit concerts, forums and events. It organized delegations to Pacifica board meetings going so far in 1999 as to coordinate an air-hotel package for the 50 activists who went from the Bay Area, If we hadn't done this work, it is unlikely KPFA would be here today. It was largely unfunded work.
I am curious what Don thinks is the "personal gain" I will experience from being a member of KPFA's board for three more years? I've already served a 3-year term as well as a year on the Pacifica National Board. The position is uncompensated. I already belong to three other boards in the media field besides KPFA/Pacifica's. What does he think I stand to gain personally? Because I have no idea, myself.
Media Alliance is using no organizational resources to support ICR. This is very different than 1999, when we did use a substantial amount to support the real movement to save KPFA. The mailing permit was loaned to ICR at no cost and as a favor because ICR's fiscal sponsor Redwood Justice Fund couldn't loan theirs in 2010 as they had in 2009. We all need to help out sometimes.
Just like Don is helping Save KPFA by launching stupid attacks at me on a sunny Sunday morning.
Here is my entire catalog of blogs on Huffington Post this year. Judge for yourself.
Public Access Television and the CAP Act: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/why-public-access-televis_b_457414.html
National Broadband Plan: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/single-payer-broadband-th_b_509087.html
Net Neutrality: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/net-neutrality-and-the-th_b_569883.html
Media Ownership (May FCC hearing) : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/geeks-rule-why-media-owne_b_569916.html
The New On-line Journalism: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/looking-for-journalism-in_b_610285.html
Bloomberg, Googlezon and Save KPFA: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/what-did-they-mean-by-tha_b_687187.html
Pacifica and Social Change : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/towards-a-just-communicat_b_721826.html
Here are the money-facts: KPFA lost 1.1 million dollars in 2 years - $652,000 in 2008-2009 and $495,000 so far in 2009-2010. Plus a $375,000 check recovered by Pacifica on KPFA's behalf after it had been misplaced by KPFA management and expired uncashed in a drawer.
That's the track record of Save KPFA/Concerned Listeners. Only vote for them if you want more of the fiscal irresponsibility and budget-busting.
Vote Independents for Community Radio. It's the smart choice. http://www.voteindyradio.org
I realize Don Goldmacher and the rest of the Save KPFA crew weren't around during the struggle that led to the democratization of Pacifica and the re-opening of KPFA after the station was locked down and replaced with music from Texas, but if he had been on the inside then, he would know how absurd his charges are.
I direct an organization that was founded by professional journalists. But and this is the important part, professional journalists who had a profound and entirely accurate critique of most of the journalism they saw. They said that it was disconnected from communities and social change goals and sacrificed to the cult of objectivity the backgrounding and context necessary to tell stories accurately and help the audience determine where the truth lies.
Holding journalists accountable for living up to standards necessary to move us towards a just society is not the same as reviling professional journalists. Although like most media critics, I see a lot to revile out there.
I am also a believer in the statement that journalism is an action, not a job title and sometimes we are all journalists.
If all Save KPFA can come up with as a reason not to vote for me and the rest of the ICR slate is that we will fill the air with Larouchers, 9-11 advocates and stop the spray advocates, then they really are grasping at straws.
I don't mean to be rude to Don, but where has he been? The economic crisis of the past few years has hurt EVERYONE, not just media outlets, and thousands upon thousands of people have lost their homes and their livelihoods. I realize Don thinks the economic crisis is just an excuse for me to attempt to force my crazy sectarian programming beliefs on KPFA, but I think the evidence bears out that the economic crisis is in fact very real and it is causing most nonprofit organizations to have to reduce the size of their staff.
The mission of Media Alliance is below. It is about media working in the interests of peace and social justice.
"MA was founded with the belief that in order to ensure the free and unfettered flow of information and ideas necessary to maintain a truly democratic society, media must be accessible, accountable, decentralized, representative of society's diversity and free from covert or overt government control and corporate dominance. MA dedicates itself to fostering a genuine diversity of media voices and perspectives, holding the media accountable for their impact on society and protecting freedom of speech. Media Alliance is a media resource and advocacy center for media workers, non-profit organizations, and social justice activists. Our mission is excellence, ethics, diversity, and accountability in all aspects of the media in the interests of peace, justice, and social responsibility"
So back to 1999. At that time, Media Alliance sent out, over a period of 1.5 years, over 250 press releases and articles on the Save Pacifica Movement. It organized numerous benefit concerts, forums and events. It organized delegations to Pacifica board meetings going so far in 1999 as to coordinate an air-hotel package for the 50 activists who went from the Bay Area, If we hadn't done this work, it is unlikely KPFA would be here today. It was largely unfunded work.
I am curious what Don thinks is the "personal gain" I will experience from being a member of KPFA's board for three more years? I've already served a 3-year term as well as a year on the Pacifica National Board. The position is uncompensated. I already belong to three other boards in the media field besides KPFA/Pacifica's. What does he think I stand to gain personally? Because I have no idea, myself.
Media Alliance is using no organizational resources to support ICR. This is very different than 1999, when we did use a substantial amount to support the real movement to save KPFA. The mailing permit was loaned to ICR at no cost and as a favor because ICR's fiscal sponsor Redwood Justice Fund couldn't loan theirs in 2010 as they had in 2009. We all need to help out sometimes.
Just like Don is helping Save KPFA by launching stupid attacks at me on a sunny Sunday morning.
Here is my entire catalog of blogs on Huffington Post this year. Judge for yourself.
Public Access Television and the CAP Act: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/why-public-access-televis_b_457414.html
National Broadband Plan: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/single-payer-broadband-th_b_509087.html
Net Neutrality: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/net-neutrality-and-the-th_b_569883.html
Media Ownership (May FCC hearing) : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/geeks-rule-why-media-owne_b_569916.html
The New On-line Journalism: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/looking-for-journalism-in_b_610285.html
Bloomberg, Googlezon and Save KPFA: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/what-did-they-mean-by-tha_b_687187.html
Pacifica and Social Change : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-rosenberg/towards-a-just-communicat_b_721826.html
Here are the money-facts: KPFA lost 1.1 million dollars in 2 years - $652,000 in 2008-2009 and $495,000 so far in 2009-2010. Plus a $375,000 check recovered by Pacifica on KPFA's behalf after it had been misplaced by KPFA management and expired uncashed in a drawer.
That's the track record of Save KPFA/Concerned Listeners. Only vote for them if you want more of the fiscal irresponsibility and budget-busting.
Vote Independents for Community Radio. It's the smart choice. http://www.voteindyradio.org
"The members of Media Alliance, as well as KPFA, deserve better...."
...Than what you offer in that hit piece of an article with just enough twisted truth to make it appear to be an act of someone who lives in a parallel universe: The land of the stubbornly dysfunctional arrogant entrenched elites.
Sigh...how nice for you.
...Than what you offer in that hit piece of an article with just enough twisted truth to make it appear to be an act of someone who lives in a parallel universe: The land of the stubbornly dysfunctional arrogant entrenched elites.
Sigh...how nice for you.
Also @ Don of the parallel universe of the entrenched elites:
Same old same old. You're smart enough to figure out that the slate you support is turning KPFA into their own entrenched cash cow. Copenhagen any one? Fulla' crap, you are lying for the purpose of political gain. Shame on you.
RIGHT ON ROSENBERG! ...ICR RIGHT ON!
Same old same old. You're smart enough to figure out that the slate you support is turning KPFA into their own entrenched cash cow. Copenhagen any one? Fulla' crap, you are lying for the purpose of political gain. Shame on you.
RIGHT ON ROSENBERG! ...ICR RIGHT ON!
The only "SaveKPFA" candidate I would even consider for my vote is Dave Saldana. The rest are clueless in essential areas. Sorry Don.
Don Goldmacher says: "Our opponents revile professional journalism and openly have stated that they would like to get rid of the unionized staff at KPFA. "
1) Give us one documented example of ICR "reviling," Donald. Then fill us in on when we said we would like to get rid of the union.
He then goes on: "They have long argued for a mainly volunteer station, where the door is wide open to 9/11 “truthers” of all stripes, Lyndon LaRouchites, gold bugs, and those who argue the government is spraying “chemtrails” on the U.S. population as a form of mind control. "
2) Give us one documented example of:
a) ICR's arguing for a mainly volunteer staff. The need for budget cuts because there is a more than half million dollar deficit spending and KPFA can't make payroll and needs to borrow money to pay staff means there need to be some cuts. That is not the same as lobbying for a "mainly volunteer staff."
b) So fill us in on why you think running a huge deficit and borrowing money from other Pacifica stations will work and for how long as well as how you would cut the budget by a half million? Actually, it looks like it will be more for the fiscal year starting in less than a week, but go for a half mill.
c) ICR's running on a campaign asking for doors wides open to the LaRouchites, etc. Documentation please!
3) Since you are clearly lying throughout your little piece here, please document your interest in "ethics and high quality journalism" another of your lines.
I pity your poor patients as a "community" shrink, as I believe you call yourself whatever that means it sounds kinda high minded and very much part of the "people" while you hang with the democratic party types.
And a documentary maker? You can't be serious.
1) Give us one documented example of ICR "reviling," Donald. Then fill us in on when we said we would like to get rid of the union.
He then goes on: "They have long argued for a mainly volunteer station, where the door is wide open to 9/11 “truthers” of all stripes, Lyndon LaRouchites, gold bugs, and those who argue the government is spraying “chemtrails” on the U.S. population as a form of mind control. "
2) Give us one documented example of:
a) ICR's arguing for a mainly volunteer staff. The need for budget cuts because there is a more than half million dollar deficit spending and KPFA can't make payroll and needs to borrow money to pay staff means there need to be some cuts. That is not the same as lobbying for a "mainly volunteer staff."
b) So fill us in on why you think running a huge deficit and borrowing money from other Pacifica stations will work and for how long as well as how you would cut the budget by a half million? Actually, it looks like it will be more for the fiscal year starting in less than a week, but go for a half mill.
c) ICR's running on a campaign asking for doors wides open to the LaRouchites, etc. Documentation please!
3) Since you are clearly lying throughout your little piece here, please document your interest in "ethics and high quality journalism" another of your lines.
I pity your poor patients as a "community" shrink, as I believe you call yourself whatever that means it sounds kinda high minded and very much part of the "people" while you hang with the democratic party types.
And a documentary maker? You can't be serious.
I certainly can't speak for ICR, Voices for Justice Radio, or the other two independents who ran, but
if 'professional journalism' is the kind of journalism practiced by most people in the United States (and probably in the world) who derive their income from the practice of journalism, such 'professional journalism' is something KPFA, Pacifica and the world could do better without.
The votes haven't been counted yet in the LSB election, and I recognize that my chance of having been elected without the support of any slate is slim, and that I would, if elected, have only one vote on a board of almost 30 members. I will, however, continue the battle against the one-step-to-the-left-of-NPR-on-a-good-day management" of the KPFA News Department. I would hope to find the funds to provide an early retirement to Aileen Alfandary and Mark Mericle and replace them with somebody like Nora Barrows-Friedman or Anthony Fest.
* It is noteworthy that Mark Mericle is both the co-manager, in fact though not in name, of the KPFA News Department and the highest officer at the station of the union representing KPFA paid staff. Of course, the union under his leadership has acted more as a branch of management than a representative of the workers, so maybe there's no contradiction.
For more information:
http://kpfa.blogspot.com/
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$120.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network