Pacifica Chair Aaron Leaks Name Of New iED – Pacifica Splices Audiofile In Failed Coverup
At this evening’s PNB Strategic Planning Cttee, Grace Aaron, Chair of the Board & now Executive Director, leaked to the public the name of her successor. It’s John Farneal (spelling).
Then, person or persons unknown at Pacifica attempted a coverup – but it failed. By law, decision-making meetings of charities have to be public, but because Pacifica use national conference calls they post the proceedings online. This recording was available within an hour or so at the Pacifica meetings archive, here – but as two audiofiles. You’ve guessed it, the most interesting part of the meeting had spilt all over the cutting-room floor. But don’t worry . . . it’s now in the clouds. For ever. The coverup failed.
Guess Grace is so used to private meetings, rarely speaking to the public, that she was in default secrecy mode. The Pacifica secrecy culture really is that entrenched & pervasive. The public are simply an inconvenient, annoying intrusion – except when they're to be milked for cash.
Audioclip of the leak, the pre-censored portion of the public broadcast: audio file (1:43, 2.2 MB)
And for comparison, the adulterated posting: MP3 & MP3
Obviously the Federal Communications Commission will have to be informed, given the systemic unaccountability & stymying of reform within Pacifica. This is a serious attempt to prevent the public hearing a meeting that they’re entitled, by law, to hear in full – to hear without censorship. It’s imperative that those doing work for Pacifica can be trusted, trusted to post recordings unadulterated – especially as they never have the integrity, & good manners, to explicitly explain on the archive website instances of the contrary.
The Pacifica National Board need to tell members, listeners, & staff who authorised this serious attempted coverup. We deserve to know who was practising non-Pacifica values. Censorship by the powerful must be exposed wherever it raises its ugly head. Those in Pacifica too, must be held to account.
It’s unusual for Pacifica to splice such a short recording, here 1:36:59. For example, Grace Aaron is a delegate to her Local Station Board, that of KPFK in LA. Their latest publicly available recording is Su23June, & it lasted 3:03:26 and it’s on the website, in all its glory – as a single audiofile. MP3 (the ED ousted Tu2July, Maxie Jackson, gave them a fascinating presentation and Q&A, his last recorded LSB appearance, just after 1:38:00; nine days later he supposedly resigned: bunkum)
There are many articles on the network, particularly on aspects of the $3.265m loan, currently at an annual 8.5%, from the Foundation for the Jewish Community (FJC), contracted to be paid in full by 2Apr2021, at PacificaWatch:
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UPDATE: John Carlo Vernile, a corporate careerist with Sony & EMI, was officially announced as Pacifica's new executive director, W24July, on the homepage of pacifica.org.
A stopgap, it means the chronic instability at Pacifica continues. ED Maxie Jackson was ousted Tu2July, without explanation either then or since. However, he was trying to bring technical competence to Pacifica, &, although staff were glad to see some sanity in Pacifica after so many years of chaos & decline, he obviously upset the plans of the Board majority. So out he went.
The station manager of KPFK, in Los Angeles, Anyel Zuberi Fields responded, emailing the National Board: "[i]n the spirit of speaking truth to power, I want to express the deepest concerns of staff, volunteers, potential donors and members that I have had conversations with about the vote to dismiss Maxie Jackson and or [sic] Pacifica's path of instability." He put a set of questions to the Board. Read them here
Meanwhile, biographical details of the immediate future, Corporate Vernile: read here
It may be a few months before Vernile starts work, according to Board Chair & ED Grace Aaron, addressing the M22July Strategic Planning Cttee (the excised portion of the audiofile given in my article above, 0:34). It's a six-month contract, according to Board Vice-Chair Jan Goodman, at the Su21July KPFK Local Station Board (3:40, Part 2 of the audiofile at the Pacifica meetings archive).
Lots of Pacifica news & analysis at PacificaWatch: