Pacifica crisis reheats with show under siege 

Judith Scherr / Daily Planet 15aug01

[ News from the exiled staff ]

The crisis within the Pacifica family of listener-sponsored radio stations may be coming to a head, as the morning news magazine produced by popular host Amy Goodman was canceled Tuesday and replaced, in much of the country, by a rerun of an old show.
KPFA, Berkeley’s Pacifica station, however, ran the original show, sent directly to the station through high-speed cable lines.

Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now!” has reportedly been in heated battle with Utrice Leid, interim station manager at the New York Pacifica station WBAI, having been relegated to a small cramped studio from where she has been asked to produce her shows.

Tensions within Pacifica first became evident in Berkeley in 1999, when the Pacifica Foundation Board refused to renew the contract of a popular station manager. The crisis escalated as on-air programmers discussed the manager’s removal over the air, violating the Pacifica executive director’s gag order. Firings and bannings from the air waves ensued. Pacifica closed down the station and piped shows in from Texas and hundreds of people took to the streets in Berkeley, with one demonstration topping 10,000 people.

Programmers returned to the air and KPFA no longer faces a gag order. However, the fight between activists and the Pacifica Foundation Board, which holds the license to the five stations around the country, has escalated and spread to other listener areas: Los Angeles, Houston, Texas, Washington, D.C., and New York. 

Activists are calling for full disclosure of the board’s expenditures, calling for a board representative of the listeners that is not self-perpetuating, and opposing what they see as the push to “dumb down” Pacifica programming in order to attract a wider audience.

Goodman’s dispute with her bosses is one part of that fight, with her signing off the air each day, saying she is speaking from “the studios of the fired and the banned,” referring to the more-than-a-dozen WBAI paid and volunteer staff that have been removed from their jobs at the listener-sponsored station.

Goodman reportedly produced Tuesday’s broadcast from a nearby community television station and sent it by cable to be “uplinked” to the satellite for broadcast, but WBAI managers refused the program.

This came after a night of negotiations, during which Goodman was attempting to get placed back into a main studio, rather than broadcast from the cramped room which “dissident” Pacifica Board member Tomas Moran called “substandard.”

Goodman’s decision not to broadcast her shows, whose topics range from political events in East Timor to racial strife in New York City, in the poor conditions of the small studio, comes on the heels of allegations of physical intimidation on the part of the WBAI interim manager, Moran said.

Moran, who has been among the board minority taking the side of the activists, said he has been trying to contact interim Board Chair Ken Ford. 

“I want him to tell us how the executive director is dealing with this,” he said. “I’ve had no response from Ken Ford.”

He also had no response from Ford to earlier e-mails immediately following Goodman’s allegations Friday of physical intimidation by Leid. According to KPFA Public Affairs Director Philip Maldari, Goodman said she came upon Leid going through the personal effects of one of the fired staffers. She told Leid to stop and when Leid didn’t, Goodman went and got a camera to photograph Leid going through the individual’s possessions. Leid allegedly took the camera from Goodman by force and pushed Goodman as well.

The Daily Planet was unable to reach Goodman, Leid, Executive Director Bessie Wash, Pacifica’s pubic relations spokesperson Angela Jones, or Board Chair Ken Ford. Wash, however, posted a message on the Pacifica Web site Tuesday which reads:

“We are disappointed that Amy Goodman has chosen not to host the award-winning Democracy Now! from the studios of WBAI. This is an unfortunate situation that serves only to deprive the show’s listeners of programming important to them.

“While we maintain a policy that prevents us from publicly discussing internal disputes and personnel matters, we will continue to try to bridge any differences and find a suitable arrangement for those involved. Whatever our differences are, we feel that the devoted listeners of the show should not be penalized. Pacifica apologizes to the listeners of Democracy Now! and is committed to returning the show to the air as soon as possible.” 

source:  http://www.interweavers.com/berkeley/article.cfm?issue=08-15-01&storyID=6318 15aug0 1

Democracy Now! was yanked off the air

www.savepacifica.net 14aug01

August 14, 2001: Today's live broadcast of Democracy Now! was yanked off the air by Pacifica and replaced by a tape of an old DN show.

This unprecedented action occurred after all-night negotiations between the management and Goodman broke down early this morning. Goodman notified Pacifica yesterday that she could no longer originate the show at WBAI in New York due to the continual intimidation and harassment she was experiencing at the hands of interim station manage Utrice Leid.

She offered instead to originate the program from Downtown Community Television (DCTV) in Lower Manhattan until management could assure her a safe working environment, and she proceeded to do just that this morning. The originating of programming - national and local -- from remote locations is not unheard of. Gary Null's Natural Living and Armand DiMele's Positive Mind show originate in other locations and are fed to WBAI for broadcast.

But Pacifica lawyers, who had not responded to numerous letters and complaints from Amy about the increasing harassment she had faced in recent weeks, refused yesterday to either guarantee her a safe work environment or agree to allow her to broadcast from someplace else.

The escalating harassment against Goodman included an incident last Friday where Leid physically shoved her during a heated discussion; the removal of Democracy Now! from the main production studio of WBAI, continued on-air personal attacks on Amy by staff members close to Leid, racist and sexist remarks by staff members that are not censured by management, even slanderous statements about Goodman that continue to appear on Pacifica's official web page.

No one should be forced to work under such conditions, and certainly not the host of the most popular news program in Pacifica's history.

Democracy Now! did air today in a few locations. Pacifica's KPFA in Berkeley aired it at 9:00 am Pacific time today and WMNF in Tampa aired it at noon. If you want to listen to the show, it will be posted to http://www.wbix.org

But hundreds of thousands of loyal Democracy Now! listeners were denied the show by a Pacifica management that is growing more irrational and desperate with each day.

Please take action today. If you are a listener in a Pacifica affiliate station, call the Pacifica headquarters to complain at 202-588-0999. If you are in one of the five Pacifica listening areas call your local station - WBAI at 212-209-2800, KPFK in Los Angeles at 818-985-2711, KPFT in Houston at 713-526-4000, WPFW in Washington DC at 202-588-0999, and KPFA in Berkeley at 510-848-6767.

Also, please contact the Pacifica bosses listed below.

Venceremos,
Juan Gonzalez

PS Many of you have asked how you might support our work. Tax deductible contributions to the Pacifica Campaign may be made to our fiscal sponsor, a 501 (c) (3) organization. Make checks payable to: Institute for Media Analysis-Pacifica Campaign. Our mailing address: The Pacifica Campaign, 51 MacDougal St., #80, New York, NY 10012. Thanks.

CONTACT INFO

Stop the Harassment of Democracy Now! Resign New!

Please call, fax and/or e-mail the following individuals. Please contact as many times as you feel necessary for your voice to be heard. You can make one phone call a day over the next five days or five today. Your phone calls are important. Keep the message simple and straightforward.

WBAI Acting GM Utrice Leid Tel: 212-209-2800/2820 Fax: 212-747-1698 E-mail: uleid@escape.com

Pacifica Executive Director Bessie Wash Tel: 202-588-0999 x 348 or 888-770-4944 x348 Fax: 202-588-0561 E-mail: bmwpacifica@aol.com

Pacifica Board Vice Chair Ken Ford Tel: 202-822-0228 Fax: 202-822-0369 E-mail: kenfordpacifica@aol.com, kford@nahb.com

Pacifica Board member Wendell L. Johns Tel: 202-752-5355 Fax: 202-752-4281 E-mail: wendell_L_johns@fanniemae.com

Pacifica Board member Valrie Chambers Tel: 361-825-6012 Fax: 281-655-0266 E-mail: Valrie.Chambers@mail.tamucc.edu, valriechambers@aol.com

Cut the below list of email addresses, paste it into the To: line of your email composition form. Also go to: http://www.progressiveportal.org/letters/pacifica/resign/

Bmwpacifica@aol.com, uleid@escape.com, kford@nahb.com, KenFordPacifica@aol.com, jmurdock@ebglaw.com, wendell_L_johns@fanniemae.com, Alfigo@aol.com, valriechambers@aol.com, Valrie.Chambers@mail.tamucc.edu, jhoward@nahb.com, bsmith@nahbofficer.com, pacificacampaign@yahoo.com