INTERVIEW WITH DENNIS BERNSTEIN
MONDAY 12/13/99 Interviewer: Michael CostelloDennis Bernstein is a familiar, courageous, and revered voice on KPFA. As many of us heard live, read via the Internet or received via the wide media spectrum, it was Dennis' voice that penetrated the early evening last July as he was dragged, hands cuffed behind his back, from the KPFA studios. It was that voice that finally ignited the Bay Area community into action. Thousands have marched in the streets and a militant but peaceful community has grown to save KPFA and Pacifica from corporate tyranny.
Michael Costello approached Dennis at the recent KPFA Crafts Faire in San Francisco and asked him if he would provide an interview for this, the second issue of the resurrected (NB4) KPFA Folio. This is the result of that interview:
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MC: What are MFB and the Pacifica Board up to? What do you expect in the near future?
DB: Well, I'm concerned because the pattern of censorship, betrayal, and degrading of the producers and the workers at Pacifica continues. They just cancelled Counterspin, the media show of Fairness and Accuracy of Reporting, at WPFW. Counterspin has been censored many times. So now, Pacifica continues to set a standard, a new standard in censorship and what concerns me is that the pattern is continuing.
I'm concerned that at KPFA we have three bank accounts and we don't even know what's in them. They're not transparent so we don't know what's happening with the money that we raised. I've been told by a board member and by the manager that the armed guards were paid. Well, is that $300,000 - $400,000 -- where did that money come from? Pacifica swears that it's not out of listener funds. I want to know where it came from. We don't know. The books are closed. We raised something like -- $300,000 came in by credit card donations. Where did that money go? That comes pretty much as cash; what happened to it? How do we know?
MC: Can you tell us what goes on next door in the Pacifica offices?
DB: I don't have the slightest idea of what goes on next door. I'm not sure of who's coming and going. It is my understanding that Gene Edwards, who is billed as a "human relations consultant," the man who hired the armed guards, who said we were provocative, is now there.
MC: So Gene Edwards works for staff or a CEO placement firm?
DB: Apparently he's affiliated with several giant corporate downsizing firms. I read this in the article by Chris Thompson in the East Bay Express. [He is] the man who hired an armed private national security police force, who half-strangled my friend, Karen Pickett to the ground, so they could reprogram the transmitter. [And he] is still working and being paid by Pacifica? I'm concerned about that. I'm concerned when you talk about the pattern continuing. Michael Palmer is the man who wrote the memo about selling KPFA. I'm concerned that not only is he still a board member but he was kicked up to being on the finance committee. So he makes determining decisions about the finances of Pacifica. I'm concerned about that... Deeply concerned about the man who hired a private national security force [IPSA], the man who jeopardized our files and our rolodexes [and] is still working there next door?
MC: Turning to recent changes within the Pacifica Network News department, how is staff at KPFA responding?
DB: Well, there's a real discussion going on about whether we should be running a censored news cast. It is my feeling, -- I'm in the minority, I want you to convey this clearly -- it's my feeling that we should no longer play the Pacifica Network News; that it's censored and it's useless. Essentially it's stenography with a microphone... 'What did the president say, and what did somebody in some think tank say'. I think it ceased, for the most part, with exceptions, it ceased to be a hard-hitting newscast. On the other hand Democracy Now still remains very strong and hard-hitting. But I can tell you that they're not the favorites of Pacifica.
MC: So what can the listeners do, to perhaps get the station to boycott the Pacifica Network News?
DB: I think the listeners need to pay very close attention to what's going on. I think it's important for the listeners to demand an absolute transparency. They need to know where their money is going. The bank accounts have to be open so that people can see where their money is being spent. And in any way that they can demand that through any form of peaceful protest I recommend it. -- Peaceful protest --.
MC: It is my understanding that there will be some revealing of finances through the lawsuits.
DB: I am hoping that the lawsuits are revelatory in that regard. Discovery is crucial. We have to throw open the books, and we have to rehire Nicole Sawaya, bring back Bensky and all the others like Mandel and the rest of the crew who have been mistreated. They have to come back. You understand that Pacifica has spent up to a half a million dollars on armed guards. Imagine if we could use that money to support the new show -- Hard Knock Radio. Imagine what those kids could do with a half a million dollars.
MC: Do you find that there is actually a lot of cutting back because Pacifica is under-funding the station?
DB: You know it's hard to answer that question because I can't see the books. I'm kept in the dark thoroughly. Fundamentally. All I'm saying is that's what I want to change, so that I can really know if... [there is] scrimping or if we're just... you know... this is how it's always been. I don't know.
MC: Thank you Dennis, I know our readers, and the thousands of listeners who hear to you on Flashpoints will appreciate your finding the time for this interview.
DB: And I really do want people to know that we are planning a free-speech 2000 Flashpoints for the middle of January and that we're going to have some pretty interesting surprises and we want people to stay tuned. We'll have some new guests at that rally.
__________________________________________ POEMS by Dennis Bernstein SURVIVING TORTURE we screamed often but we never spoke a word: Silence was our best weapon against the torturer's smile. Sometimes we even smiled back as if the pleasure was all ours. SUPREME ALLIES When I was in Portugal, an angel for the king came to cut out my tongue. She let me know that god was calling the shots from the royal palace, and that silence was godly even if it had to be bloody as well.Return to NB4KPFA FOLIO Home Page