- The Folio Yellow Sheet -
IV
Mary and Mickey in Anaheim
After more than one full year of turmoil in Pacifica, Mary Berry has been invited to be keynote speaker at yet another worthy award ceremony. Five days after she appears at UC Riverside, she will be giving the keynote address "Achieving Diversity in Higher Education: The Moral Imperative" at 1:00pm on Thursday, March 30 at the 2000 National Conference on Higher Education "To Form a More Perfect Union: Diversity & Learning." The conference, to be held at the Hilton Anaheim Hotel, 777 Convention Way in Anaheim, is sponsored by the American Association for Higher Education.
In a letter to the staff of the American Association for Higher Education, protesting Mary Barry’s appearance, John Sheridan of the Coalition for a democratic Pacifica writes: "Dr. Berry has savagely abused board members who disagree with her tactics and goals, has discussed selling stations against listener wishes, has expressed little interest in the diversity of staff at Pacifica stations, has fired staff who questioned or reported on the growing protests by listeners and supporting stations against the antidemocratic actions of Dr. Berry and the Board, has misapplied corporate-style Arbitron ratings to dismiss the loyal listenership of Pacifica, has supported union-busting of staff and financial secrecy of public donations, and she has acted to censor programming, often in mid-sentence, when it reported on the crisis which she has escalated to the point of nearly destroying Pacifica."
KPFA listener/sponsor Craig Gingold has this to say: "If you feel strongly that Mary Frances Berry and the other board members need to learn that they will pay a very real price for their destructive acts, please give some serious thought to taking part in this event. There is a core group of activists who are planning to make the trip down to Riverside from Northern California." Contact John Sheridan (johnsher@lanminds.com) of the Coalition for a democratic Pacifica if you wish to drive down to UC Riverside on Friday, March 24, or have an interest in the March 30 Anaheim demonstration.
In Southern California, contact the Pacifica Listeners Union for carpooling information, 323-960-7655.
They’re Not Really Gone
Even though Mary Berry took a deep bow and exited from center stage she is still lurking behind the curtains. Many people are laboring with the wrong impression that Lynn Chadwick and Mary Berry have been beaten and their threat is gone. Unfortunately this is not true. Berry appointed David Acosta, by no apparent process, to the position of Chair of the Pacifica Board. With the exception of Tomas Moran from the KPFA signal area and Rob Robinson from the WPFW signal area, the board tends to rubber stamp Berry’s vote. Moran says, "Berry appears to be still acting as chair, as evidenced by her calling a recent executive committee meeting. I find this very confusing." So, it seems that Mary Berry will continue to exert her influence over the Pacifica Board.
Lynn Chadwick resigned as Executive Director of Pacifica, or -- her contract was not renewed. There seems to be some confusion over this as well. Not to worry, Lynn still has a paycheck from Pacifica for an indefinite period of time as a consultant, dealing with "litigation matters." At the National Board meeting Mary Berry sang Lynn’s praises and Karolyn VanPutten recommended that the Pacifica Board send her a letter of thanks.
So, the important message here is that these two are still very much active behind the Pacifica scenes. The crisis continues as serious, or more so, as ever.
Saul’s Withering Letter
Word was that Saul Landau’s "can’t we all just get along" letter complete with the 40 plus signatures of ill-informed "progressives" was going to be published as an ad in the Nation magazine. Well, it’s not there. Spies say this is because names are slowly dropping off the edge of the letter and others have requested they not be listed in an advertisement. So far, authors Mike Davis and Barbara Ehrenreich and environmentalist Harvey Wasserman have seen the light. There are more to follow as each is learning the true nature of the struggle. In the mean time, another letter has been crafted in response to Saul’s. As the number of signatories decreases on Landau’s letter, the number in support of the PNN strike increases -- the battle of the progressive letter signers. And...
The Battle of the Newscasts
How many Pacifica Affiliate stations have been carrying the Free Speech Radio newscasts? From the PNN Reporter’s Strike webpage - http://www.savepacifica.net/strike/index.html, "The addition this week of WXOU (Rochester, MI), KFCF (Fresno, CA) and KRCL (Salt Lake City, UT) brings the total number of stations carrying Free Speech Radio News to twenty-two." And this - "A note of clarification: We are not targeting programming at any Pacifica sister stations. Currently, the strike's only target is PNN, the half-hour news program produced in Washington, DC. The only other Pacifica national program, Democracy Now, is not a target, nor are the news and public affairs departments at the sister stations (i.e., KPFA, WBAI, KPFK, etc.). The strikers have not taken any position on whether our supporters should or should not donate their voices to Pacifica for the archives, marathons, etc."
Legal Limbo
What’s the latest with Siegel and Yee? - Pacifica filed another demurrer in response to the latest filing by Siegel & Yee. This is the third time Pacifica has tried to knock the case out of court. There is a hearing scheduled for April 14 at 2pm at the Superior Court, in the Old Post Office in Oakland. Dan Siegel says that he feels very confident about the case and would like to see a full courtroom.
And the Committee to Remove the Board lawsuit? According to Carol Spooner, the Attorney General should make his decision soon on the relator status of We the Listeners. For now, we must wait.
And wait some more -- According to Maria Armudian of Scott Wildman’s office -- She has written a draft report on the Audit Committee’s findings. This will now be edited and then scrutinized by all those with an interest in it. She has no idea when this will see the light of day.
Press Freedom Conference in New York City
Project Censored in cooperation with Fordham University, Seven Stories Press and the Nation Institute is presenting a conference for media activists, First Amendment advocates, students, grassroots publishers and producers, and writers/journalists of all persuasions. The Press Freedom Conference will be held April 11 & 12 in New York City at the Fordham University Manhattan campus and will focus on building a democratic "Real News" alternative media system in the US - a news system that informs, builds participation, and gives voice to the powerless. A special session on the "Crisis at Pacifica" will be held on April 12th. For program information and registration contact www.projectcensored.org or call 707-664-2500.
And a May Day Forum in Los Angeles
"STOP CENSORSHIP AT KPFK and PACIFICA" is the theme of a May Day Weekend Forum at the Musicians Union Hall, 817 N. Vine, in Hollywood. The April 29th event is being put together by Free Pacifica activists and features former PNN anchor Verna Avery Brown and former PNN producer Dan Coughlin. They are joined by other prominent, award-winning media victims of Pacifica's notorious "gag rule": KPFA’s Larry Bensky; Robin Urevich, organizing and speaking on the PNN stringer strike; & Laura Flanders, former host of "Counterspin", honored, censored and banned media review. Don White, long-time organizer of CISPES, the Fair Trade Network and other progressive movements, will moderate the event. Call Free Speech Radio Forum, 323-653-0726.
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Written for the Yellow Sheet by: Michael CostelloReturn to NB4KPFA FOLIO Home Page