July 29, 1999
SPECIAL TO COUNTERPUCH
PACIFICA:
The Plot Thickens
By David Bacon
BERKELEY--Pacifica Foundation's growing practice
of saying one thing in public, while doing the complete opposite
behind closed doors, achieved remarkable new heights this week.
For months board chair Mary Francis Berry, fired publicity flak
Elan Fabbri, and even the Fineman public relations firm hired
by Pacifica to replace her (specialists in corporate damage control
in the wake of food poisonings and similar disasters), have denied
that there were any plans for the sale of Berkeley radio station
KPFA. But that was precisely the subject of not just one, but
two day-long telephone conference-call board meetings early this
week. Members were sworn to secrecy, warned not to divulge the
explosive contents of the discussions.
On Tuesday, Berry first held a meeting of
the board's executive committee, in which various scenarios were
floated regarding the sale of the license of the station in Berkeley,
or possibly of New York's WBAI. The following day, the full board
debated the proposals. At the call's conclusion, board members
decided they would eventually choose between various options
for transferring ownership of the license(s).
Three board members dissented, and according
to Pete Bramson, who represents the Bay Area, they were berated
by Berry and her allies. Bramson was even accused of being a
"fascist," he says. The whole discussion, coming on
the heels of repeated denials that the move was even being contemplated,
was too much for him, and he blew the lid at a press conference
in front of the Berkeley station that afternoon.
KPFA is the U.S.'s oldest community broadcaster,
a non-commercial station started in 1949 by pacifists interested
in using radio to promote free speech in opposition to the corporate-dominated
media. The Pacifica Foundation was established to hold its broadcast
license, and now runs four other stations as well in New York,
Los Angeles, Washington DC and Houston.
Conflict has been growing for years between
the foundation and local stations over issues of democracy and
local control, unionbusting in contract negotiations, expanding
foundation budgets at the expense of local stations, and the
desire of the foundation to make programming more "mainstream"
and less overtly leftwing and progressive.
While discussing the sale of its flagship
station in Berkeley in private with board members, however, Berry
began a media blitz publicizing a completely different proposal.
She called the secretary-treasurer of the union representing
KPFA paid employees, CWA Local 9415, and offered to end the immediate
dispute which has paralyzed broadcasting for weeks. Staff, both
paid and unpaid, has been locked out of the station since July
13, when programmer Dennis Bernstein was hauled away from a microphone
at the conclusion of his "Flashpoints" radio magazine
show. Bernstein and 53 others were arrested for refusing to leave
the station, including co-news directors Aileen Alfenderry and
Mark Mericle. The two were put under citizens arrest for "trespassing"
-- for remaining in their office and working at their jobs --
by Berry loyalist Garland Gantner, manager of the Houston Pacifica
station, imported into Berkeley for the occasion.
Since the arrests, demonstrations have gone
on day and night in the street out in front, marked by numerous
arrests. Protesters set up a tent city, and after being rousted
by the police on several occasions, were finally permitted to
permanently block the street in front of the station doors.
Berry's proposal seems crafted more for the
media than for a resolution of the deep disagreements which lie
at the root of the crisis. She was on the phone to newspapers
from the Washington Post to the local Bay Area dailies before
the afternoon was out, in a major PR offensive. Saying nothing
about any possible sale, she announced she would open the station
doors on Friday, let the staff run it until an interim station
manager was appointed, and review the situation in nine months
to determine whether KPFA had increased the number and diversity
of its listeners (measured by the infamous Arbitron ratings service.)
The proposal, however, was not made at the
table where a steering committee formed by the union, unpaid
staff and community supporters has been in mediation with Pacifica
for the last week. The plan avoids the key issues which lie at
the heart of the dispute, including the firing of past station
manager Nicole Sawaya and programmer Larry Bensky, and the democratization
of control over staff and programming.
Furthermore, Berry told CWA secretary-treasurer
Bill Harvey that the foundation only had enough money to pay
the staff for another 2-3 weeks. Not only has the foundation
squandered millions of dollars since the dispute began on expensive
public relations campaigns and strong-arm guards, but it has
sabotaged collection of the funds actually raised by station
staff. In KPFA's last fundraising marathon, an outpouring of
listener support raised pledges for over $600,000, way over the
drive's target. But most listeners checked a box on the pledge
form devised by staff, stating they were pledging under protest.
Pacifica then wrote them back a letter saying the foundation
couldn't accept money pledged under those conditions.
Meanwhile, board member David Acosta from
Houston has proposed getting a loan for $5 million, using KPFA's
broadcast license as collateral. That license is worth $65-75
million, if it is eventually sold to a commercial broadcaster.
Sale of the license is a complicated process.
The foundation is a non-profit entity, and therefore a sale for
profit, or to a for-profit corporation, would require state consent.
Sixteen state legislators have cosigned a letter to Pacifica
condemning its actions against KPFA, and it is questionable whether
the foundation would get a sympathetic hearing from Attorney
General Bill Lockyer, president pro-tem of the State Senate until
his election last November.
In addition, to staff and community activists
the nine-month grace period Berry is offering sounds suspiciously
like the kind of time that would be necessary to negotiate the
legal labyrinth a sale would entail. Perhaps Berry, her supporters,
and the Fineman firm hope that the situation would appear to
return to normal, and they could then engineer the station's
sale after the protests died down and the pressure of the lockout
was removed.
Berry has continually criticized KPFA for
having an audience of 200,000 people in a media market of over
4 million. She has accused the staff of lacking diversity and
being unconcerned with reaching out to communities of color.
Berry refers to the KPFA audience as white men over 50 in ponytails.
But her emphasis on diversity has been criticized
by people of color among station staff and listeners as an attempt
to manipulate public sentiment, using a real issue of concern
for covert purposes. Both African-American and Asian/Pacific
Islander programmers have signed letters to her demanding she
agree to the demands of the staff.
Staff of color point out that the union contract
at the station has strong affirmative action language, which
requires hiring committees which have to take into account the
racial, national and sex composition of the station staff, and
the need for minority representation, in making hiring decisions.
Rather than protect that language, Pacifica negotiators have
sought to weaken affirmative action protection in contract negotiations,
as well as the right of the staff to form hiring committees to
fill vacancies.
KPFA has the only minority apprenticeship
program in the Pacifica network, which has been instrumental
over the years in teaching broadcast skills to young people of
color.
In examining the diversity issue, staff of
color have called for the reestablishment of the Third World
and Women's Departments, which were abolished by previous Pacifica
managers as being out of touch with mainstream programming needs.
They hold that the philosophy of community radio requires, not
just staff diversity, but an emphasis on creating programming
for communities of color, who then have a reason to become part
of the organized support base for the station. Staff of color
calls as well for democratization of the station's internal functioning.
Outreach by African-American, Latino and Asian/Pacific
Islander staff members has brought crowds of listeners down to
the demonstrations in front of KPFA, where a microtransmitter
has broadcast programming to the surrounding neighborhood. Last
weekend featured an afternoon of music by reggae programmers,
a full day Latino music celebration, and a labor speakout.
This outpouring of support from local communities
has provided the kind of political muscle which has forced Pacifica
to make the concession on ending the lockout. In the recent labor
rally, over 20 unions spoke in solidarity with the staff, along
with an official representative of the state AFL-CIO. Four Bay
Area labor councils and numerous local unions have passed resolutions
in support. One of them -- from the local District Council 57
of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
- was greeted with particular enthusiasm. AFSCME's national secretary-treasurer,
Bill Lucy, is a member of the Pacifica board.
The KPFA steering committee is set to return
to mediation on Thursday. Although it will probably receive a
formal presentation of Berry's proposal to end the lockout, it
will have to begin refocusing on the new reality of the station's
threatened sale.
David Bacon
is one of the nation's premier labor reporters. He lives in the
Bay Area.
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