-Caveat Lector-
Via Z-Mag.OrG
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: July 13, 1999
Belinda Griswold 415-546-6334 x313
CONTROVERSIAL EMAIL RECEIVED DETAILING POSSIBLE CLOSURE OF KPFA
AS LAWSUIT IS FILED TO FORCE ACCOUNTABILITY COMMUNITY LEADERS
DECRY CRACKDOWN
BERKELEY, CA - At a press conference at 1:30 p.m. today, Media
Alliance Executive Director Andrea Buffa will release a
controversial email she received yesterday that describes plans
by Pacifica Radio to close KPFA and possibly sell another
Pacifica station, WBAI in New York. The email appears to have
come from Pacifica board of directors member Michael Palmer.
"We are working to confirm the authenticity of this email and
call on Michael Palmer and Pacifica Board Chair Dr. Mary Frances
Berry to immediately publicly confirm or refute this email,"
Buffa said.
Phone calls by Media Alliance and several Pacifica board members
to Palmer have not been returned. Local Internet service provider
IGC was contacted about verifying the path by which the email was
sent to Media Alliance. IGC's tech services department has stated
that the email looks to have legitimately been sent from Palmer's
account. The full text of the email is available at www.zmag.org
or www.counterpunch.org.
The press conference takes place immediately preceding a hearing
at Berkeley Municipal Court at which charges will be filed
against a group of peaceful protesters who blocked the entry to
Pacifica Foundation's office in Berkeley last month. The
demonstrators prevented Pacifica Foundation Executive Director
Lynn Chadwick from entering her office on June 22. Chadwick
initiated a citizen's arrest when Berkeley police refused to cite
the activists. Local community leaders decried the decision,
calling it a terrible contradiction.
Meanwhile, a group of local stations' advisory board members from
Los Angeles, Berkeley and New York is pressing ahead with a
lawsuit intended to reverse Pacifica's recent governance changes
that eliminated local say on the national board. Oakland attorney
Dan Siegel will file suit within the next few days to restore the
last shred of local control at Pacifica: the ability of local
station boards to recommend members to the national board. Seigel
will also attend the press conference. "Pacifica, when faced with
the question of changing its method of choosing its leadership,
opted for the least democratic option imaginable. It is time to
revisit this issue, and it should be unnecesssary to require a
court order to do so," Siegel said.
Yesterday, Pacifica national board chair Dr. Mary Frances Berry
arrived in Oakland, told neither staff nor listeners of her
visit, and attempted to negotiate with KPFA's union leaders. Shop
stewards met with Berry to remind her of her promise to meet with
the KPFA steering committee, which both listeners and staff have
designated as their representative, and refused to negotiate
further.
KPFA paid staff, volunteers, local advisory board members,
subscribers, and listeners will continue to press Pacifica to:
1) Rehire respected KPFA station manager Nicole Sawaya, whose
termination touched off massive protests in Berkeley and the
firing of two veteran programmers because they violated
Pacifica's on-air "gag rule";
2) Participate in mediation and allow for investigation of the
dispute between local interests and the national bureaucracy; and
3) Reverse the disciplinary or adverse actions taken against KPFA
and Pacifica staff since Sawaya's termination.
And the referenced lettre:
Letter Regarding
Proposed Pacifica SALE
The following letter was sent to Andrea Buffa, the Executive
Director of Media Alliance. As the header notes the intention was
apparently for Michael Palmer of the Pacifica Board to send it to
Mary Berry the chair of the board. Efforts to determine its
veracity have been pursued by many actors through many
avenues...as of yet final authenticity is not absolutely
certain...the principals are not answering calls, but traces of
the source do accord with this being a real letter...see: Related
Press Release
--
From: Palmer, Micheal @ Houston Galleria,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'Mary Francis Berry', [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Hello Dr. Berry,
I salute your fortitude in scheduling a news conference
opportunity in the beloved Bay Area regarding one of the most
pressing issues of our time
But seriously, I was under the impression there was support in
the proper quarters, and a definite majority, for shutting down
that unit and re-programming immediately. Has that changed? Is
there consensus among the national staff that anything other than
that is acceptable/bearable? I recall Cheryl saying that the
national staff wanted to know with certitude that they supported
100% by the Board in whatever direction was taken; what direction
is being taken?
