{"article":{"id":4132,"heading":"AmyGoodman'sLetterRegardingPacificaManagement","author":"Amy Goodman","created":"2000-10-21 19:11:55","modified":"2005-08-15 00:29:34","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 07:29:34","article":"
Amy Goodman's Letter
To: Pacifica Executive Director Bessie Wash and Board of
Directors
From: Amy Goodman
Cc: Personnel File
Date: 10\/18\/00A few days ago, I was given a shocking memo
from Pacifica Program Director Stephen Yasko and Pacifica
attorney Larry Drapkin. In the 3-page memo, Yasko listed a
series of Pacifica policies and work rules that I was
ordered to immediately adhere to or face \"disciplinary
actions up to and including termination.\" Yasko handed me
the memo during a meeting in the law offices of my union,
AFTRA, at a gathering that my union representatives and I
had been led to believe was meant to resolve a series of
escalating conflicts which have erupted in recent months
between Yasko, Executive Director Bessie Wash, myself and
the Democracy Now! staff. In fact, union officials
dissuaded
me two weeks before the meeting from filing a formal
grievance against Yasko and Pacifica for harassment because
they had been led to believe Pacifica wanted to resolve
these conflicts amicably.Instead, we were suddenly faced
with this list of \"ground rules\" and the threat to fire me.
My union lawyer accused Yasko and the Pacifica lawyer of
acting in bad faith, immediately cancelled the meeting and
approved the filing of a formal grievance. I have now filed
grievances against Pacifica management charging harassment,
gender harassment, and censorship, among other violations
of
the union contract. Several of the new \"rules\" target me
with restrictions not applied to other Pacifica employees,
and are outright attempts to curtail my constitutional
rights of free speech. Some rules go against the very
principles of community radio on which Pacifica was
founded,
while still others will have the effect of hampering
Democracy Now!'s ability to reach the widest possible
audience. Given their timing and seen in their totality,
the
ground rules are a transparent attempt to retaliate against
me for seeking union representation in a management-labor
dispute, a right protected by the National Labor Relations
Act.
But in my opinion, there is something far bigger than a
mere
\"work rules\" dispute involved here, something which should
deeply concern the Pacifica Board, our listeners and the
greater community radio listenership. It is the desire of
management to reign in and exert political control over
Democracy Now! It intensified this summer when Pacifica
Executive Director Bessie Wash had our press credentials
pulled after we brought Ralph Nader into the Republican
Convention to be interviewed and do color commentary.
Management's action made it much more difficult to cover
the
Democrats in the same hardhitting, confrontational way we
had reported on the Republicans, especially when it came to
our focus on corporate control of the Conventions. This
punishment was such an unprecedented act that it prompted
my
co-host and award-winning veteran journalist Juan Gonzalez
to write an official protest to Steve Yasko, the new
program
director, the content of which Yasko never responded to.
Our election project, \"Breaking With Convention: Power,
Protest and the Presidency,\" was a milestone in Pacifica
National Programming, encompassing the largest expansion of
audience in Pacifica history. We engaged in an
unprecedented
collaboration with community public access cable tv
stations
as well as satellite television, beaming Democracy Now!
into
millions of homes across the country. Instead of building
on
that collaboration and continuing the televising of our
radio program, and despite meeting and exceeding every
stated objective for the show--i.e. audience growth,
fundraising, new listeners, groundbreaking
programming--Democracy Now! is being subjected to a
withering assault by Pacifica management. The motivation is
blatantly political.
Democracy Now! is a hardhitting grassroots program that is
not afraid of tackling controversial issues day after day
in
the Pacifica tradition. We are not only being censored for
our critical coverage of the Democrats as well as the
Republicans, but for giving voice to a growing grassroots
movement that fundamentally challenges the status
quo--people fighting sweatshops, police brutality, prison
growth, and corporate globalization.
On September 14, Steve Yasko called me to a meeting with
Pacifica General Managers. KPFK Manager Mark Schubb,
expressed his repeated criticism that audiences don't want
to hear graphic details of police brutality before
breakfast, or as he said last year \"before I have my
coffee.\" He criticized our coverage of Mumia Abu-Jamal,
East
Timor and questioned why I asked Spike Lee about his
affiliation with Nike. Pacifica's Chief Financial Officer
weighed in with her criticism of American prisoner Lori
Berenson in Peru, (we had just aired an exclusive interview
with her that received widespread national press.) After
the
meeting, Yasko took me into the hotel lobby and shouted, \"I
am your boss! I am your boss!\"
I'm being subjected to a concerted campaign of abuse and
harassment by Pacifica management. Despite repeated appeals
to Executive Director Bessie Wash, there has been no
redress. Yasko regularly makes new demands on me and
Democracy Now! with wild outbursts of unprofessional
yelling
and screaming. This has happened during a period when
Democracy Now! has been unique in radio by reporting
extensively on the refusal of the Commission on
Presidential
Debates or many in the corporate media to provide fair
coverage and inclusion of third parties. It has also
happened during a time when Democracy Now! is growing in
audience, in media coverage, and in fundraising from both
listeners and foundations. That is, we are growing in all
the areas the Pacifica board says it is concerned with.
Just as the presidential campaign reaches its climax, we
are
confronted with new restrictions and threats. Among those
new work rules are a requirement to provide Yasko each
Friday \"a list of possible shows the following week and a
short status report on each,\" adding we must \"determine the
topics of at least three shows the preceding week.\" Yasko
notes that \"the Administrative Council (of Pacifica) stated
that the show does not sound like breaking news either to
the station staffs or the listeners.\" Are we living in the
same world? Our show breaks more national news, as measured
by actual press coverage in the mainstream media, than
perhaps any show in Pacifica history, e.g., Chevron in
Nigeria, the Lori Berenson interview, Seattle WTO coverage,
Nader at the Republican convention, Tulia, Texas, East
Timor, etc. etc.
But instead of congratulations and kudos for our many
accomplishments, Pacifica has clamped down and threatens me
at every turn with dismissal!
As I write this, Yasko is forging ahead with imposing two
new producers on Democracy Now! with or without the consent
of co-host Juan Gonzalez and me. The two producers--our
only
producers-- are the heart of this show. It is clear from
all
of management's actions, they are using this opportunity to
change the political direction of the program. This is the
first time that we have been clearly told that our consent
is not necessary.
In his memo, Yasko goes on to demand, \"All use of
volunteers
on Democracy Now! must cease immediately.\" Why?! Volunteers
have always played a pivotal role in Democracy Now! and are
the lifeblood of Pacifica. For violation of this ban or any
of the other dictates management has laid down, I am
threatened with dismissal!
Take this section from the Yasko memo:
\"To establish an appropriate balance between your
programming obligations and any speaking engagements and
related travel, you are not to accept any speaking
engagements without first informing the Foundation and
obtaining approval. It is also important to know whom you
are speaking to.\"
This is an outrageous intrusion into my personal life and
an
illegal attempt to control my right of free speech. Given
the many large and enthusiastic audiences I am often
invited
to address, I would think Pacifica would be glad for the
positive publicity. Instead, Yasko demands veto power over
when I speak and whom I speak to, and he tries to
camouflage
the crackdown with concern for my welfare or statements
such
as \"you are, of course, a valued voice in spreading the
word
of our mission, programs and goals.\" I am so valued that he
is ready to fire me if I don't follow unethical and illegal
orders. Yasko should be worried less about where I am
speaking and more about why our Ku satellite system suffers
avoidable catastrophic foul-ups, an area he oversees.
I thought the Pacifica board had learned from the bitter
battle in Berkeley last year that attempts to silence free
speech are the last things this network wants to revisit.
But apparently not. Maybe the stakes are too high in this
presidential election year to permit too free a press --
even at Pacifica. I truly hope that is not the case.
I plead with those of you on the board who still remain
dedicated to the grand mission of Lew Hill to reject this
poorly disguised attempt at censorship of Democracy Now!
and
of me personally. Please direct Steve Yasko to cease his
harassment and retaliation against me immediately, and
Pacifica's attempts to exert political control and
undermine
the editorial independence of this hardhitting grassroots
program.
We are not NPR. We are not US government media. We are not
the corporate media.
We are Democracy Now!: The Exception to the Rulers.
Sincerely,
Amy Goodman
Host, Democracy Now!\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Date: 10\/18\/00A few days ago, I was given a shocking memo\r\nfrom Pacifica Program Director Stephen Yasko and Pacifica\r\nattorney Larry Drapkin. In the 3-page memo, Yasko listed a\r\nseries of Pacifica policies and work rules that I was\r\nordered to immediately adhere to or face \"disciplinary\r\nactions up to and including termination.\" Yasko handed me","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2000\/10\/amygoodman.txt","filesize":"9.5 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2000\/10\/4132.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}