Marc Cooper really strives for balance in this latest invective and for that leap he deserves a little credit for his usual style is more slanted - and usually to the wrong side. What he omits, however would be material enough for a screed of equal length and though I will spare you that I do wish to point out that Cooper has consistently sided with management throughout this crisis. He has sat idly while the staff at his own station has been mercilessly whittled and purged and Pacifica's local voice in Los Angeles has been deliberately diluted even betyond the liberal cushiness of his publication, The Nation. The same has happened at Pacifica stations KPFT in Houston which is now a mostly music "sound of texas" format in english only ( used to be polylingual) and WPFW in Washington which plays almost entirely "conservatory jazz".

Cooper downplays the mismanagement at WBAI by launching petty broadsides at current interim manager Utrice Leid ( who's name he mis-spells) rather than describing her crimes. In fact she has fired more than 25 key journalists and staff at the station and has cancelled many popular shows in what many of us feel is an attempt to "fire the audience". She and her on-air cronies have accused WBAI's former loyal audience of being racist and of seeking to impose a "white european agenda". "This is war", she has bellowed and her trollish stalwort, Clayton Riley who has a doccumented history of physical violence and sexual intimidation which he updates regularly within the station and on the air declared that "the enemy" ( we the listeners and Amy Goodman along with the Pacifica Campaign) must be "eliminated". "Shame"?, Mr. Cooper?

If Cooper quits Pacifica and his mild little show, Radio Nation is cancelled I, for one will not miss his nasal voice and coquettish chuckle. Neither will the hundreds of thousands of alleged listeners who haven't heard the show for months or years since the roster of stations airing Cooper's program has dwindled considerably ( nearly half of the stations listed on RadioNation's website as carriers no longer are). Many of those stations have also dropped Pacifica Network News and have begun to carry Free Speech Radio News, the now daily national news broadcast produced by the striking reporters of Pacifica and a number of them are by-passing Pacifica's irrational block of Democracy Now's broadcasts and are taking an alternate feed for the program instead of airing re-runs like Cooper's own station, KPFK.

In short, Cooper is bringing you only pieces of the story and is attempting to rise above the fray in saintly fashion when in truth he has had a role in all of this, albeit much like his role as a journalist, namely a minor and easily forgotten one. He is first and foremost an opportunist much like the members of the Pacifica board he skatingly denounces. The difference is that while Cooper seeks only to amplify his dubious cdredentials in the armchair liberal community the Pacifica National Board foes the bidding of a more sinister force, the Democratic Party which has been after Pacifica for years.

Evan Davis

Columbus, Ohio

This is of course to say nothing of the overall tone of much of his writing, a tone which might be best described as self congratulatory and self promoting. Marc always comes off as cocky and righteous, a characteristic that makes even his best writing difficult to wade through. I would much prefer hearing the facts of the Pacifica scandal from someone less inclined to be snide.

Dear Marc,

I do not know who placed what you now

characterize as a private email

on two public electronic message boards. I found

it in an area that is

within the public domain and passed it on clearly

stating where I found

it and that it was a repost. In light of what

you communicate to me in

this e-mail, your challenge to circulate

something that you have

"really written" takes on new meaning.

myla





--- Marc Cooper <mcooper@thenation.com> wrote:

> That is not a memo.. That is a priavte email

and it has no business

> being

> posted anywhere and I have no reason to comment

on it.. other than to

> say

> it's apperance is a possible violation of

federal law. Do we condone

> going

> around to people's mailboxes and opning their

correspondence?

>

>

>

> At 09:47 AM 9/10/2001 -0700, you wrote:

> >Dear Marc,

> >

> >For the sake of clarity, would you please tell

me whether you wrote

> or

> >had any hand in writing or circulating the

memo to Steve Yasko that

> is

> >attributed to you? Do you have any knowledge

of who placed that

> memo

> >on the goodlight kpft and kpfk message boards?

> >

> >Here are the links to the memo on each board:

> >

>

>http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=154569&article=108

> >

>

>http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=165346&article=99

> >

> >Thanks in advance for clearing this up.

> >

> >myla

> >

> >BTW I forwarded your statement to the wbai

board. If you would care

> to

> >read my into you can find it at:

> >

>

>http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=137196&article=57129

> >

> >

> >--- Marc Cooper <mcooper@thenation.com> wrote:

> > > Myla.. do you have the courage and

integrity to circulate

> something I

> > > have

> > > really written? Here it is:

> > >

> > > MARC COOPER'S PUBLIC STATEMENT ON PACIFICA

> > >

> > > SEPTEMBER 10, 2001

> > >

> >[snip}

> >

=====

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"...Defunct WBAI High Culture Poetics and history

means complete obliteration of areas of both

official and

counter-culture from recorded memory, auditory

history. This defaults culture itself. It is not

a minority or majority matter, every world

suffers, first, second and third, and any more

imaginable." - Allen Ginsburg, 1977

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When I came to LA I discovered that I couldn't seem to find anything anywhere in the radio spectrum that was worth the electricity expended in listening.

Didn't even bother with bringing a TV.

The more that comes out of the Pacifica catfight, the more I'm convinced that "screw broadcast anything" was a sound decision.

I am merely a 10 to 15 year Pacifica devotee. I am not affiliated with anyone involved in the Pacifica crisis. I've heard many voices representing all sides in the Pacifica crisis. I think there is a large amount of truth in Marc Cooper's article.

I'm extremely upset that KPFK in L.A. doesn't have many more socialist political discourse programs. And if the Pacifica Network News leaves the airwaves, that will be a huge insult to the poor and the people who fight for them. PNN is the only place to get good daily national news on the radio. National Public Radio (NPR) isn't nearly as good as PNN.

i quote the fair minded, imperial, arbiter, marc cooper who recently reminded us that:

the first rule of politics: "reward your friends, punish your enemies."

I am amazed by carping criticism of Marc Cooper who, in contrast to his critics, is an on-the-street, prize winning journalist whose progressive credentials are beyond any doubt. How many journalists have been threatened with torture and death by a milatary dictator and escaped? The 3000 left wingers herded into the Lima, Peru, soccer stadium died there while Cooper was hunted by death squads. Cooper and his radio guests radicalized my political view. What a blessing his well reasoned thoughts are to those of us that live behind the "Orange Curtain" southwest of LA.

Pacifica, like virtually all non-profit "third sector" organizations, is not blessed with enlightened management. Most non-profits stumble a lot but keep going. Currently the Pacifica governing board and sevearl station managers are so inept that the life of the network is threatened. If enough Pacifica insiders can incorporate Cooper's helpful criticism the current decline of the network may be reversed.

If the Pacifica Campaign is not careful they may save Pacifica by contributing to its demise. The PC people seem to believe no one and no thing can be sufficiently "pure" to satisfy them. One of Cooper's "sins" is his occaisional radio guest who is a Republican or other right winger. Cooper gets these rignt wingers to make their case and he politely challenges their views. I guess the PC crowd is not happy unless the people they disagree with are "flamed".

Cooper will continue writing and speaking on progressive issues whether or not Pacifica survives. It will be a tragedy if the ONLY progressive radio network is killed by incompetence and attacks from its "friends".

The previous poster is correct. if you listen objectively to KPFK, Cooper is by far the best thing on the station. Much much better even than Amy Goodman. He is well-read, well-travelled and thoughtful. You never know what's going to be on his show and unlike most Pacifica programs, he is always chllaneging you to really think. Just read his memo above and then compare it with the doggerel written by his critics on this bulletin board and YOU decide who has the brains and who does not. Reading Marc's statement it is obvious there are some real profound problems with Pacifica. But those who spend their time attacking him and attacking the network need to think hard about what damage they are doing. I am really distressed to read that Marc may be quitting KPFK. If he does it will be a tremendous loss to this city. And the responsibility for that will lie with the Pacifica Campaign activists who have evidently targeted him. So now is the time to support Cooper and urge him not to quit. If he does, I am sure he will be replaced by some lesser light who will be on the air preaching to the choir. We need better than that,

While I do not pretend to have Marc Cooper’s intelligence, I was interested enough in his assessment of the problems of Pacifica to study his letter.

I discovered that while I found it filled with verbal "Fancy Dance" I was confused by his logic.

According to Mr. Cooper the Pacifica’s National Board is filled with "zealots and bumblers", "lost souls" who are strangely guilty of both "simple mediocrity" with" arrogance and sillyness" but "mostly rank ineptitude". "Bessie Wash has no business running a radio network", Yasko is "an inept manager" who Mr. Cooper is sure should quit, but not for his own reasons.

Bernard White is guilty of being a "grossly ineffective program director". according to Mr. Cooper’s standards. Though he does not explain why the already criticized bosses felt it necessary to lock him out of his office in the middle of the night and go rummage through his captured belongings nearly one year later.

According to Mr. Cooper, the Pacifica Campaign has behaved "like a claque of Church Ladies" and Juan Gonzalez works for a "right wing" paper. (It is easy to check out Mr. Gonzalez’s writing on the net. After reading his article in the Daily News today I definitely his type of intelligence.) Yet

Mr. Cooper assures us that the Pacficia Campaign has "Taliban Cadre" in their ranks and should "feel ashamed of themselves".

Even his own publication "The Nation" is target for his wrath when they "buckle under moral pressure" and become sympathetic with the Pacifica Campaign.

I, while not pretending to Mr. Coopers high intelligence, was totally mystified as to why he felt Amy Goodman should return to WBAI to work around "a bevy of on-air bullies" and "werewolves". He seemed to indicate that she was "holding the future of the network hostage" by her evident act of self preservation. (Which he describes as "infantile self-indulgence".) Though other more clever stations seem to be able to broadcast her with no difficulty.

I admit to being puzzled by his jump of logic that because the staff at KPKA has, as Mr. Cooper states, "clung to their jobs literally for decades", "in fact have been there 20 or even 25 years", it proved "entrenched stagnation". Could it not also prove experience, loyalty and harmonious teamwork?

Mr. Cooper is certainly wise if his program is somehow able to "somehow resonate with a large audience" on a station with "an anemic ¾ million".

But then I am completely at a loss as to why Mr. Cooper would stay in a place where every one is so vastly inferior.

No one ever said the Democracy was easy, simple or neat Mr. Cooper; but neither is it as fragile as you seem to think.

Donas John

Marc Coopers long email accuses Goodman et al of spreading a smear about Yasko. Well Marc I heard it here from *YOU* first. I'm an ordinary ex-listener. I've been totally turned off the Pacifica network by the censorship of Goodman. I am one of those "young" people that you dislike so much. Guess what? It's mutual and you *ARE* a corporatist. Pacifica needs to be run in a non-hierarchical manner. If "our" radio network is not a direct democracy then it's not our network.

Please, either resign or else start creating a decent structure that we can respect.