Progressive Radio Moves Right<\/b><\/p>\r\n
KPFK ENDS HOPE OF AFFIRMATIVE\r\nACTION, QUASHES GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY FOR PACIFICA<\/b><\/p>\r\n
In a sharp reversal of its historic support for affirmative\r\naction, the KPFK\r\nRadio 90.7 Local Advisory Board yesterday\r\nvoted by a nail-biting margin for a bylaws proposal (Plan B) without affirmative\r\naction remedy. <\/span>Plan\r\nB, unlike other proposals, has no mechanism for a failure of its\r\nsubscribers to elect boards with ethnic, gender, or social diversity.<\/p>\r\n As the last Local Advisory Board needed to pass Plan B for\r\nthe Pacifica network, the LAB's reversal may install Plan B as the\r\norganizational framework for the Pacifica Radio Network Foundation if legal\r\nchallenges do not arise.<\/p>\r\n Without assurance of diverse boards, Pacifica Foundation\r\nendangers its status and funding as a \"majority minority\" owned radio\r\nnetwork under Corporation for Public Radio broadcasting guidelines. \r\n<\/span>KPFK's vote removes Pacifica from a shrinking list of progressive\r\n\"minority\" non-profits. <\/span>Such\r\nstatus for Pacifica's stations now will depend on the varying outcomes of annual\r\nlocal elections.<\/p>\r\n The vote also threatens CPB funding for the network, which\r\nis struggling with unscheduled fund drives and incessant campaigns for\r\nadditional donor support, to recover from the years of lawsuits and financial\r\nmisappropriation that culminated in the new bylaws..<\/p>\r\n Numerous alternative plans, including one modeled after the\r\nrecently-upheld University of Michigan's Law School admissions process, were\r\nderailed by some members of the current national board and organized groups of\r\nlisteners from other stations, who bombarded the KPFK LAB with e-mails and phone\r\ncalls.<\/p>\r\n Plan B has been widely opposed by peoples of color\r\nthroughout the network since it first arose in February in response to a\r\ncorporate attorney's recommendation that Pacifica avoid the use of numeric goals\r\nfor diversity, in spite of CPB regulations. <\/span> \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n A several-years struggle against centralization and firing\r\nprogrammers of color ended in a court-ordered settlement in January 2002\r\nmandating the Foundation revise its bylaws to include subscriber elections of\r\nits local and national boards, and reinstate its local boards, including that at\r\nKPFK. \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n Last month, Pacifica's national board appealed a vote of\r\nits own directors to the settlement court. \r\n<\/span>The Oakland court determined that the three national Directors, who had\r\nvoted for none of the three plans before them, had effectively abstained from\r\nvoting and would not be counted among the number needed for 2\/3rds approval of\r\nPlan B. <\/span>With this national\r\n\"approval\" of Plan B, the five station boards voted on Plan B. \r\n<\/span>KPFK rejected Plan B by a single vote, joining stations in Washington DC\r\nand New York City. <\/span>The stations' votes, which should have ended hopes for Plan\r\nB, were reported to the court by its July 23rd deadline. \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n A facilitation process began last weekend, with an agenda\r\nand facilitators determined unilaterally by Foundation Chair Leslie\r\nCagan (also of the Peace and Justice Coalition), after Cagan after\r\ncancelled a public national board meeting which might have reconsidered the\r\nnational board's vote supporting Plan B. <\/span>Last\r\nweek, in spite of the continuing process, Cagan distributed a confusing memo\r\nabout the chances of a successful outcome to the facilitation process. <\/span> \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n The memo and reports from a few of those involved in\r\nfacilitation (two of whom were flown in to address the local board meeting), led\r\nto one KPFK board member's decision to support Plan B, and may have entrenched\r\nothers in their determination that \"passing bylaws now\" was a\r\nnecessary step for the Foundation. <\/span>A\r\nLAB member reported at the local meeting that Cagan, in a private conversation,\r\nhad concluded that the facilitation process was in difficulty, shoring up that\r\nmember's vote for Plan B. \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n The 47-page bylaws continues much of the centralization\r\nthat threw the network into turmoil in the late 1990s. <\/span>It permits the national board to mandate local programming,\r\nlimits local representatives' access to station financial records, and restricts\r\nwhich bylaws amendments listeners may vote on, among other provisions that allow\r\nfor strong top-level control of the network. \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n The KPFK LAB had, over the past nine months, repeatedly\r\nendorsed requirements for including women and people of color on Pacifica\r\nboards, as well as greater local board and subscriber control. <\/span> \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n With its vote, KPFK, a widely-respected voice for Southern\r\nCalifornia progressives, breaks ranks with DC and New York sister stations, and\r\njoins more cautious stations in Berkeley and Houston. <\/span> \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n KPFK programming has recently moved to diversify its public\r\naffairs and cultural programming, including reviving the African-American Mental\r\nLiberation Weekend and adding Spanish-language programs. \r\n<\/span>The impact of the local board's vote on these programming changes remains\r\nto be determined. \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"KPFK votes against diversity, grassroots democracy, moves left-wing Pacifica Foundation to the right","numcomment":5,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/08\/78779.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":78797,"heading":"Free Pacifica.....?","article":"KPFK LAB passes bylaws draft B<\/a>\r\naudio of KPFK LAB<\/a>\r\nbylaws draft B<\/a>\r\nCarol Spooner 8\/24\/03<\/a>\r\none of the main sources of info<\/a>\r\nPacifica's precious few public discussion boards<\/a>\r\nlotsa links<\/a>\r\nominous valve<\/a>\r\n\r\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\nPacifism at Pacifica<\/a>\r\nKPFK and LA-IMC<\/a>\r\n\r\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\nKPFK LISTENERS<\/a>\r\nan account of the previous K-LAB bylaws vote (with useful links<\/a>)\r\nwhere did we go from there? (bylaws discussion<\/a>)\r\nwhite privilege and other problems at "Independent Media Centers<\/a>"\r\nlinks , including a good WBAI thread<\/a>\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\r\nLet's Go To Detroit<\/a>!\r\n\r\na<\/a>n<\/a>t<\/a>i<\/a>c<\/a>r<\/a>i<\/a>s<\/a>i<\/a>s<\/a>\r\n\r\nlynx<\/a>\r\n\r\nlatest comments<\/a>","author":"lynx-13","parent_id":78779,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2003-08-26 00:01:31","modified":"2005-08-15 01:39:20","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/08\/free_pacifica.jpegy3luw9.jpeg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/08\/free_pacifica.jpegy3luw9.jpeg"}},{"id":78805,"heading":"reverse racisim","article":"You just hate white people. Quit your bitching, Pacifica is by far the most diverse network and KPFK is ruled by a Black programer named EVA Georgia. Its very easy to see that if she had her way the only white programer that would be on is Michael Slate. IF you notice the recent changes all marginalized white programers like folk scene and the nixon tapes while stupid shows like space ways radio weren't touched. \r\nI"m sick of all you pussies complaing about how you want special treatment because your a minority. \r\nIf you haven't noticed there is spanish language programing now and you don't here us bithcing about it \r\nGet a life man and fight against the right wing dictators not progressive activist who are on your side. Idiot","author":"wavemaster","parent_id":78779,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-08-26 01:18:43","modified":"2003-08-26 01:18:43","fileurl":""},{"id":78936,"heading":"Edwin is a white person, from Bush's Texas","article":"Edwin Johnston, the author of this piece, is a white man from Texas who is well known in progressive circles for disrupting their work. He insists on speaking for people of color instead of letting them speak for themselves, and has made racist attacks on Joseph Wanzala in the process. Many, many people of color want our elections and want them now -- and many also want to free Pacifica from the coercive hold of the U.S. government teat by rejecting Corporation for Public Broadcasting money, rather than taking more of it and tying it to people of color. ","author":"PropagandaWatch","parent_id":78779,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-08-26 16:39:53","modified":"2003-08-26 16:39:53","fileurl":""},{"id":78974,"heading":"Caveat Lector: Let the reader beware.","article":"No movement to the "right" is evidenced by the adoption of Pacifica's new bylaws.\r\n\r\n1) Where the previous bylaws had no expressly acknowledged members except for the directors themselves, the new bylaws make listener-sponsors members and staff members, each voting for their representatives on the boards (75% listener reps and 25% staff reps)..\r\n\r\n2) Where the old bylaws had only self-selecting local advisory boards, the new bylaws have member elected station boards with more than advisory powers. \r\n\r\n3) Where the bylaws that were being fought in court had a self-selecting national board of directors, the new bylaws have a board of directors elected by having four directors from each station board, pus 2 directors representing affiliate stations and one optional at large director.\r\n\r\n4) There is no direct threat to CPB funding. KPFK's vote doesn't change anything about any of the stations minority controlled status. Two stations only, WBAI and WPFW, now receive the incentive premium as a portion of CPB funding for being African-American controlled stations. If the elections result in 50% people of color on the board of directors, then those stations only may have to change their status from "African-American controlled" to "Multicultural controlled" stations and still keep the incentive portions of their CPB funding for being minority controlled. The greater amount of the CPB funding will not be lost even if the Board of Directors is not 50% minority directors. (FYI: CPB does not recognize Asians and Pacifica Islanders as "minorities.")\r\n\r\n5) No plan was modeled after the recent Univ. of Michigan cases. Inchoate suggestions were raised that used some of the Univ. of Mich. case language but those suggestions also violated the Univ. of Michigan cases by including mechanical percentages which were expressly prohibited by Grutter v. Univ. of Michigan.\r\n\r\n6) It is not true that "Last month, Pacifica's national board appealed a vote of its own directors to the settlement court". A majority of the Pacifica board of directors went to court after being eight months behind schedule to ask how to proceed under the circumstances where it appeared that some directors were deliberately impeding progress. Also at the same time a single director asked the court to interpret a vote that had taken place. That was not an appeal of the vote, it was asking to have the vote upheld after the Chair of the Board had applied the wrong rule on counting of the majority needed. The court found that there had been both actual compliance and substantial compliance with the settlement agreement and gave the green light for the bylaws to go to the next steps for consideration and approval.\r\n\r\n7) The so-called \u201ccentralized\u201d control to mandate local programming is disinformation. While the Pacifica Foundation owns the licenses for broadcasting at its five sister stations, the central Board of Directors must have the power to mandate local programming, otherwise the board can not control the licenses. The old bylaws gave the central Board the same power to mandate local programming. However, the new bylaws now give the local station boards a direct role that the old bylaws did not provide. The local station boards now have the power and duty \u201cTo work with station management to ensure that station programming fulfills the purposes of the Foundation and is responsive to the diverse needs of the listeners (demographic) and communities (geographic) served by the station, and that station policies and procedures for making programming decisions and for program evaluation are working in a fair, collaborative and respectful manner to provide quality programming.\u201d The local \u201cadvisory\u201d boards never had this level of authority, so this is decentralization of authority as much as possible.\tThe bylaws also give the new station boards the power and duty to conduct written evaluations of the station general managers and program directors, a power they never had before. The station boards may even recommend the firing of the general manager if the GM doesn\u2019t work with the station boards or perform their job effectively. The old advisory boards did not have this power. These are also examples of the decentralization of power in the network provided by the new bylaws.\r\n\r\n8) The anonymous writer complains that the \u201cKPFK LAB had, over the past nine months, repeatedly endorsed requirements for including women and people of color on Pacifica boards.\u201d In fact, the new bylaws state: \u201cSECTION 4. COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY - The Foundation is committed to diversity and inclusion of people of all nations, races, ethnicities, creeds, colors, classes, genders, sexual orientations, ages and people with disabilities in its programming, staff, management, committees and governance.\u201d And the station boards are given the power to \u201cTo actively reach out to underrepresented communities to help the station serve a diversity of all races, creeds, colors and nations, classes, genders and sexual orientations, and ages and to help build collaborative relations with organizations working for similar purposes; \r\nTo perform community needs assessments, or see to it that separate "Community Advisory Committees" are formed to do so.; and To ensure that the station works diligently towards the goal of diversity in staffing at all levels and maintenance of a discrimination-free atmosphere in the workplace.\u201d The role of the station boards to ensure diversity were never in the old bylaws. \r\n\r\nIts a shame that writers like the above will abuse the open publishing access with such disinformation worthy of the best. Caveat lector: let the reader beware.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n","author":"Gregory Wonderwheel","parent_id":78779,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-08-26 19:47:35","modified":"2013-11-11 00:25:07","fileurl":""}]}