From: Institute for Public Accuracy <ipamedia@nationalpress.com>
To: Pacifica Executive Director Bessie Wash and Board of Directors
From: Amy Goodman
Cc: Personnel File
Date: 10/18/00
Crackdown On Democracy NOW!
A 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!