By Brian Edwards-Tiekert, guest editorial
November 19, 2012
This month, KPFA is going through what will probably prove to be one of the most important elections of its 10-year experiment with democracy. I’m supporting the candidates listed at www.savekpfa.org, along with many other endorsers, because what’s at stake is the survival of KPFA as we know it.
Right now, KPFA is slowly recovering from a near-mortal blow. When Pacifica purged The Morning Show two years ago, it removed KPFA’s biggest fundraiser from the air. To compensate, the station had to increase the amount of days it spends in fund drives by 30%–a sure recipe for dropping listenership and diminishing pledge totals.
Then, Pacifica racked up hundreds of thousands in legal fees—some from the country’s most notoriously anti-union law firm, Jackson Lewis—and stuck KPFA with most of the bills.
Thanks to heroic fundraising efforts by KPFA’s staff, the generosity of KPFA listeners who kept donating, some of them under protest, and to a fortuitous bequest gift, we’ve made it this far—barely.
And, against the odds, we’ve started to re-build.
Thanks to our union, several of us won reinstatement after Pacifica’s purge. With support from local management, we launched UpFront—KPFA’s new 7:AM program. Since day one, we’ve been the station’s top fundraiser—and thanks to the boost in morning fundraising, KPFA’s fund drives are now raising more money per day, and ending sooner. Meanwhile:
- ·A SaveKPFA campaign forced Pacifica to ditch Jackson Lewis—which should prevent further inflated legal bills.
- ·Another SaveKPFA campaign fended off a move by Pacifica management to impose another disastrous round of cuts on KPFA.
- ·Now, the Pacifica National Board has apparently seen the light—they decided to let go of the two executives who carried out the Morning Show purge in the first place.
KPFA is still extremely fragile, but we are headed in the right direction. And that is largely thanks to the fact that we’ve had SaveKPFA boardmembers supporting us every step of the way.
The dividing line on KPFA’s board is this: austerity vs. growth.
On the growth side: SaveKPFA thinks the way to build KPFA is by building great programs that attract large audiences so there are more people to give come pledge drive. We already know what success looks like: KPFA’s two newest daily programs, Letters and Politics and UpFront, are also its two largest fundraisers, bringing in far more than they cost to produce. Together, those two hours account for over a third of KPFA’s fundraising. Building on those successes with more cutting-edge programming is the key to strengthening KPFA.
As for austerity: this year, its champions are calling themselves “United for Community Radio.” Of course, they never use the word “austerity” – but rest assured, when you hear them call for “financial responsibility” and “supporting unpaid staff”, it translates to firing KPFA’s unionized programmers and parceling out the airtime to their allies. Some of them are philosophically opposed to paying people to produce daily shows–they’d rather KPFA sound like a volunteer-run local-access cable station. Others have axes to grind with specific programmers on KPFA’s payroll, and use the station’s finances as a pretext – which is how The Morning Show got targeted, despite the fact that it was the station’s biggest fundraiser.
Their incumbents have had two years to prove exactly what they stand for. When our union protested impending cuts, they came to counter-protest. When Pacifica fired the entire staff of The Morning Show, they supported it (at least one of them, it turned out, had been pushing behind closed doors to have Pacifica cut us). When Pacifica hired the nation’s most notorious union-busting law firm to fight us, they publicly defended it. When KPFA’s local management proposed a balanced, no-cuts budget, they boycotted a meeting to block its passage – even though KPFA was running a surplus.
Does that mean everyone running on their ticket supports more of the same? Not necessarily. There are a lot of new faces in the election this year, and they don’t all necessarily understand what they’ve signed up for. But the first thing they’ll do once they’re on KPFA’s Local Board is vote to send their slate-mates to the Pacifica National Board, where the real power lies. And those slate-mates will make their worst decisions behind closed doors in Executive Session meetings, where there’s very little accountability.
Again, the record speaks for itself: For four years, the “United for Community Radio” (UCR, ICR) precursor slates have been in a majority coalition on the Pacifica National Board. They, and the executives they’ve installed, have left Pacifica a hollowed-out wreck: with millions in unpaid bills, corporate law firms baying at the door, a finance office now incapable of handling even simple payroll transactions, workers’ own contributions to their retirement accounts undeposited (for several months now), donor checks meant for KPFA intercepted and kept away from the station for months.
Now is the chance to turn things around: Next year’s boards will choose a new manager and program director for KPFA, as well as a new Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer for Pacifica. It’s a chance to put the entire Pacifica network on the right track – if SaveKPFA scores a solid win.
KPFA elections have low turnout, and tend to be decided by relatively small margins, which means every vote counts a lot. Please spread the word to KPFA members to vote for the candidates listed at savekpfa.org. And if you’re a voter yourself, return your ballot now so you don’t forget.
For the first election ever, Pacifica is not allowing any in-person ballot drop-offs—you have to mail your ballot. That ballot has to arrive at the ballot-counting location in New York by December 11. It will be competing with holiday mail traffic to get there, so send it now.
Brian Edwards-Tiekert is co-host of KPFA’s UpFront, which airs weekday mornings at 7:AM. He’s served two terms as a worker-elected representative on the KPFA Local Station Board.
The Hunger Site
December 1, 2012 at 2:17 pm
‘Fire Zane Blaney’?
Yeah, that’s the big campaign button I just dug out pinned to an old necktie. He was the guy accused of handing a few of his friends salaries that approached or exceeded a hundred grand a year and bankrupting Channel #29.
No one answered when I asked if the ‘Save K’ people have been handing out these kinds of large salaries to themselves and their friends while promising that the cash they were taking to pay them from the general fund would be repaid with pledges?
Someone answer that please?
Why would you vote for someone who’d bankrupted your treasury by siphoning funds through the loophole of (“Here’s our IOU, we’ll pay you back when the ‘projected’ donations arrive but we want our cash now!!”?).
Kaep under center tomorrow tho.
Can’t get much better.
h.
December 1, 2012 at 12:13 pm
The comments below this article are another clear case of the number of nuts and sectarians that circle around KPFA. Instead of dealing with the substance of the article, they attack the author (and a colleague) with specious reasoning.
It’s these kind of attacks that make KPFA & Pacifica unattractive places for journalists and other sane people to work at. It’s this culture that has destroyed a once proud, progressive radio network. It is almost too late to rebuild, but most of us who want to try are voting only for SaveKPFA candidates: http://www.SaveKPFA.org.
November 24, 2012 at 8:33 am
United for Community Radio Listener Endorsements
http://www.votecommunityradio.org/?page_id=1015
United for Community Radio Staff Endorsements
http://www.votecommunityradio.org/?page_id=1145
United for Community Radio Group Endorsements
http://www.votecommunityradio.org/?page_id=1260
November 23, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Please take a look at the extremely long endorsers’ list after you read this article. These are people who know what KPFA and Pacifica mean to our movements.
http://www.savekpfa.org/endorsements-2
November 23, 2012 at 12:41 am
I’m sure Luke Thomas prints personal emails he receives as op-eds in the Fog City Journal without notifying the author all the time. Quite an astounding claim there. Not to mention the assertion that personal endorsement notes sent by the chair of the KPFA Local Board were ghostwritten for her by a member of the staff and that she spent time changing a dozen words and then sending it out under her own name as if she’d written it. Not sure the so-called professional contingent at Save KPFA has much standing to criticize the failings of the mainstream media when busy with amateurish hijinks like this.
December 1, 2012 at 12:01 pm
A journalist doesn’t print private emails as op-eds. Are you nuts?
November 22, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Here’s the response I received from Brian:
Hi Luke,
This appears to be a slightly-modified
version of a mass email I sent out on November 13th, which was the basis
of the the essay submitted for FCJ.
I had
given Margy Wilkinson, and several other people, blanket permission to
copy and modify my own writing when composing endorsement letters of
their own. She says she did send out a personal mailing, but never
submitted anything for publication in the Berkeley Daily Planet. How
this wound up there over her byline is a mystery to both of us.
-Brian
November 22, 2012 at 12:42 pm
What the comments refer to below was an error by an editor at the Berkeley Daily Planet,
who took a personal email and “published” it without permission. She has
since taken it down at the request of the sender.
Don’t people at Pacifica have better things to do that make up stories? Really, get a life! The Pacifica network has real problems. Making up shit like this seems to be an intentional diversion from actually solving those problems.
For the record, here’s what Margy Wilkinson has said about it.
—-
Greetings:
Recently I sent a letter of endorsement for the SaveKPFA slate to a
personal email list. My letter was based on a similar letter by Brian
Edwards-Tiekert, which I copied from and modified with his permission.
One of the people on my personal list works at The Berkeley Daily
Planet, and published the letter, attributed to me, without my knowledge
or permission. I asked her to take it down, as it was never intended
for publication as an article.
Margy
November 22, 2012 at 10:09 am
At least you finally got so far as “a wrong action”. Nuff said.
November 22, 2012 at 8:00 am
“Mistake” is defined in the dictionary as 1] “a misunderstanding of the meaning or implication of something; 2] a wrong action or statement proceeding from faulty judgement, inadequate knowledge, or inattention.” That describes the error in printing up an endorsement letter shared between acquaintances as an op ed over the wrong author.
I fear that the incensed cries of plagiarism here, are nothing so innocent as a mistake. Political propaganda, certainly– it reveals a great deal more about the posters than the accused.
November 21, 2012 at 11:32 am
From the ombudsman at the San Antonio Express News. Fairly cogent expression of standard publication rules for opinion pievces. The Ombudsman
Plagiarism strikes E-N opinion pagesIn case you missed it, the Express-News commentary section was victimized by alleged plagiarism Sunday, for which its editor apologized on the Editorial Page on Tuesday. This was the first sign here of a potential Pandora’s Box of journalism evils in a day when virtually anyone can publish virtually anything.In a “Comment” published on Page 4H of the Feb. 11 Views section, under the byline of Charles Slaughter, who billed himself as a San Antonio businessman, the newspaper published “Why are the spoiled brats so unhappy?”The commentary concluded with a statement that, “this generation will be known as the ‘greediest and most ungrateful generation.’“A far cry,” the bombastic Slaughter wrote, “from the proud Americans of the greatest generation, who left us an untarnished legacy.”That sounds a bit hypocritical when you consider that some of the author’s words, including the above, were exactly those that appeared last Nov. 20 on a conservative Web site, World Net Daily, that were written by columnist Craig R. Smith.An apology to readers Tuesday, included at the end of the Letters to the Editor section under a headline, “Editor’s note,” said:“The commentary published Sunday does not meet the Express-News standards for attribution. We regret the incident.”For the record, lifting another writer’s words is a cardinal sin of journalism. It’s a cardinal sin even if you’re not a full-time journalist, such as people who submit letters to the editor and other opinion pieces.Express-News writers who plagiarize other writers’ work typically are summarily fired. In an era when nearly anyone can publish nearly anything — on blogs, personal Web sites and the traditional ways — newspapers and media Web sites must be ever vigilant against plagiarism.In this case, several regular readers familiar with Craig R. Smith’s column and World Net Daily alerted the Express-News to the curious similarities. We appreciate those readers. So in a way, the process worked. Too bad it was after the fact.
November 21, 2012 at 11:29 am
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the “wrongful appropriation,” “close imitation,” or “purloining and publication” of another author’s “language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions,” and the representation of them as one’s own original work. The 18th century new morals have been institutionalized and enforced prominently in the sectors of academia and journalism, where plagiarism is now considered academic dishonesty and a breach of journalistic ethics, subject to sanctions like expulsion and other severe career damage.
November 21, 2012 at 11:15 am
KPFA member/voters are asked in this piece to send in their ballots now. I ask you to WAIT until you can hear the candidate debates on KPFA this coming Sunday, 11/25, Monday, 11/26, and Tuesday, 11/27, after which they will be archived.
And for another perspective: votecommunityradio.org Get the full picture before voting, an opinion piece responding to this one by another guest contributor has been submitted and should be published shortly.
November 21, 2012 at 10:53 am
Copying is stealing
Copyright law is surprisingly simple in most cases involving text. The writer (or in some cases, the publisher) owns the text he or she wrote. If you did not write it, then you do not own it. If you do not own it, you cannot use it in a way that fails to give credit to the owner.
It’s sort of like renting a car. You would be lying if you told someone that you owned the car. Of course you are able to use the car, but it is not yours.
A journalist is expected to provide clear and true attribution for all sources, including copied text. It does not matter if you copied it from the Internet or from a newswire service. It is not yours. Don’t pretend it is.
Journalism educators realize that some students say, “What’s the big deal? It’s only a homework assignment.” We are trying to train you for realjobs in journalism. If you violate the ethics of journalism on the job, you could be fired.
It’s neither ethical nor acceptable for you to steal other people’s text in your homework assignments.
November 21, 2012 at 10:08 am
Here’s how Bulldog relayed this,
I have a small newsletter that goes to under 200 addressees and funnels down to around 2,000 if the pieces are interesting. Generally I restrict myself to my own opinions but when I catch something I think my readers (mostly writers and editors) might like, I pass it on.
Here’s how I described this thread from Fog City …
https://mail.ludd.net/src/webmail.php
Go Niners!
h.
November 21, 2012 at 8:31 am
So much for that aspect of ‘free speech’ that entitles me to my opinion– as a private person, representing only myself.
November 21, 2012 at 9:33 am
Tracy Rosenberg and her slate have been for years using silly claims to confuse readers, from signing their messages with phony names (as practically this whole comment thread is signed), to buying up websites of their opponents in an attempt to redirect traffic, and then offering to resell those sites back to their opponents.
For them to go nuclear over an endorsement piece – something that was purposefully meant to be shared – just shows how little they have to say about the real issues. Instead, they engage in race-baiting or other diversions.
99% of KPFA’s listeners have tuned them out, and you should too. Don’t waste energy on them.
November 21, 2012 at 11:08 am
Why aren’t you signing your own name then, all of it, George? I know several Georges. And I keep signing my name, perhaps foolishly.
November 21, 2012 at 7:56 am
Ms. Gowen. (who is one of the Save KPFA candidates running for the board). I am afraid you only demonstrate your total unfitness for the board of a major media outlet with your comment. You appear to be totally unaware of professional writing standards, the ethics of journalism, the laws of copyright and the nature of plagiarism. Your and Dennis’s attempts to blame. sequentially, the editor of the Berkeley Daily Planet and then the editor of the Fog City Journal for Wilkinson and Edwards-Tiekert’s embarrassing and unprofessional conduct, are absurd.
November 21, 2012 at 6:52 am
The “Tea Party” is not the only little group brewing up small-scale tempests. Given that the first objection in these comments was to the attribution-style of THIS publication’s not making it clear who was the author of the piece– I conclude that some of the commenters will create a controversy out of anything that comes to hand: it’s why they get out of bed in the morning. And it’s a great deflection from the content of what’s being said.
I would bet that every news story– written from the same POV– citing the facts of an event, could come up with a 60% similarity. It’s when you get Rove vs. Jill Stein that there’s no agreement as to what occurred.
So “observer” is– Becky O’Malley’s … boss? handler? “biggest fan”?
November 21, 2012 at 8:36 am
The odds of every news story written with the same POV coming up with a 60% word for word match are so low as to be low as to be unworthy of discussion.
A fifteen percent match would most likely get a journalism student in trouble, but here are standards cited on Interpret Reports and many similar sites:
Matching Scores Sentence matching scores are the percentage probability that two sentences have the same meaning.This number can also be interpreted as the reciprocal to the probability that these two sentences are similar by chance. For example, a score of 90 percent means that there is a 90 percent probability that these two sentences are the same and a 10 percent probability that they are similar by chance and not because the submitted paper includes content from the existing source (whether or not it is appropriately attributed).Overall score is an indicator of what percentage of the submitted paper matches existing sources. This score is a warning indicator only and papers should be reviewed to see if the matches are properly attributed.Scores below 15 percent: These papers typically include some quotes and a few common phrases or blocks of text that match other documents. These papers typically do not require further analysis, as there is no evidence of the possibility of plagiarism in these papers.
Scores between 15 percent and 40 percent: These papers include extensive quoted or paraphrased material or they may include plagiarism. These papers should be reviewed to determine if the matching content is properly attributed.
Scores over 40 percent: There is a very high probability that text in this paper was copied from other sources. These papers include quoted or paraphrased text in excess and should be reviewed for plagiarism.http://kb.blackboard.com/display/SAFE/Interpret+Reports
November 21, 2012 at 9:30 am
Ah, but, Ann– this is an op ed piece, not a news story. Plagiarism is violating the copyright of the author of something, is it not. If something is co-created and the authors willingly share, is that correctly called ‘plagiarism’? I’m not a lawyer, nor a journalist, nor running for an editorial position. I’m just a ordinary person trying to make sense of the overheated alternate reality that is Berkeley politics.
November 21, 2012 at 9:38 am
I should have said “piece of writing.” That is all I meant. Said “news story” because news was on my mind. I will go back and edit the comment but here is my acknowledgment that it makes no difference. News, op-ed, term paper . . . the probability standards are the same.
November 22, 2012 at 1:11 pm
What the comments above refer to was an error by an editor at the Berkeley Daily Planet, who took a personal email and “published” it without permission. She has since taken it down at the request of the sender. Don’t people at Pacifica have better things to do that make up
stories? Really, get a life! The Pacifica network has real problems.
Making up shit like this seems to be an intentional diversion from
actually solving those problems.
For the record, here’s what Margy Wilkinson has said about it.
—-
Greetings:
Recently I sent a letter of endorsement for the SaveKPFA slate to a
personal email list. My letter was based on a similar letter by Brian
Edwards-Tiekert, which I copied from and modified with his permission. One of the people on my personal list works at The Berkeley Daily Planet, and published the letter, attributed to me, without my knowledge or permission. I asked her to take it down, as it was never intended for publication as an article.
Margy
November 23, 2012 at 8:18 am
Dennis, no one made anything up. Several things happened. On November 9th, the Berkeley Daily Planet published an op-ed with KPFA Local Station Board Margy Wilkinson’s byline. Ten days later on November 19th, Fog City Journal published essentially the same op-ed, with a 59% word for word matching rate tested on websites used by teachers, editors, and anyone else who has reason to test the authenticity of a publication.
Those are facts. They are not made up. The basic ability to distinguish between fact and fiction is essential to good writing of any sort, including editorial writing.
Margy Wilkinson and Brian Edwards-Tiekert have now offered the same explanation.
November 21, 2012 at 1:40 am
What they call closing the barn door after the horse has left the stable. Either Ms. Wilkinson, the chair of the KPFA LSB, is contending that she borrowed the text of Edwards-Tiekert’s op-ed and published it under her own name after changing a small percentage of the words or Edwards-Tiekert re-purposed Ms. Wilkinson’s op-ed and signed his own name to it. Either way, not good.
November 21, 2012 at 1:35 am
Emailed by Becky O’Malley, Editor of the Berkeley Daily Planet at 12:21 am
Becky O’Malley12:21 AM (1 hour ago)The op-ed to which you refer has been deleted per Ms. Wilkinson’s request.
November 21, 2012 at 12:30 am
Before you go around charging plagerism, maybe you should find out if dirty tricks were at play – a much more likely scenario, given the Berkeley Daily Planet, which barely qualifies as a newspaper. For years, they printed anything that landed in their mailboxes – press releases, ads, letters — often without even asking the author. I wouldn’t be surprised if that where the case here.
November 20, 2012 at 8:32 pm
An email has been sent to Mr. Edwards-Tiekert asking him to respond to the questions being raised about this op-ed.
November 20, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Brian Edwards-Tiekert didn’t actually write this op-ed article. He plagiarized it. The same content was printed last week in the Berkeley Daily Planet with the claim current KPFA board chair Margy Wilkinson authored it. Almost word for word identical. I have no idea which one of them wrote it or if some 3rd person is the actual author. Not professional. http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2012-11-09/article/40501?headline=KPFA-Local-Station-Board-Election—-Please-vote-for-SaveKPFA–By-Margy-Wilkinson-Chair-KPFA-Local-Station-Board
November 20, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Here is the link to the 11-09-12 issue of the BDP.
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2012-11-09
There are two commentaries on the KPFA election.
November 20, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Brian’s piece looks like a word-for-word copy of Margy Wilkinson’s comments in the 11-09-12 issue of the Berkeley Daily Planet.
November 20, 2012 at 3:35 pm
It does indeed.
November 20, 2012 at 11:51 am
When then-board treasurer (and writer above) Brian Edwards-Tiekert presented the draft KPFA budget to the board on July 11, 2009, here is what he said:
“The bottom line–with all the caveats about rough numbers that I spelled out above–is a minimul (sic) operating surplus before capital expenses, and a minimal cash deficit afterwards. But getting to that break-even point requires cutting around $430,000 in salaries and benefits, and eliminating most consultant spending”
He was right. He just forgot. And Save KPFA forgot. So instead they pretended they would get half a million dollars more in donations they never got. And they lost $585,00 they didn’t have. Talk about a mortal blow. Delivered from Save KPFA to you.
November 20, 2012 at 11:43 am
Why I Support United For Community Radio (UCR) in KPFA’s Board Election
1) United for Community Radio supports and is supported by most of the unpaid staff at KPFA.
(I am unpaid staff. We are between 70-85% of the work force and do between 70-85% of the programs.)
2) It’s tough to be neutral and work as a team in KPFA’s highly
factional climate, but the UCR folks are generally more open to
compromise and working together.
3) UCR candidates are both grassroots organizers and people who can
work inside an institution. This is a rare mix of qualities for the
folks who come to help KPFA. They deserve to be given a chance.
4)
The Save KPFA majority let a million dollar reserve fund go into
unsustainable salaries and then complained to high heaven when Pacifica
(its parent foundation) stepped in to keep the station solvent by laying
off folks. The lay offs were according to seniority and would not have
ended the Morning Show if Save KPFA, through union & peer pressure,
had not kept other paid staff from taking on the program.
November 20, 2012 at 11:41 am
Why I Support United For Community Radio (UCR) in KPFA’s Board Election
1) United for Community Radio supports and is supported by most of the unpaid staff at KPFA.
(I am unpaid staff. We are between 70-85% of the work force and do between 70-85% of the programs.)
2) It’s tough to be neutral and work as a team in KPFA’s highly factional climate, but the UCR folks are generally more open to compromise
and working together.
3) UCR candidates are both grassroots organizers and people who can work inside an institution. This is a rare mix of qualities for the folks who come
to help KPFA. They deserve to be given a chance.
4) The Save KPFA majority let a million dollar reserve fund go into unsustainable salaries and then complained to high heaven when Pacifica (its parent foundation) stepped in to keep the station solvent by laying off folks. The lay offs were according to seniority and would not have ended the Morning Show if Save KPFA, through union & peer pressure, had not kept other paid staff from taking on the program.
November 20, 2012 at 11:23 am
h. brown– we substantially disagree; except on anonymous posts. ‘reposting’ has the additional defect of being un-readable.
November 20, 2012 at 10:58 am
Luke, stop this now cause you can,
‘Reposting’ is not someone’s name. Don’t publish unattributed work. Down that road lies the Bay Guardian who, if you follow their online posts, are controlled entirely by anonymous posters.
Make everyone ID themselves or you’ll get paid posters in various forms taking control of the content of responses to your honest columnists.
Look at the Bay Guardian.
They put up a piece and then allow unidentified posters to publish lots more copy attacking their work. Down that road lies identity suicide and the dimunition of your power.
Outside my windows in Fresno the gardeners are hacking away while Lukey II, my 175 lb granddog lies quietly and watches and the twice monthly cleaners and cat and gold fish watch me write to you in curiosity.,
Cut off the anonymous posters.
They’ll write more copy then you do.
Then, who runs the site?
go Niners!
‘
h.
November 20, 2012 at 10:49 am
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2012-10-12/article/40342?headline=KPFA-and-the-Blame-Game–By-Tracy-Rosenberg
KPFA and the Blame GameBy Tracy RosenbergSunday October 14, 2012 – 11:30:00 AMKPFA Radio, the first listener-sponsored radio station and progressive media outlet, is having board elections in November. Many of you will say “again?” – having recently received postcards and ballots for a recall election just a few months ago. This time, however, your vote will count, and there are some important decisions to be made. This article is intended to help you decide how to vote if you are a KPFA member – and encourage you to do so. It’s not as hard as it may feel to decipher all the rhetoric! Basically, there are two slates of candidates–United for Community Radio (UCR) and Save KPFA –and you will make a choice to largely support one or the other. Details on the candidates running and their statements can be found on the web as each slate has a website: UCR at votecommunityradio.org and Save KPFA at savekpfa.org. But let’s cut to the chase and answer the question: what is the fighting all about? It all began five or six years ago. KPFA started to show declining membership numbers in 2006 and hit a deep crevice when the economy collapsed. The decline was up to 30% by the spring of 2009. At a non-profit where 85% of all income derives from listener-member donations, that is a big crisis. When then-board treasurer (and Save KPFA poster boy) Brian Edwards-Tiekert presented the draft budget to the board on July 11, 2009, here is what he said: “The bottom line–with all the caveats about rough numbers that I spelled out above–is a minimul (sic) operating surplus before capital expenses, and a minimal cash deficit afterwards. But getting to that break-even point requires cutting around $430,000 in salaries and benefits, and eliminating most consultant spending” A year before, in May of 2008, Edwards-Tiekert had addressed the national board of directors and said: We have spent, and budgeted, as if a one-time spike in listenership and listener support was long term growth, which it was not. … We have a lot more people on payroll; and it hurts to cut jobs … it hurts us as social-justice people. …And you get pushed back, you get politicking, you get coalitions to block any kind of job cut, so the path of least resistance is to first spend down your savings, as long as you got money to pay the bills, and then go, ‘Oh my god, we’re headed over a cliff now,’ which is where we are now.” In fact, neither the final 2008 nor the 2009 budgets contained the cuts necessary to get to the break-even point, and just as Edwards-Tiekert anticipated, the station went right over the cliff., losing $575,000 in the year ending September 30, 2009 and another $585,000 in the year ending September 30, 2010. The tragic thing for KPFA, besides the fiscal crisis itself, was that the scenario Edwards-Tiekert laid out went down exactly as predicted: There was push back, there was politicking, there was a coalition to block any kind of job cut. Ironically, it was Edwards-Tiekert himself who led the charge, along with his comrades in Save KPFA. They inundated KPFA members with accusatory and angry emails, filed (and lost) five different complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, filed (and lost) a union arbitration, filed bogus lawsuits and a recall election, ran competing private fund drives and basically did everything they could to make people (and KPFA itself) “pay” for getting back to the breakeven point from the bottom of the cliff where they never should have gone in the first place. There’s a fundamental dishonesty to that. So here we are in 2012. The last two years have been filled with charges and denunciations. Recall elections have been launched. Another executive director has bitten the dust. Yet KPFA’s website is technologically backward, no Internet channels have been launched, KPFA hasn’t gotten a grant in years, and the current fund drive is struggling. What have we gotten from this Save KPFA coalition to block any kind of job cut, this politicking, this push back? Obstruction, anger, declarations of revenge. Making people pay. I don’t want it to seem as if this article is an attack on Brian Edwards-Tiekert. It’s not. I would fight to save my job if it was in danger and everyone’s job is in danger when their employer experiences huge losses and a fiscal crisis. Nowadays, everyone’s job is in danger all the time because the 1% has looted this country and brought it to the brink of catastrophe. Which is why we have to stop messing around with one of the few progressive media outlets we have and hold Save KPFA accountable for their destructive and fear-based campaign. They aren’t helping KPFA. In the year since the recall campaign was launched last fall, KPFA slipped from 21,455 members to 19,800 in July of 2012. That’s the wrong direction. It’s not working. So to you 19,800 remaining members and anyone reading this who isn’t a member and should be, we don’t have to keep falling over the cliff again and again. $3.4 million dollars (KPFA’s current annual budget) is a lot of money. Stations all over the country demonstrate every day that you can have a vital, healthy, radical voice for change for a lot less than that. You just can’t piddle it all away in a pitched battle about who is to blame for financial stresses everyone understands and no one likes. Join Larry Shoup, Karen Pickett, Ramses Teon Nichols, Samsarah Morgan, Andrea Prichett, Dave Welsh, Oriana Saportas, Beth Seligman, and Kate Tanaka and vote United for Community Radio (votecommunityradio.org) for a vision for KPFA’s survival a little deeper than the blame game. (Tracy Rosenberg is the executive director of Media Alliance, and a local and national board member for KPFA. She knows a little bit about the blame game).
November 20, 2012 at 11:14 am
‘Reposting’ can you edit this to put some paragraph separations in it? In its current single block form it is practically unreadable. ~ thanks
November 20, 2012 at 11:42 am
It was posted with paragraph breaks and the program collapsed it. Tell me how to edit and I will. Here’s the link to the published article: http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2012-10-12/article/40342?headline=KPFA-and-the-Blame-Game–By-Tracy-Rosenberg
November 20, 2012 at 10:55 pm
You can edit it here on Fog City. At the top right of these comments (below the article) you will see the link ‘Login’. Click on it and then log in the same way (with the same identity) that you did to post the article. Then page down to your article, and below it you will see the link ‘Edit’. Click that link and you will be given your post in an edit box, in which you can make corrections, add line breaks, etc.
November 20, 2012 at 10:24 am
Luke, time to ‘sack up’,
Don’t publish anyone on this link who doesn’t ID themselves. Otherwise, you’re gonna get a long stream of people who double or triple post under different ID’s but whom all work for one side or the other.
You have a great thread going here.
Don’t give it over to anonymous paid trolls …
h.
November 20, 2012 at 12:56 pm
h.: I’m not sure what this issue is, because there are a number of people posting here, as usual, with aliases: UCR Supporter All The Way, Oakland listener, and someone else identifying only as “Dennis,” as well as “reposting.”
You’re right about the Guardian and it got pretty ugly here on FCJ during the Ethics Commission hearings on Ross, but I don’t know if there’s any way to be sure someone’s using a real name, eve if it looks like a real name. I appreciate those, including you, Eric, and Kate, who do use their own names.
November 20, 2012 at 5:25 pm
h.: Speaking of i.d., this editorial signed by Brian Edwards-Tiekert is almost identical word for word to an editorial signed by SAVE KPFA Local Station Board member Margy Wilkinson in the Berkeley Daily Planet on November 9th, http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2012-11-09/article/40501?headline=KPFA-Local-Station-Board-Election—-Please-vote-for-SaveKPFA–By-Margy-Wilkinson-Chair-KPFA-Local-Station-Board
November 20, 2012 at 10:19 am
So while our beloved KPFA wrestles with an out-of-control Pacifica bureacracy that’s sucking the life out of it and spending huge amounts of money on union-busters (see, for instance, http://www.kpfaworker.org/2012/04/11/join-us-for-a-picket-against-pacificas-use-of-jackson-lewis), people like Eric Brooks and others launch race-baiting attacks on some of the brave listeners and staff who’ve stepped up to dig it out of the morass. Geez, some people have no shame.
November 20, 2012 at 11:06 am
Readers should note that playing the race card when there is absolutely no evidence for it whatsoever, is another standard blog tactic cynically deployed by posters for the so called ‘SaveKPFA’ slate.
Perhaps Oakland listener you could copy and paste any remark I have made that was even remotely race related. You of course cannot, because there are no such remarks.
This false accusation of race baiting is also a tactic that infiltrators of Occupy frequently use to divide Occupiers against eachother.
November 20, 2012 at 9:58 am
Luke,
Thanks for this forum. I’ve been a smart-ass, know-it-all for years and have only read small portions of this decade plus long debate. Nice to see the innards opened to the sunlight as it were. Tell me more please.
And …
You go, Eric, you go …
Nothing more important than the character of those who control a media outlet …
Particularly in SF …
Bronstein took over the Bay Citizen
Darius Anderson and Steven Falk grabbed the Santa Rosa flagship
T’wer it not for the internet and Fog City we’d be back to passing notes in the schoolyard.
Sunny in Fresno and I’m doing 200 push-ups and 200 sit-ups and 100 sit-ups daily.
In my dog/cat/fish-sit 17 days into which I’ve folded my Fresno/Abs/Spa experience.
Y’all should live so well.
Progressives have lost almost all print media influence.
Online blogs from Pat Murphy’s Sentinel on down to the Bay Citizen have been co-opted.
Beyond Chron is a political arm of whomever is the Mayor.
Niners played their best game in a decade yesterday.
Execution wise both ways.
As I said before, it’s sunny in Fresno …
h.
November 20, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Great stuff, h. Especially re BeyondChron, “political arm of whomever is the Mayor.” Here’s something Randy Shaw wrote right after the hearing that reinstated Ross:
“One supervisor favoring reinstatement even suggested that the problem was that Mirkarimi did not have the chance to enter a pre-trial diversion program. This would have given him an alternative option to pleading guilty to a lesser offense. But recall that O.J. Simpson had access to such a program before later killing his wife . . . ”
I mean really. BeyondChron is more like the mayor’s anus than his political arm.. http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/The_Mirkarimi_Vote_10592.html
BeyondChron also publishes a lot of editorials in support of SAVE KPFA. http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/KPFA_Election_Will_Decide_Progressive_Network_s_Future_8492.html
November 20, 2012 at 3:18 am
Given the number of bizaare personal attacks launched in these comments against the author, Brian Edwards-Tiekert, I would conclude that he is speaking the truth. And no wonder SaveKPFA has such a long list of endorsers.
With this kind of discourse around KPFA, you wonder why anyone except the exceedingly brave and committed would run for its board.
November 20, 2012 at 9:03 am
Dennis’ comments above represent another tactic that the so called ‘SavKPFA’ slate uses extensively on blogs to try to manipulate and cloud these debates about the survival of KPFA. This is the accusation-of-personal-attacks ploy. If you read the remarks below you will find almost no personal attacks whatsoever. The most aggressive comment I myself made was referring to Brian Edwards-Tiekert as a ‘toxic manipulator’ in relation to his actions to undermine democratic process at KPFA. Decrying a person’s behavior as toxic when it is harmful to others, or to a crucial institution like KPFA, is of course, though strong, not a personal attack at all.
November 20, 2012 at 12:02 am
Note that Brian is not only supporting SAVE KPFA. He is also a SAVE KPFA candidate for one of the three staff seats to be filled on the Local Station Board.
November 19, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Luke, you should re-title this piece. Even though it shows the correct author at the bottom (a useless hack whose only role at KPFA should have been to get Aimee Allison her coffee), the byline at the top says “written by FCJ Editor.” I hope that doesn’t imply that you’re supporting this bunch of crazy old white folks.
November 19, 2012 at 9:54 pm
Yes, Luke, please do make that edit. When I first saw “written by FCJ Editor” at the top of this I did a real double take, because I hadn’t known you to be a SAVE KPFA endorser.
November 19, 2012 at 10:04 pm
Your point taken. Author now shows ‘Guest Contributor.”
November 19, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Many people are going to respond to this based on how they feel about what they hear on the air, so, since Amy has posted a list of Save KPFA’s staff endorsers, here’s a list of staff endorsers of United for Community Radio:
Adrienne Lauby
Host/Producer, Pushing Limits, Guest Host/Producer Morning Mix
Andres Soto
Host/Producer Morning Mix
Ann Garrison
Reporter, News Department KPFA, Host/producer Afro Beat Radio WBAI
Anthony Fest
Current staff representative KPFA Local Station Board, Host/Producer, Weekend News, producer Morning Mix
Ali Lexa
Web Director, KPFK
Bonnie Faulkner
Host/Producer Guns and Butter, KPFA in Berkeley and WBAI in NYC
Davey D.
Host/Producer Hard Knock Radio, Tuesday Morning Mix
Dennis Bernstein
Host/Producer Flashpoints
Emiliano Echeverria
Host/producer Radio Cuba Canta, unpaid staff since 1968
J.R. Valrey
Executive Producer of Block Report Radio, Host/Producer of The Wednesday Morning Mix
Khalil Bendib
Host/Producer Voices of the Middle East and North Africa, artist, sculptor, cartoonist
Kate Raphael
Host/Producer Women’s Magazine
Mary Berg
Host/Producer A Musical Offering, member Coalition for a democratic Pacifica (CdP)
Mickey Huff
Co-Host/Producer Project Censored Show, Morning Mix on KPFA
Miguel Molina
Host/producer Flashpoints en Español, roving producer Flashpoints, host/producer La Onda Bajita “Myself and my crew support the United for Community Radio slate.”
Nick Alexander
Reporter, Producer KPFA Asian Pacific Islander (API) Radio Specials
Peter Phillips
Co-Host/Producer Project Censored Show, Morning Mix on KPFA
Robbie Osman
Host/Producer Across the Great Divide
Robert Knight
Anchor Five O’Clock Shadow, WBAI’s Senior National Correspondent
Ruthanne Shpiner
KPFA news reporter and member, former Pushing Limits collective, producer at large
Tara DorabjiHost/producer La Onda Bajita, Host/producer Apex Express, roving guest host.
Shahram Aghamir
Current staff representative KPFA Local Station Board, Host/Producer Voices of the Middle East & North Africa
November 19, 2012 at 7:34 pm
I support the United for Community Radio slate of KPFA Local Station Board candidates and even recruited two of them myself: San Francisco SEIU 1021 Local Organizing Committee Chair Ramsés Téon Nichols, http://www.votecommunityradio.org/?p=934,and Oakland Green Party and Occupy Activist Samsarah Morgan, http://www.votecommunityradio.org/?p=1313.
I recruited both because I know them to be highly intelligent, rooted and engaged in their local communities and beyond. When they agreed, I urged them to study the Pacifica by-laws and t mission statement and make sure they understand what kind of authority the Local Station Boards and the Pacifica National Boards have. Though I’ve resolved to maintain a cordial relationship with Brian Edwards-Tiekert, I am going to say that I resent the condescending statement that “There are a lot of new faces in the election this year, and they don’t all necessarily understand what they’ve signed up for.”
I’ve met all the UCR candidates and they are all very intelligent people. I’m amazed and gratified that such a stellar group of scholars, journalists, and activists have been willing to run on our slate, to do a largely thankless, behind the scenes, unpaid job. They certainly do understand what they’re getting into and why. They know the by-laws. They know how Pacifica works.
And one of Pacifica’s main goals is to be inclusive and diverse, not exclusive and exclusively controlled by a small group of people who claim to understand the network far better than the rest of us could ever hope to, despite years as both listener activists and programmers.
If it succeeds, Pacifica expands the circle of people who not only listen but also engage with this experiment in media democracy.
Willie and Mary Ratcliff, Publisher and Editor of the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper, are among the endorsers of the United fo Community Radio (UCR) slate because they feel it is most open to the voices of people of color, including UCR endorsers Davey D Cook, J.R. Valrey, Frank Sterling, Joy Moore, Andrés Soto, and more. Here’s a piece they published by hardworking Station Board member Akio Tanaka, whose term is about to expire: http://sfbayview.com/2012/vote-united-for-community-radio-for-the-kpfa-local-station-board/
November 19, 2012 at 7:10 pm
What an incredibly racist and age-ist posting by “UCR supporter all the way” below. It reveals deep ignorance about the backgrounds of several of the people on the SaveKPFA slate. It insults Mr. Fuentes directly. On top of that, from the picture you posted, it does not appear that the “united for community radio” slate is itself tremendously diverse. So what is the point? Just to call names and pollute the discussion of KPFA’s future? Pathetic. If this is the way UCR is going to run its campaign, KPFA’s listeners are going to send you packing big time.
November 19, 2012 at 6:56 pm
No, Mr. Brooks, SaveKPFA is not a “small paid staff cabal” — whatever
that is. The group has hundreds of listener, community and staff
endorsers (including many unpaid staff), which you can find listed at
http://www.savekpfa.org/. Here’s just the big names; there are also a
couple hundred “ordinary” listeners who are supporters of SaveKPFA.
KPFA Workers
Mitch Jeserich, Letters & Politics, Producer & Host
Brian Edwards-Tiekert, KPFA’s UpFront, co-host
Aileen Alfandary, Co-Director, KPFA News
Bonnie Simmons, Host, The Bonnie Simmons Show, former KPFA LSB,
Pacifica National Board
Sasha Lilley, Against the Grain, Producer & Host
Jim Bennett, former KPFA interim general manager & operations
director, former Pacifica National Board member
Miguel Guerrero, Web Producer & Producer, Rock and Rebellion
Philip Maldari, Sunday Show, Producer & Host
Kris Welch, Living Room & Saturday Morning Talkies, Producer
& Host
Mark Mericle, Co-Director, KPFA News
Jan Etre, Crafts Fair Coordinator
Laura Prives, Letters & Politics, Executive Producer
Max Pringle, News Reporter
Diana Martinez, Letters & Politics
Larry Kelp, KPFA producer and host, Sing Out!
John Hamilton, News Producer & Anchor
Rose Ketabchi, Free Speech Radio News, Technical Producer, KPFA News
Co-Anchor
Derk Richardson, Host of the Hear and Now
Vanessa Tait, labor journalist, KPFA News unpaid staff,
FSRN co-founder
Lewis Sawyer, producer Early Morning Music , former KPFA Receptionist
David Gans, Host of Dead To The World
David Bacon, Labor Correspondent, UpFront
Tina Bachemin, News reporter
Bob Baldock, KPFA Events Coordinator
Scott Pham, Free Speech Radio News, Technical Producer
Eddie Yuen, Against the Grain, co-editor of Confronting Capitalism
Sally Phillips, KPFA Producer, Host, Engineer
Richard Wolinsky, Bookwaves on Cover to Cover, Producer
and Host
Eddy Pay, Early Morning Music
Layna Berman, co-host, Your Own
Health and Fitness
Tim Lynch, KPFA music producer & host
Judith Scherr, KPFA News
Mary Tilson, host, America’s Back 40
Vic Bedoian, KPFA News reporter, former KFCF General Manager
Esther Manilla, former Morning Show and Fund Drive
producer
Glenn Reeder, KPFA News Anchor
Ramsey Kanaan, founder, AK Press; co-founder/publisher,
PM Press; KPFA unpaid staff
Joanna Manqueros, Music of the World, unpaid staff
Serge Morel, reporter, KPFA News
Jonas Hansen, former KPFA intern
Artists, Journalists, Academics
Larry Bensky, Pacifica National Affairs Correspondent (1987-2007)
Raj Patel, author of “The Value of Nothing” and “Stuffed and
Starved”
Mattie Harper, Democracy Now former producer
Jello Biafra, artist/musician/entrepreneur
Rychard Withers, Executive
Director, Fresno Free College Foundation, General Manager, KFCF (Fresno)
Jackson Allers, Editor, World Hip Hop Market; KPFT news dept.
co-founder; FSRN correspondent
Ignacio Chapela, Professor, Director of Laboratory of
Microbial Ecology, UCB
Conn Hallinan, foreign policy analyst, Foreign Policy In Focus,
Institute for Policy Study, columnist, LSB member
George Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics, UC Berkeley
Al Young, music historian, novelist, poet, former Calif. State Poet
Laureate
David McNally, author, Global
Slump: the economics and politics of crisis and resistance
Barbara Epstein, Professor, Dept. of History of
Consciousness, UC Santa Cruz
Karen Paget, author
Aaron Glantz, Free Speech Radio News, co-founder, “Winter Soldier”
broadcasts
Rick Flores, Host of “Wasteland Of The Free” on KFCF
Andrea Turner, cultural and community activist, LSB member
Susan Stone, former KPFA Drama and Literature Director
Dana Frank, Professor of History, UCSC
Frank Delgado,”Frank D”, KFCF, Creative Director
Bernard Gilbert, Freedom Song Network
Charlotte Saenz, community artist and
educator
Jon Fromer, singer/songwriter, NABET/CWA local 51 shop
steward
Pat Wynne, Dir. Bay Area Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Chorus
Peter Najarian, Artist, Writer, “The Great American Loneliness”
Andrej Grubacic, radical historian and sociologist
Summer Brenner, author of Richmond Tales and community activist
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch investigative journalist, author of
Halliburton’s Army
Suzanne Gordon, journalist and author, NWU/UAW
David Martinez, radical filmmaker
Sheila Tully, Faculty CSUSF
Dr. Carlos Muñoz, Jr., Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Ethnic Studies,
UC Berkeley
Kay Trimberger, Professor Emerita, Sonoma State University and
author
Johanna Poethig, Professor, CSU, Monterey Bay, Public & Community
Artist
Lynne Hollander Savio, Chair., Mario Savio Memorial Lecture &
Young Activist Award
Beth Lisick, author/poet/performer
David Blume, author, Alcohol Can Be a Gas; founder, International
Institute for Ecological Agriculture
Debbie Speer, Journalist, former KFCF Director, former LSB
member
Dr. Carla J. Fehr, Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies, Iowa
State University
Scoop Nisker, radio commentator and author
Donald Goldmacher, Co-Producer/Co-Director, Heist
Marty Price, educator, youth worker
Kathleen Weaver, author of Peruvian Rebel
AnnaMarie Smith, Professor, Government Department Cornell University
Susan Moon, listener, writer, teacher
John Whiting, KPFA Production Director and Program Producer,
1960-1965; London Correspondent, Pacifica Radio, 1966-1972
Juan Pedro Gaffney Rivera, Founding Director, Coro Hispano de San Francisco; composer
Stephanie Luce, Associate Professor, Murphy Institute/CUNY
Adrienne Carey Hurley, Professor of East Asian Studies, McGill
University
Lynn Feinerman, founding producer, Women Rising (National Radio
Project)
Molly Holm, Vocalist/Composer
Maya Manza, Dept of Geography, McGill University
Teresa McFarland, Dept of Linguistics, UC Berkeley
Community Activists
Rashidah Grinage, founder, People United for a Better Life in Oakland (PUEBLO)
Dr. Raye Richardson, founder & owner, Marcus Books
Blanche Richardson, proprietor, Marcus Books
Cecilia E.”Ces”Rosales, Alameda Cnty. D.C.C., Ntl. Cntr. for Lesbian
Rights, E. Bay No on Prop 8 Campaign
Ford Greene, San Anselmo town counselor
Sally Hindman, Executive Director-Youth Spirit Artworks
Marty Bennett, Co-Chair of the Sonoma County Living Wage Coalition
Max Anderson, Berkeley City Council Member
Sherry Gendelman, attorney; former chair, Pacifica National
Board
Lani Ka’ahumanu, author of Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual
People Speak Out
Dr. Jeff Ritterman, Vice Mayor of the City of Richmond
Giuliana Milanese, Jobs with Justice-SF
Laura Livoti, founder, Justice in Nigeria Now!
John Iversen, Act Up, East Bay
Mal Warwick, consultant, author, and public speaker
Tom Bates, Mayor, City of Berkeley
Cindy Cohn, Legal Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Loni Hancock, State Senator, District 9, East Bay
Barbara Whipperman, Treasurer, KPFA Local Station Board
Anna Rabkin, former City of Berkeley Auditor
Bob Meyer, President, Progressive Perspectives
Giuliana M. Sorro, SF Community Activist
Mike Rotkin, Mayor of Santa Cruz, California
Margy Wilkinson, Chair, KPFA Local Station Board
Jack Kurzweil, Listener rep, KPFA board
Ying Lee, Berkeley community activist
Linda Olivenbaum, Director, Early Childhood Program Administration
Mal Burnstein, KPFA board member, retired civil rights
lawyer
Kathy Lipscomb, Senior Action Network, S.F. Executive Board
Fran Taylor, SF Community Activist
Craig Alderson, secretary, KPFA Local Station Board
Anne Weills, Civil rights lawyer and community organizer
Nick Jones, Atchison Village Co-op, former UFWA Boycott Director
Tanya Russell, member, Chair, KPFA Local Station Board
Nicky Yuen, Peralta Community Colleges trustee
Sandy Spiker, East Bay community activist
Richard Walker, professor, UC Berkeley
Nancy Friedman, MFT, Oakland
Jack Radey, historian, game designer, Eugene, OR
Matthew Hallinan, Listener rep, KPFA board
Pamela Drake, Oakland activist
Igor Tregub, Commissioner, Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board
John Van Eyck, former listener rep, KPFA Local
Station Board
Sasha Futran, member, KPFA local station board
Labor Leaders
Dan Siegel, civil rights and labor attorney, former Pacifica General Counsel
Sal Rosselli, president, National Union of Healthcare Workers
Glenn Goldstein, National Organizing Director, NUHW
Lisa Kermish, Vice President, UPTE-CWA Local 9119
Shelley Kessler, Sec. Treas., San Mateo Labor Council
Steve Early, labor journalist
Michael Eisenscher, Coordinator, Bay Area Labor
Committee for Peace and Justice
Betty Olson-Jones, President, Oakland Education Association
Warren Mar, labor & community activist
Joan Lichterman, Communications Workers of America
Peter Olney, International Organizing Director, ILWU
Chris Kavanagh, former Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board
Commissioner; former member, Green Party of Alameda County Central/County
Council
Roger Scott, Executive Board AFT 2121, CCSF
Susan McDonough, labor activist, LSB member
Catherine Powell, California Faculty Association
Larry Hendel, No. Ca. Organizing Director, California Faculty Assn.
Sheila Jordan, Alameda County Superintendent of Schools
Tho Thi Do, International General Vice President, HERE
Bill Harvey, Retired CWA 9415, Retired President
Alameda County Labor Council AFL-CIO
Ana Turetsky, President, American Federation of Teachers, Local 771
Sandy Kaplan, Co-President, Shoreline Educators Association/CTA
Maria Guillan, SEIU Local 1021 activist
Mary Fromer, Organizing Director SEIU Local 707, Sonoma County
(retired)
Susan Sachen, Campaign Director, California Labor
Federation
Libby Sayre, CWA District 9
Tonette Garcia, Worksite Organizer, SEIU Local 1021
Paul Kaplan, Executive Board Member, North Bay Labor Council
Jelger Kalmijn, President, University Professional
& Technical Employees/CWA
Francesca Rosa, member-delegate San Francisco
Labor Council, SEIU 1021
November 19, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Ms Grateno, you need to re-read what I wrote. I said that a small cabal of paid programmers is attempting to hijack the station to their own control. A cabal which has indeed duped a few hundred listeners to support their insidious attempt to dominate the LSB. By comparison the -real- Save KPFA founded in the 90s (which that cabal cynically recently stole the name of in its little shell game) mobilized 10,000 KPFA listeners to -actually- save the station from a -real- takeover by the federal government.
November 19, 2012 at 10:42 pm
On the contrary, Mr Brooks, the people you support are hijacking the station by doing things like installing their friends in on-air positions, supporting union-busting attorneys hired by Pacifica (and charged to KPFA) to the tune of over $100,000, and blocking the local board from its bylaws-required tasks of budgeting and hiring management.
They are also driving the network into bankruptcy. See these independent audits: http://www.savekpfa.org/pacificas-long-awaited-audit-shows-where-the-money-goes
November 19, 2012 at 10:50 pm
Nonsense. What you fail to realize Ms Grateno is that regular readers of Fog City Journal know me well and know that I do not make statements without having carefully studied and backed my statements up with comprehensive, solid facts.
To begin learning those facts, readers should see:
http://www.votecommunityradio.org
and
http://danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/2011/05/kpfas-republican-activist.html
November 20, 2012 at 5:51 am
So, your sources are people on the other side who have hired the union busting corporate law firm. hmm, sounds balanced…
All i need to know is that one side has been in power for +2 years and they have done what was documented in the article. I strongly disagree with what was done. If you agree that a democratic organization should hire a law firm that specializes in union busting instead of say a law firm that uses mediation, then vote for more of the same.
I’d also point out that austerity will not work for an organization that needs to reach out to the community, if only 2 producers create content that brings in a third of the money this tells me that money invested in these producers will lead to more money (though there will be a point where the gains will balance out, and should stop there and continue to develop both professional and volunteer content). I’d also like to see weekly content, not just daily.
My final point is that the paid staff has never abused their position the way the volunteer staff has in the past 2 to 4 years.
November 20, 2012 at 8:50 am
You are simply parroting deceptions in the editorial which have no basis in reality. If you follow the links I provided and read about the hiring of the so called ‘union busting law firm’ you will find that the law firm was not hired for that purpose, and more importantly that members and supporters of the so called ‘SaveKPFA’ slate were also involved in hiring the -very- same law firm for the same purposes in the past.
The truly telling attorney story here is Edwards-Tiekert’s outrageous enlisting of a high powered Republican lawyer and operative to attack Pacifica and KPFA.
November 19, 2012 at 6:51 pm
Those pictures should tell you all you need to know. With all due respect to Jose Luis Fuentes, who is an employee of Dan Siegel at Siegel and Yee and presumably has been ordered to run by his boss, it’s quite a display of grim-looking, scary old white folks. There’s plenty of factual stuff to refute and I’m sure that will be done, but really this is not the way to a diverse community-based station that appeals to people under 60, has a modern technological footprint, and is fun to listen to. Edwards-Tiekert is a staff member and works tirelessly to stack the board with people that will promote his own position. He should stick to campaigning in the staff election. The listener seats are not decided by the station’s staff members. They have their own representation on the board. Yikes. Please vote United for Community Radio. http://www.votecommunityradio.org. More women, more youth, more people of color, more energy, more community ties, more smarts
November 19, 2012 at 6:48 pm
Speaking as one who ‘knows’ you by your FaceBook vitriol, Eric– I by no means respect your assessments, as they are “full of deceptions and outright lies,” even when stated in apparently reasonable words. SaveKPFA [with which coalition I am proud to say I am running] is accurately described as a broadly-based group of paid and unpaid programmers and other staff and LISTENERS like myself, who have supported the station– in many cases for decades. UCR/ICR has proved itself adept at both manipulating old resentments and ignoring the results of their policy of telling such listeners, in effect, “There are other, more worthy audiences out there– so who cares what you want to hear? We’re gonna purge our enemies, even if it means the station loses support.”
November 19, 2012 at 10:27 pm
Kate, all readers need to do to begin learning that what you are claiming is simply a cavalcade of lies, is to go to the two web sites I posted and start reading; and then follow the many other links they will find on those pages. Here they are again:
http://www.votecommunityradio.org/
http://danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/2011/05/kpfas-republican-activist.html
November 19, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Wow,
I respect around 95% of your assessments Eric. I’m certain Luke will run a response from the UCR slate you’re backing.
h.
November 19, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Thanks, h. I support the UCR slate, though Brian and I are cordial, and I was writing a “response” before I came across this and realized it was going to be a response. I was actually trying to explain the Single Transferable Voting (STV) system used in the station board elections, across the network. Despite sounding like venereal disease, STV is actually designed to ensure proportional representation in situations like this where voters are asked to elect more than one candidate.
This involves ranked choices, but it’s different from Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which is designed to give the greatest number of voters some say over the selection of a single candidate. I intended this as a follow-up to my piece on RCV in San Francisco elections published here earlier: http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/5273/race-and-ranked-choice-voting-in-san-francisco/. And I don’t think I want to be tasked with writing the response. I’ll probably just try to finish that and hope that someone else will be given a chance to respond to Brian point-by-point here in FCJ.
November 19, 2012 at 5:17 pm
Those of you who know me and respect my assessments, be
advised that this article is full of deceptions and outright lies. I have
followed this KPFA controversy for many years and can tell you with certainty
that it is the United for Community Radio (UCR) slate of candidates in this
KPFA election that is the group truly working to save and democratize KPFA in
order to protect it from deceptive, selfish, bad actors like Brian
Edwards-Tiekert (who authored the editorial above).
Edwards-Tiekert and a small paid staff cabal, are seeking to
hijack the station to the control of their small faction of paid programmers,
and cut the listeners and non-paid workers (who make up 80% of the work force
at KPFA) out of decision making and labor protections at the station. (Note
that Mr. Tiekert recently enlisted high powered Republican strategist, lawyer,
and Sarah Palin supporter Harmeet Dhillon to attack the Pacifica (the parent
foundation of KPFA) and thereby weaken both the foundation and KPFA itself.
To become familiar with the UCR candidates, and learn the
real story about KPFA’s struggles, go to:
http://www.votecommunityradio.org/
and
http://danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/2011/05/kpfas-republican-activist.html
November 19, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Brian and I cordially share a work environment, but I up’ed your post because I agree with you that there are many misstatements here, intentional or no.
November 19, 2012 at 10:33 pm
I don’t care how cordial he is, Brian Edwards-Tiekert is a toxic manipulator, purposely attempting to undermine and destroy KPFA through his conniving maneuvers to get the so called ‘SaveKPFA’ slate in power.
Let’s remember as I noted above, that he brought in Harmeet Dhillon to attack the network.