Letter from Lyn Gerry to Rep. Major Owens on the Democracy Now! Murdock/Gonzalez debate, and the call for "dialog" _________________________ 3/17/2001 Rep. Major Owens U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC Dear Rep. Owens, Yesterday a debate was aired on Democracy Now! between Pacifica Board member John Murdock and former DN! co-host Juan Gonzalez. I am hoping that you heard the debate, as I would like to share some thoughts about it with you. I am a long-time activist both in the Pacifica cause, as well as in the microradio movement in which I know you take an interest. I have provided links to documents supporting my statements below. In the event that you missed yesterday's broadcast, Mr. Murdock mentioned that you had met with Pacifica CEO Bessie Wash, though he did not report what transpired in the meeting. Your congressional statement was aired near the top of the broadcast, however no one in Washington, D.C., heard it, as the Washington station WPFW censored the entire program. An old tape of a lecture by Amy Goodman was played instead. When Ms Goodman learned this, she asked Mr. Murdock to intercede with the WPFW management to air the broadcast. Mr. Murdock claimed that he could not intercede because he was in the Pacifica Network News studios. This was a disingenuous statement, as WPFW and PNN are in different rooms in the same facility. This lack of candor characterized Mr. Murdock's entire performance. Since the eruption of the Pacifica crisis onto the national scene with the lockout at KPFA in 1999, the PR approach taken by the Pacifica administration has been that the controversy centers on labor-management relations. Gag rules have been justified by the argument that such discussions are personnel matters. Then, as now, this ignores entirely the majority of this movement, the listener-sponsors, who do not want the stations they helped build stolen from them. Yesterday, Mr. Murdock moved forward with a new PR approach that debuted earlier this month at the Pacifica Board meeting in Houston, Texas, a call for "dialog." Mr. Murdock's call for "dialog" is rather like a monarch holding court. His subjects may express themselves, but have no power whatever within the system of governance to alter the will of the monarch or to remove him. Our movement is about democracy, and that includes media democracy. Fundamental to the concept of democracy is that the people who are affected by a decision must be the ones making it, and that means the listeners and workers of Pacifica, not Mr. Murdock and his allies. Pacifica Board meetings have always contained a "Public Comment Period," where, for years, the public has objected impotently to the machinations of this group. We have no reason to attribute good faith to Mr. Murdock and his associates' sudden call for "dialog." It seems like another ploy to delay what must come to pass, the resignation or removal of Mr. Murdock and his associates. A LEGACY OF LIES AND OBFUSCATION BY THE PREDATORY PACIFICA BOARD, OF WHICH MR. MURDOCK IS A SPOKESPERSON Station Sales Yesterday, Mr. Murdock made the statement that the Board has no intention of selling any Pacifica station. Since 1999, dissident Board member Tomas Moran from California has been trying to propose a by-law amendment that would codify a no-sale clause into the by-laws. His proposed amendment never made it out of committee, the committee, in fact, of which Mr. Murdock is chairperson. Mr. Murdock's group, until recently, refused to seat Mr. Moran who had been appointed to that committee almost two years ago. Mr. Moran's appointment to that committee was made in view of the public, and is on tape. In spite of this, Mr. Murdock's group repeatedly denied this appointment had occurred. Why might Mr. Murdock and his allies have suddenly relented and agreed to seat Mr. Moran? Because three lawsuits filed against Mr. Murdock and his colleagues have passed the roadblocks, demurrers, and bogus change-of-venue requests filed by Mr. Murdock's law firm, that have been set in the way of Pacifica constituencies trying to remove the predators. These efforts at "dialog" will no doubt be placed before the judge, to dissuade him from issuing restraining orders against the board-packing and by-laws amendments that Mr. Murdock's group wishes to implement by portraying Murdock and company as reasonable and responsive. Hearings on these injunctions are scheduled for next month. While the law prohibits evidence to be entered in the record regarding "settlement" discussions, these fall outside of that definition, and would therefore be admissible. We have been repeatedly lied to, and are sick of it. In 1999, then spokesperson for this same Board group, Chairperson Mary Frances Berry also made public denials that discussions of the sale of stations were occurring. Shortly afterward a dissident Board member, Peter Bramson, held a press conference to reveal that Berry had lied. And all of this followed earlier revelations by watchdog group Media Alliance in San Francisco that they had obtained a misdirected memo from now Board Treasurer Michael Palmer, advocating the sale of either KPFA or WBAI. Following a broadcast, by KPFA journalist Dennis Bernstein, of a Media Alliance press conference on the memo, horrified listeners in the Bay Area heard Mr. Bernstein pursued by armed guards placed in the station by Pacifica. Mr. Bernstein was removed because his broadcast was deemed a violation of the "gag rule." Mr. Bernstein, as well as dozens more KPFA staffers and listeners, were arrested, and the station was shut down for three weeks. The only regrets expressed by Pacifica Board Chair Berry, who brought on Mr. Murdock, was that she had not acted sooner to stifle dissent. More than a half-million dollars of the listeners' money was spent in efforts to gag broadcasters attempting to inform us of serious problems with the governance of Pacifica; or, to hire spin-doctors to lie to us. Until this takeover-attempt began in the mid-nineties, Pacifica had no need for "communications directors" or public relations firms. We are outraged that our own money is being spent for these purposes. Furthermore, revelations in the East Bay Express confirmed that the KPFA shutdown had been planned at least a month in advance, as the Palmer memo indicated. Equipment necessary to re-route the signal, as well as personnel ready to implement the orders had been put in place well before that day. It was not a spontaneous "error of judgment," as after-the-fact spin-meisters have suggested. As you can see, Mr. Murdock's associates have a long track record of lying. Full article: http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica/xmas/0317letter_to_owens.html Louis Proyect Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
