Amy and Juan open letter on WBAI

The struggle within WBAI seems to have taken on proportions that might ultimately compromise the station's politics in order to enhance its financial position. I realize that the future of the station is at stake. The precarious financial state of WBAI cannot be overcome by abdicating the station's political responsibility to the community that it serves, especially now, when we are embroiled in two wars (perhaps three, if you count Pakistan) and the most serious crisis of capitalism since the 1930s. The truth has become even more essential since the corporate-owned media have for the most part abdicated any responsibility for investigative journalism. We need WBAI now more than ever. I'm not certain how this struggle will turn out, but I know how it has to if free speech is to prevail. Democracy Now is a key centerpiece of WBAI's contribution to the community it serves. Below is an open letter from its co-hosts, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales, to the entire WBAI community ("WBAI management, staff, listeners and supporters"). They object strongly to a number of actions the Pacifica board has taken. They particularly object to the shortening of "Wake up Call" - the morning show - by one hour. I suspect that they did not know when they wrote the letter that that extra hour would be devoted to a double broadcast of Democracy Now. I am certain that that would not change one word of the letter, except possibly to make it stronger.

Dan

So here is their letter:

To: WBAI management, staff, listeners and supporters
From: Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, co-hosts of Democracy Now!

We have recently learned that starting this week, the new management at Pacifica station WBAI is shifting the broadcast time of Democracy Now! from its customary 9 a.m. slot to 8 a.m. We hear this change is part of a reorganization of programming that could end up eliminating the popular and long-running Wake Up Call program on WBAI.

This decision disturbs us deeply and we urge that it be reconsidered.

We fully recognize that any station broadcasting DN! has the right to choose the appropriate time slot for the show. In normal circumstances, we would even welcome the chance to have DN! air in that keyhour. But we believe this sudden change will only
exacerbate long-simmering internal divisions among Pacifica listeners and staff.

We are also dismayed by the recent firing of WBAI program director Bernard White. Every station management has the right and responsibility to hire and fire staff they feel most appropriate. But the removal of Bernard, as far as we can tell, lacked the basic due process any employee is entitled to under the law. Given Bernard's decades of devotion and dedication to BAI, the way he was treated lacked basic human consideration.

These latest actions, however, are only symptoms of a bigger problem.

Nearly a decade ago, an unprecedented listener movement won a great victory. It ousted a Pacifica board and management that had lost its way and forced a return to Pacifica's democratic founding principles. We were both proud to be part of that movement. Like many, we believed it a victory of historic proportions for media reform in America. But we have grown increasingly distressed since then as we have watched the Pacifica reform movement, once so powerful and united, fall into deeply divided and warring camps.

A governance structure that was meant to assure greater democracy turned out to breed greater factionalism. Many station managers and executives found it impossible to manage while they answered to daily monitoring requests from newly empowered community boards. Too many activists who had once blasted the old Pacifica national board for gagging dissident producers, for unjust firings, and for poor financial management, then turned around and adopted practices that were eerily similar once they gained positions of power. Legal costs skyrocketed as every action or firing by one group led to new law suits by those on the other side. And most unfortunately, charges of racism, elitism, narrow nationalism and opportunism have
become as much a part of the war of words at Pacifica these days as American missiles in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

In short, an extraordinary amount of time and energy has been spent in what resembles more like the perpetual feuds of a dysfunctional family. We urge our brothers and sisters to reject these deeply destructive tendencies. Pacifica, along with the progressive media of which it is such a vital part, cannot grow unless all of us learn to seek more common ground.

Democracy Now! was born and nurtured inside Pacifica. We still consider ourselves part of that family even though ours has been an independent show for years. Because of those deep ties, we urge that the scheduling of Democracy Now! not be used as a weapon by the current management of WBAI against its opponents.

In Struggle,

Amy and Juan

*The views expressed here are the individual opinions of Juan and Amy and do not necessarily reflect the views of the board and staff of Democracy Now!