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Cablecast and web streaming of program in serieS
"Conversations with Harold Hudson Channer" Upcoming Cable Television/Web Show: For details of airing see bottom of page
Guest For THURSDAY
JUNE 11,
2009
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GUESTS: Due to a mishap by me the program originally scheduled for June 11, with DON DeBAR & COLIA CLARK was nor aired! Instead there was a re-airing of a program with IMAM ANWER ALI which had aired June 8. I I include here (for the archive record) this note and a brief summary of that latter as well as information about the program which was to air and WILL be aired on Monday June 15. I apologize - particularly to the guests involved - and to you & thank you for any understanding and patience you can muster for my error. H.H.C. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Originally aired: 09-10-92) IMAM ANWER ALI
Founder
The Islamic Research Institute / New York --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The program can be viewed in its entirety by clicking the you tube link below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e7ju5cqaQ8 - IMAM ANWER ALI ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------DON DeBAR & COLIA LIDDELL LaFAYETTE CLARK
DON DeBAR Banned Morning News Headlines Editor: WBAI – FM Producer: WBAI In Exil & COLIA LIDDELL LaFAYETTE CLARK
Pioneer Civil Rights Activist
Pioneer Civil Rights Activist
Coordinator: “Power For The People” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The program can be viewed in its entirety by clicking the you tube link below:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIr00vHg9zc - DON DeBAR & COLIA CLARK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More about: DON DeBAR & COLIA LIDDELL LaFAYETTE CLARK
Don Debar:
I have been morning news headlines editor at WBAI-FM since July 2007. I began at that time as one of three volunteer producers and, as the others left to take on other projects, eventually settled in to a five-days-per-week, three newscasts-per-morning production schedule.
These newscasts are
a part of (as they say in radio) the morning drive-time program,
Wakeup Call.
Late last year,
management at WBAI's parent company, the California
not-for-profit corporation Pacifica Foundation, Inc., resigned,
and the chair of its advisory board became, as is provided for
under California law, the acting Executive Director.
Although the usual
role for interim management in any corporate environment is to
act as a ministerial placeholder - administering such tasks as
paying the bills, signing payroll checks, etc. - in
this case, the acting ED, Grace Aaron, instead decided to take
an active role in reshaping the network personally. Acting in
tandem with a local station board at WBAI that is run by a new
majority - itself the product of a lawsuit brought, on behalf of
members allied with board members Steve Brown and Mitchel Cohen,
by an attorney who helped strip the NYS Green Party of ballot
status in 2002 - Aaron began acting against WBAI's management in
a number of ways that, in my view, threatened its
local autonomy.
In that context, and
as context for any further news reporting that either I myself,
or any others at the station, might make going forward, and,
further, with an eye on the fact that the station is financially
supported by listener contributions, I began reporting on
significant developments concerning the station as a part of my
newscasts. Over a period beginning in March of this year, these
reports have covered such events as the discussion of a plan at
the national board level to place the station in "internal
receivership;" the seizure of control of the station's
transmitter by the acting ED; the ousting of the station's
general manager; and other items which, in my view and,
facially, objectively, are matters of primary concern to the
listeners who pay to keep the station on the air.
For the purpose of
absolute clarity, I must state that officially, and in the
internal parlance of the station, I am a volunteer news producer
for the program Wakeup Call, and not a part of the WBAI news
department which produces the WBAI Evening News.
This past Monday
(May 4, 2009), the head of that department, Jose Santiago,
issued a statement which was repeated several times during the
week after the Evening News. Within that statement was nested
another, to the effect that the news department had made a
decision not to air any discussion of "internal politics" at
WBAI, adding language that was critical of those (presumably
myself included) who had done so. This statement is particularly
chilling given that Mr. Santiago, the AFTRA shop stewart at
WBAI, was appointed this past weekend as a pro tem
station manager by Ms Williams while she is out of town for the
week.
It should
particularly be noted here that Mr. Santiago's statement
came shortly after the acting ED issued what can only be
described as a gag order on WBAI's on-air personnel. Certainly,
all can agree that prior censorship of news is contrary to
journalistic principles.
In just the past
week, both the station's general manager, Anthony Riddle, and
its program director, Bernard White, have been removed by the
acting ED. Mr. Riddle, who previously was the CEO of the
national public access television advocacy group Alliance for
Communty Media, was removed as general manager and offered a job
as a national fund raiser for Pacifica. He was replaced by the
Foundation's acting CFO, LaVarn Williams, from Berkeley, CA,
where Pacifica is domiciled. As a public access TV producer
myself for better than 30 years, I can tell you that Mr. Riddle,
as the head of the ACM, almost single-handedly saved that
particular means of public communication from being dismantled
under both the Clinton and Bush administrations.
Mr. White's removal
took the form of a temporary suspension. However, according to a
statement issued by Mr. Brown, the local board member, Mr.
White's "keys (were) taken from him and building security
instructed not to permit him on the premises."
Mr. White's removal
has long been publicly advocated by Brown, who has often used
the most barbaric and racist imagery and language in doing so.
The purpose of my
letter is to inform your readers that, unlike Mr. Santiago, it
seems clear to me that the "internal politics" of a news outlet
are contextual for any reporting that may issue therefrom, and
changes in the political dynamics - particularly including the
issuance of a gag rule barring certain and undefined speech from
the airwaves of "Free Speech Radio" - are not only worthy of
reporting; they are necessary pieces of information for
listeners trying to determine such basic questions as "who am I
getting this information from?" and "what is the agenda of the
reporter feeding me this information?".
To our listeners, I
can only borrow from Bernard White's long-time signature - stay
strong, and pay close attention!
Don DeBar
Ossining, NY 10562
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colia Liddell LaFayette ClarkNAACP, SCLC, 1959-70, Mississippi,
Alabama
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