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Sharon Adams

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Sharon Adams

Sharon Adams

 

Attorney; immediate past vice-president of the National Lawyers Guild, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter; instrumental in protecting undocumented persons from Berkeley civil ICR detentions.

My name is Sharon Adams. I became involved in KPFA when the Morning Mix was abruptly taken off the air, without warning during a pledge drive, and without waiting to see the financial results of the pledge drive. The Morning Mix was produced locally with a variety of hosts addressing issues of regional and national concern.

The controlling majority on the KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) supported replacing the Morning Mix with a pre-recorded production from LA, arguing the recorded production would generate more revenue. Subsequent pledge drive results have shown the LA-produced show did not increase revenue to KPFA. The station remains in difficult financial straits. But, cancelling the Morning Mix did effectively remove local voices from one of the prime drive-time listening hours.

This caused me to look more deeply into the internal issues at KPFA. I learned that KPFA and its parent, Pacifica Foundation, have amazingly bad basic accounting methods that appear to be standard operating procedure. A required audit from 2013 was only recently finalized, while the 2014 audit remains unfinished.

Things must change if KPFA is to remain a beacon of hope, and a place for alternative voices to be heard.

I was on the Board of Directors for the National Lawyers Guild-San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (NLG), from 2007 until 2014, serving as Vice-President in 2014. During that time, the economy suffered a major recession due to global capitalist economic policies. The NLG is a non-profit, membership organization, similar to Pacifica/KPFA. While on the NLG Board, we kept the NLG financially solvent through difficult times by responding appropriately and in a timely manner to the financial challenges. I will bring this type of oversight to the KPFA LSB.

Arguments have been made that KPFA must become more like NPR to remain viable, and that KPFA should receive corporate underwriting.  I do not accept this model. Lewis Hill, founder of Pacifica, understood the value of the unfiltered voices of the people.  Overcoming the doubters, Hill placed his faith in the power of the people, and created Pacifica. I intend to do all I can to uphold this vision.

After the death of Kayla Moore, Berkeley Cop Watch stands watch at a police forum.

After the death of Kayla Moore,
Berkeley Cop Watch stands watch at a police forum.

I’m a founding member of the Coalition for a Safe Berkeley. We worked with Berkeley City Council to pass first-in-the-nation legislation protecting undocumented persons from civil ICE detention in Berkeley jails.  KPFA covered this story.  As a founding member of the NLG-Committee Against Torture, we worked against the US torture program, including its links to UC Berkeley Law School. KPFA covered this issue when others, including NPR, ignored it. In fact, NPR refused to use the word “torture” for years.

KPFA must continue, but not as a clone of NPR.  KPFA can be preserved with policies and programming decisions that promote a diversity of the voices addressing a variety of issues; by having paid staff support the diversity of voices; by increasing membership; and by promoting KPFA at events throughout the Bay Area.

Please vote for me and the entire United for Community Radio slate!

 

Official Q. & A.

 

1.  In what ways are the station moving in a positive direction, that you would want to continue or perhaps improve?
The new www.kpfa.org website is a wonderful step forward, providing a more interactive and accessible format.  And, the KPFA legacy continues; there are still great programs on the air, and there are still great people dedicated to making KPFA the best it can be.  I will continue this tradition and continue to ensure that programming decisions represent the voices of all parts of the community.  KPFA has in the past, and still does, report on issues that are not reported elsewhere.  As a listener, I have learned so much about the world from hearing the different perspectives on KPFA.  As an activist, I appreciate the importance of KPFA’s willingness to report on stories not routinely covered by mainstream media. 

The U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay. Current and former detainees have reported abuse and torture in this prison.

The U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay. Current and former detainees have reported abuse and torture in this prison.

I’m a founding member of the National Lawyers Guild’s Committee Against Torture, and we have worked against the US torture policy. KPFA covered this issue when others, including NPR, ignored it.  In fact, NPR refused to use the word “torture” for years.

 

2.  In what ways are the station moving in a negative direction, that you would want to stop or change? What changes would you work for?

The station has much room for improvement, including having a better grasp on the true financial status of KPFA and the Pacifica Foundation.  I will work to get accurate and detailed accounting of the pledge drive revenues, and will carefully review all financial information.  Removal of the Morning Mix from the 8 am drive-time hour was a big move in the negative direction, in my opinion.  The Morning Mix featured a diversity of hosts discussing a wide variety of issues, and was replaced with a show recorded and produced in LA.  I will work to bring more community input into the programing decisions.  In addition, as an attorney and activist, I recognize and appreciate how important it is for KPFA reporters to respond to events happening locally, and to have reporters, whether paid or unpaid, willing to report on local events. I will work to improve the apprenticeship program, which encourages more people to become reporters.
3.  What key experience, connections, skills or traits would you bring to the Local Station Board to advance the station’s mission?
I was on the Board of Directors for the National Lawyers Guild – San Francisco Bay Area Chapter from 2007 until 2014, serving as Vice-President in 2014.  During that time, the economy suffered a major recession due to global capitalist economic policies.  The NLG is a non-profit, membership organization, like KPFA.  While on the NLG Board, we kept the NLG financially solvent through difficult times by responding appropriately and in a timely manner to the financial challenges.  I will bring this type of oversight to the KPFA LSB.  In addition, I have worked as general counsel for several corporations, and understand corporate law and how it applies to entities like the Pacifica Foundation and KPFA.  There are many complex issues facing both entities, and I will bring my legal knowledge and expertise to the KPFA Local Station Board. Bookkeeping 2
 

4.  What ideas do you have for helping the station and the Pacifica Foundation meet the financial challenges currently being faced?

Accurate and up-to-date accounting and business records are a crucial step toward improving the financial situation at Pacifica Foundation and at KPFA.  It is impossible to analyze the financial situation because the numbers are often inaccurate, causing a lack of clarity about where the money is going.  After obtaining accurate and timely accounting records, it will be possible to determine an accurate estimated annual income for KPFA.  Once there is an accurate estimated annual income, it will be possible to rationally discuss how to keep within the annual budget.
I have done this while on the Board of the National Lawyers Guild, and will do this again if needed at KPFA.  In addition, to generate more revenue, KPFA could begin holding events in places other than Berkeley, (like the South Bay, like Richmond, etc.) to increase the KPFA name recognition and generate revenue from the events.

National Lawyers Guild Letter to KPFA On The Morning Mix

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REMOVAL OF MORNING MIX FROM DRIVE TIME PROGRAMMING

The recent removal of the Morning Mix radio program from the 8:00 AM time slot on KPFA has raised some concern at the San Francisco chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (“Guild”). We write this letter because KPFA and its free speech mission, are important to the Guild and to many activists that either work with, or are represented by, Guild members.

The Guild views KPFA not as simply another movement organization, but as a key part of the information commons. In that sense, KPFA is similar to a public utility — it is for the public benefit. KPFA policies on openness and actions regarding access to its airwaves affect all of us striving for a better world.

Like KPFA and Pacifica, the Guild was created with a particular mission: it was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association’s exclusionary practices and political orientation, and the Guild was the first integrated bar association. KPFA was launched in 1949, three years after pacifist Lew Hill created Pacifica. The aim of the station has always been to promote cultural diversity, to promote pluralistic cultural expression,  to contribute to a lasting understanding among diverse constituents, to maintain freedom of the press, and to create a forum for various viewpoints.

At KPFA’s core is the concept of pacifism or non-violence. Non-violence is often mistaken for being simply the absence of, or opposite of, violence. Instead nonviolence is a systematic framework of both conceptual principles and pragmatic strategies to reduce harm and promote positive peace at the personal, community, national and global levels. Contrary to popular belief, non-violence requires boldness and courage. Moreover, it is easy to fall astray from the path of non-violence in the pursuit of financial stability or in response to political pressure.

With this framework and history in mind, we raise our concerns about an uncomfortable pattern of events that have transpired at KPFA that appear to be the antithesis of non-violence. We do not list these concerns to cast blame, or to impose our set of values on another organization. We list these concerns because our collective silence could be perceived as approval or consent. We consider individuals and organizations on both sides of this debate as both friends and allies. It is in the spirit of a friend and ally that we speak about the recent decisions at KPFA, and seek to build trust through transparency.

The Morning Mix was unique within the KPFA lineup because it was hosted by a diverse group of community volunteers with programming important to community members. The Morning Mix often reported on local political movements that were under-reported elsewhere. One such issue is tar sand extraction and transportation by rail to refineries. Andres Soto, one of the hosts of the Morning Mix, and a Richmond resident and activist, often reported on this issue. He frequently reported on Chevron’s efforts to refine tar sands in Richmond which will have a direct impact on the people of Richmond and surrounding communities. Across the nation, we see a growing movement on this issue, and the Guild has recently received reports of brutal arrests of people who oppose tar sands. Instead of supporting this excellent reporting done by Andres Soto on this issue, KPFA has essentially silenced him by eliminating the prime time Morning Mix program. It is doubtful that the new paid host from LA will report on local efforts to oppose refining tar sands in the same way.

We could go through other hosts and programs on the Morning Mix, and discuss how each is connected to a local community and movement, however the point is that KPFA’s actions have actually decreased the diversity of speech on its airwaves.

As a community-based radio station dedicated to pluralistic expression, it would seem that KPFA would wish to avoid even the appearance of decreasing diversity, or of favoritism, or of bias. Gentrification of a neighborhood transforms it by displacing local residents, which in turn erases local character. Defenders of gentrification support the transformation, claiming that it increases public safety. Some at KPFA have described the removal of the Morning Mix as a ” move towards professionalism”. However we fear that “professionalism”, like “public safety” is pretext. The unqie character of the Morning Mix came from its local voices, accents, topics and perspectives. KPFA erased this local character with a single paid host out of LA.

Another reason put forth by by KPFA management is that the LA program will allegedly bring in more revenue. Although people can and do argue about interpretation of financial figures, the financial documents produced at the KPFA Local Station Board show that the Morning Mix was pulling is weight during fund drive. Thus, KPFA’s reliance on a specific interpretation of its financial figures, when there are other valid interpretations,  is a factor that creates the appearance of viewpoint bias. For example, the KPFA financial documents do not take into account the expenses incrred by having paid hosts. Thus, the financials purport to measure programs in terms of revenue generated, and disregard specific costs incurred by having paid hosts.

Moreover, and this point cannot be emphasized too much, KPFA can not and must not base all of its programming decisions on finance alone.

Although this letter was prompted by the removal of the Morning Mix, in the course of drafting this letter, we have learned of complaints that KPFA management has silenced specifically black programmers and/or failed to provide support for critical black programming or programming on critical local issues relevant to black communities. We are concerned that the removal of the Morning Mix, a show frequently hosted by black local hosts, is part of this pattern. We understand that KPFA is filling the Morning Mix time slot with a show hosted by a person of color, however the show is not produced locally, and does not have as close a connection to Bay Area black communities, and that features voices of black programmers, and not assume that programming by or for people of color generally will necessarily cover these issues.

KPFA, as part of its mission, must be ever vigilant of protecting diversity of viewpoints. Removal of the Morning Mix has narrowed the range of speech on its airwaves.

KPFA appears to promote radio programs that would prefer to talk about global economics, rather than race and the local displacement of black and immigrant families. It is an agenda that appears it would rather talk about gender discrimination in the boardroom, but not talk about the impact of gender, race and poverty on the young girls caught up in sex trafficking on Bay Area streets. It is an agenda that appears it would rather solve problems abroad, rather than those at home.

The Guild is an organization dedicated to human rights over property rights, and our collective conscious is touched when KPFA – a radio station dedicated to promoting diversity – consciously or unconsciously engages in viewpoint suppression. The allegations may be uncomfortable, however we in the Guild believe that it is through transparency and discussion of diverse viewpoints that this situation can be resolved.

In solidarity,

Sharon Adams, Vice President

National Lawyers Guild, Bay Area Chapter

August 12, 2014

NLG letter re Mix & KPFA