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StumbleUponPACIFICA MANAGEMENT MOVES TO UNDERMINE WBAI'S INDEPENDENCE
12/1/00
In a move reminiscent of last year's attack on Pacifica station KPFA inBerkeley, the Pacifica Foundation told WBAI-New York's long-time generalmanager Valerie Van Isler that it is removing her from her position. OnTuesday, November 28, during what was supposed to be a routine evaluation, Pacifica's executive director Bessie Wash informed Van Isler that she was being reassigned to a newly created position in Washington, DC. Van Isler, who has been at the helm of WBAI for 10 years, said she wanted to remain at the station, and was told that she would therefore be fired.
Pacifica, a network of community-supported radio stations, has long beentorn by charges that its national board is bent on taking the network in amore timid, ratings-driven, commercialized direction. Listeners, as well asstaff at some stations, have organized protests against the board'scontinuing centralization of power.
Van Isler had been told to report to her new position, "executive producerof national programming," in Washington, DC, in January. Though she hadrecently brought WBAI into the black, Van Isler had locked horns withPacifica management over the airing of a speech that Cuba's Fidel Castrodelivered in New York on September 8.
According to a station insider, Van Isler was also upbraided by Pacificamanagement for WBAI's coverage of the Palestinian Right-of-Return March inWashington DC on September 23. According to the source, Pacifica managementadmonished Van Isler after receiving a complaint from the Corporation forPublic Broadcasting (CPB), a presidentially appointed agency that providesfunding to the Pacifica Foundation. Van Isler had also clashed with Pacificaofficials recently over the network's treatment of Democracy Now! host AmyGoodman.
Pacifica plans to replace Van Isler as early as Monday. WBAI management andstaff were shocked by the sudden decision, which Pacifica has yet toformally inform them about. Pacifica has not yet named an interim GeneralManager. [See attached letter from WBAI Management Team to PacificaExecutive Director Besse Wash.]
Pacifica's latest move is reminiscent of the 1999 removal of KPFA's generalmanager Nicole Sawaya, general manager at Pacifica's KPFA-Berkeley, whichled to protests by thousands of listeners and volunteers, the arrest ofstaff and the closing of the station for several weeks.
The firing of Van Isler follows other attacks on Pacifica staff andprogramming, including the transfer of Pacifica news director Dan Coughlin,who like Van Isler was forced out of his position after airing a 30-secondheadline about a protest against Pacifica. Pacifica has also recentlythreatened to fire Amy Goodman, co-host of the network's flagship nationalnewsmagazine, Democracy Now!, who recently filed grievances against Pacificafor censorship, harassment and gender harassment.
For more information, go to: http://www.savepacifica.net
MEMO
To: Bessie Wash, Executive Director, Pacifica FoundationFrom: WBAI Management TeamDate: November 30, 2000Re: Actions proposed against station manager
It has come to the attention of the WBAI management team that Pacifica'sexecutive management is in the process of an attempted removal of thestation manager at WBAI. We find it incredible that you would evencontemplate such a move because such behavior is a clear contradiction tothe document that you authored and circulated throughout the network,Pacifica in the New Millennium: Community Radio with Vision.
In this document you spoke forthrightly about the need to change the cultureof Pacifica as it related to personnel. You wrote:
"We intend to improve policies and procedures that assist employees to airconcerns and receive thoughtful, responsive and fair replies. We also intendto put into place mechanisms that promote respect and teamwork. Thisincludes responsiveness, dialogue and better communications."
We saw these proclamations as a necessary and welcome departure from thephilosophy and actions of previous administrations and are anxiouslyawaiting their implementation.
However, the actions you are now proposing are a direct contradiction towhat you told us you intended to do. We took you at your word and it appearsthat you have violated our trust. We believed that we were headed in a newdirection and here we are back in 1998 - a time even the most inexperiencedobserver would agree was a management and fiscal disaster that threatenedthe very framework of Pacifica. Your proposed actions tend dangerouslytoward a replication of that awful time.
Another reason we find your proposed actions unconscionable is because theywould destroy all of the hard-earned goodwill and positive energy that wehave built up with our listenership over the last several months. As aresult of what took place in Berkeley, we began to lose membership (andincome).
Our listeners began to lose faith in Pacifica. It was the efforts of thismanagement team that promised to repair that damage by renewing the trustthat was lost through no fault of our own.
Your non-consultative and ill-advised proposition to immediately install an"interim manager" at WBAI is as untenable as it is procedurally out oforder, inasmuch as Valerie van Isler is--and we expect her to remain for theforeseeable future--our station's manager. It is unclear to us whether youhave followed personnel guidelines in this matter, as well as in your claimto be opening a "search" for the position. Even if it were your intention tochange management at WBAI at this inopportune time, any person sent hereunder such circumstances would almost certainly be unable to function in aneffective manner, given the mistrust, the opposition, the community ill willand the confusion implicit in your proposal.
This management team demands an audience with you regarding actions proposedagainst our station manager and, therefore, against our station. Thismeeting should take place as quickly as possible. We are proposing Friday,
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