[FAIR-L] CounterSpin Pulled From Pacifica Stations (fwd)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 17:46:35 -0700
From: Phil Gasper <pgasper@cnd.edu>
To: jmusselm_rpa@indiana.edu
Subject: [FAIR-L] CounterSpin Pulled From Pacifica Stations


                                 FAIR-L
                    Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
               Media analysis, critiques and news reports




 FAIR News Release Update:
 April 20, 1999

 CounterSpin Broadcast Halted In-Progress by Pacifica Station WPFW

 On April 20th, CounterSpin, the national radio show produced by the
 media watch group FAIR, was taken off the air while in-progress by
 WPFW, the Washington, D.C.-based Pacifica affiliate.

 The show included a segment on media coverage of the use of depleted
 uranium weapons by NATO forces in the Balkans, followed by an
 interview with Larry Bensky, a broadcaster recently fired by Pacifica.

 WPFW aired the depleted uranium segment in its entirety, pulling
 CounterSpin off the air in the middle of the Bensky interview.
 Listeners heard an Emergency Broadcasting System announcement, followed by
 music, which ran for the duration of the half-hour (11-11:30am) CounterSpin
 slot.

 The suppression of the Bensky interview on WPFW comes on the heels of
 Los Angeles Pacifica affiliate KPFK's suppression of the entire
 CounterSpin broadcast on April 16th. (See FAIR's April 19th release,
 "FAIR's Radio Program Pulled From Pacifica's KPFK," attached below.)

 Neither station has returned repeated calls by FAIR/CounterSpin asking
 for an explanation of their actions.


 ---------
 FAIR News Release
 April 19, 1999

 For Immediate Release:

 FAIR's Radio Program Pulled From Pacifica's KPFK
 Show Featured Interview With Fired Pacifica Broadcaster Larry Bensky

 CounterSpin, the nationally syndicated radio show produced by the
 media watch group FAIR, was pulled from its scheduled 3:00pm airing on
 Friday, April 16th by station KPFK, the Los Angeles-based Pacifica network
 affiliate. Phone calls by CounterSpin to KPFK management to determine
 why KPFK did not air the show were not returned.

 FAIR believes the show was suppressed because it featured an interview
 with the recently fired Pacifica network host Larry Bensky. Bensky,
 one of the Pacifica network's most recognizable voices, was fired on April
 9th following the airing of his network show, Sunday Salon, which
 featured a segment discussing the dismissal of Nicole Sawaya, a
 popular station manager at KPFA, the Pacifica affiliate in Berkeley,
 California.

 CounterSpin invited Bensky to discuss his firing, the Sawaya dismissal,
 and overlying issues of Pacifica accountability. The Sawaya and Bensky
 dismissals have stirred public concern, resulting in an April 15th
 demonstration at KPFA which reportedly drew between 700 and 1,000
 protestors. (Archived editions of CounterSpin can be heard on the FAIR
 web site at: http://www.fair.org/counterspin/index.html.
 A transcript of the interview with Benksy appears at:
 http://www.venier.net/savepacifica/0419_counterspin.htm)

 A Pacifica representative was invited to appear on a future show to
 present the network's point of view. Pacifica declined the invitation.


 "As a show concerned with censorship, CounterSpin relies on the
 atmosphere of openness and critical thinking provided by non-commercial
 radio," says CounterSpin producer and host Janine Jackson. "It would
 be a distressing commentary on the state of free speech at the Pacifica
 network if CounterSpin was pulled from their airwaves for doing just
 the kind of work we've always done, raising just the kinds of questions we
 regularly raise about media."

 Contact: Steve Rendall at
  Mailto:SRendall@fair.org



                               ----------


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