Strike at Pacifica

["Macdonald Stainsby" <mstainsby@xxxxxxxxxx>]

January 31, 2000: Pacifica Radio's top free-lance reporters and contributors,
backed by several nationally-recognized, free-speech organizations, today struck
Pacifica's national-news program to protest on-going censorship at the
50-year-old community-radio network.

"We believe Pacifica management seeks to intimidate and censor those who try to
report on matters that management prefers to keep quiet," said PNN contributor
Aaron Glantz from his base in Berkeley. "Management has not only failed to stop
censoring the news, management has not even bothered to contact us to respond to
our concerns. So we have no choice but to strike," Glantz added.

Dozens of journalists from across the Americas, Europe and Asia, many of whom
have won the industry's top awards, will strike for the next three months unless
Mary Frances Berry, who chairs both the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and the
Pacifica Foundation, publicly renounces censorship throughout the network, and
reasserts the editorial independence of Pacifica's local and national-news
divisions. The striking journalists comprise a majority of active contributors
and reporters to Pacifica Network News, PNN, a daily, half-hour news program
that airs on some 70 radio stations nationally. In a recent two-month period,
nearly 70% of Pacifica's stories came from its stringers.

The striking reporters delivered a letter one week ago outlining their demands
to Pacifica's entire national board, including chair Mary Frances Berry, via
certified mail, fax and e-mail. To date, there has been no official response
from Pacifica. Several attempts by the reporters to reach Pacifica
management--which has not released its phone number to the public--have been
unsuccessful.

Since the letter was delivered to management last Monday, additional stringers
have joined the action, and several affiliates are considering a boycott of
Pacifica Network News as an act of solidarity with the striking reporters.

The strike is supported by the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting, Project Censored and the National Association for Freedom of
Expression. "The survival of PNN as a reliable source of information is very
much in doubt," said syndicated media critic Norman Solomon, "this strike may be
the last chance to make PNN something trustworthy." Complete story at:
http://www.freespeech.org   _______
Macdonald Stainsby
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