Pacifica Network News Strike
|
. Dear Friends, Thank you for a moment of your time. You may know
that in January, 2000, dozens of freelance reporters from across
the Americas, Europe and Asia went on strike against Pacifica Network
News (PNN) to protest a wave of censorship engulfing the nation's
oldest, listener-sponsored radio network. This labor action is part
of a broader, national effort involving thousands to save Pacifica
from an elite, corporate-style take-over from the top. The stringers
demand that Pacifica return to its founding principles: free speech,
editorial independence and true grassroots, noncorporate coverage
of urgent social and political issues. They also demand the freedom
to report on the controversies within the network itself. Hoping
to compete with the corporate drift in PNN's content, the strikers
also began producing Free Speech Radio News, a half-hour, alternative
newscast. Over 70 reporters from twenty American states and six
continents now file stories with FSRN, heard coast to coast on 48
community radio stations from Seattle to Little Rock, Santa Barbara
to Boston. FSRN is also carried globally via short wave and over
the Internet. The 20-month-old cast regularly features breaking
stories and crucial investigative pieces often absent from the corporate
press and PNN. Features have included: Controversies surrounding
U.S. drug companies and AIDS medications in Africa; The Palestinian
Intifada and Israeli military occupation, seen from inside Gaza
Strip refugee camps; The Zapatistas' historic caravan from Chiapas
to their historic rally in Mexico City; A controversial U.S. railway
project for transporting cheap coal, amid environmental calls for
less use of fossil fuels; Nigeria's resistance to IMF policies making
cooking and heating fuel unaffordable for the working class in this
oil-rich country. These are vital stories, but they will continue
to be heard only if you lend support. Producing and distributing
Free Speech Radio News costs roughly $30,000 monthly. Many of FSRN's
striking reporters - some of the finest alternative journalists
in community broadcasting - have made serious financial sacrifices
to participate in this strike and support the struggle to reclaim
Pacifica. Verna Avery-Brown, veteran PNN host forced out in December
of 1999, is now anchoring. Many of the stations carrying FSRN are
Pacifica affiliates, and many have cancelled PNN to air the strike
cast. FSRN started as a weekly effort, but recently starting broadcasting
daily to put maximum pressure on Pacifica's national board. And
that pressure is working. The striking reporters are hoping to go
to a 3rd month of daily programs, but they can't do it without you.
Your donation is needed right now to keep the Pacifica struggle
and Free Speech Radio News alive. Please honor the integrity of
these reporters and show your commitment to the survival of truly
independent, critical media. Your donation of any size will be greatly
appreciated. Checks can be made payable to the Agape Foundation
with the words "Pacifica Reporters Against Censorship" on the memo
line and mailed to Pacifica Reporters Against Censorship, c/o Kevin
Brower, 2210 Curtis Street, Apt. A, Berkeley, CA 94702. All contributions
are tax deductible. If you have questions, would like to hear the
cast or pledge a monthly amount, please write to pnnstrikers@igc.org
or go to www.fsrn.org. Please do it today. In solidarity, Noam Chomsky |
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