For those of you following the censorship of Community Business on Flashpoints by KPFA and the finances of KPFA and Pacifica Foundation including their tax-exempt status, federal government funding, banking and endowment investments, I thought I would post recent developments.
The person who wrote a letter accusing me of of self-dealing has written a letter retracting his statement and apologizing for — among other things — not knowing my name. See his letter posted near the bottom of comments at Censored.
KPFA management has not returned my calls, so I have not spoken with them. However, I have been informed by Flashpoints staff that KPFA still will not let me return to the show.
My understanding is that Flashpoints may only have academics and not-for-profits to discuss economic issues. Small business people are not permitted to discuss economic matters on the show.
Stay tuned….
@Essie
You write: “Another example of KPFA/Pacifica’s inexperienced and unprofessional management shooting themselves and the station in the foot.”
We have a saying in Dutch: When smart people do stupid things, get suspicious!
What a hoot! Another example of KPFA/Pacifica’s inexperienced and unprofessional management shooting themselves and the station in the foot.
They wouldn’t know a “conflict of interest” if it bit them in the ass.
Just about every radio or other media commentator with any expertise at all would fit the bill, if you take the absurd standard being applied here. All the “health experts” on KPFA are certainly in the business of giving health advice for a living, all the authors on book tours who appear on The Morning Show and other programs … all the music groups, etc., etc. Just about every premium offered on KPFA is something that is offered for sale elsewhere by someone who is making money off it … the books, DVDs, CDs, etc., etc.
Catherine, this is too silly. But Bernstein is not popular with station management, so any complaint about his show results in immediate “investigations” and pulling people off the air, rather than cool and calm professional judgment.
The sad thing is that your perspective is extremely valuable to KPFA’s listening audience — and not something they’re likely to hear elsewhere. Also, I’m sure your seminars would have raised a lot of money for the station that is sorely needed. It is well known that the Pacifica Foundation is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
My censorship (see previous blog posts) is your financial opportunity.
KPFA was going to provide our 2-CD audio seminar Positioning Your Assets for Growth in Uncertain Times as a premium for donations of $120.
Solari sells it for $50 for mp3 and for $60 for CD. You can learn more and purchase at: http://www.solari.com/store/audio-seminars/positioning_your_assets/ .
The Positioning Your Assets audio seminar is an accumulation of our responses to thousands of questions we have received from our listeners and readers over many years.
Will we make money from this audio seminar? You bet! Are we proud to do so? You bet! We think sustainable small businesses are a terrific thing. We are proud to be a small business. We are proud to make money doing things that help you make money. We are proud to generate revenues that translate into income for employees, vendors and contractors and generate tax revenue for state and local government.
Our audio seminar pricing goal is to capture a portion of the value we create for our listeners and network. We believe that the price of this audio seminar is less than you will lose this month as a result of a falling dollar. If you listen to Positioning Your Assets with your neighbors and families, your purchase can help you save even more losses that are happening right now and impacting your quality of life and finances.
Thank you for your questions and your support. We appreciate your feedback and your business.
In abundance,
Catherine
Rex:
I agree in the importance of care– all of which I believe can be taken care of with full disclosure, transparency and making sure that alternative views are provided, particularly on sensitive or controversial issues.
Open disclosure and open discussion are healthy. Censorship is not, particularly when KPFA and all of its listeners are being economically devastated by a falling dollar.
NOT TALKING ABOUT IT…and only allowing people who are typically funded by large corporations, defense contractors and the federal government — institutions which benefit from the subsidies received from the drain imposed by a falling dollar as describes most academics and many non-for-profits — is fascism.
Small farms, small business and small investors are the very source of the economic health that creates community and is the bedrock of democratic process. Read the founding fathers. They understood this.
All the best,
Catherine
Rex, I appreciate you speaking up — I think it’s a valid viewpoint that’s worth exploring further.
Here’s why I disagree: Why the reaction against anyone with the title who is “financial advisor” or concern about Catherine’s premium when you don’t even know what it is? Isn’t what Catherine actually says on the air far more relevant than the fact that she calls herself, among other identities, a financial advisor?
If Catherine has said things on the air that have been problematic, by all means, let’s discuss them. She’s been on Flashpoints dozens of times, and not a single complaint has been raised in this discussion/blog about what she says on the air. So what does KPFA have to be wary of?
Ironically, Rex, I think you’re illustrating exactly the point Catherine makes: that we’ve got to start talking honestly and openly about money in this country, if communities are going to take back their power from major corporations. Historically, the political left has gotten squimish about money — that somehow talking about money or thinking about money, or god forbid, making money is inherently bad. So because Catherine talks about money, and once made money on Wall Street, people are uncomfortable with that. They don’t even know why, necessarily, it’s just part of the culture.
Well, I’d say let’s examine that discomfort and listen to what Catherine is actually saying. We — especially those of us on the political left who don’t spend a lot of time hanging out with former Wall Street and Bush-the-father administration types — might learning something from her. Dennis, whose “anti-corporate credentials are impeccable” has clearly done his homework and already figured out that she’s worth listening to. It’s time for Peter Byrne and the management of KPFA to do the same.
I MUST play devil’s advocate here.
I’m a long term KPFA and Flashpoints listener, but I have never really liked the station’s use of so-called ‘premiums’ to attract listener support.
These premiums come from somewhere. Maybe from the very coporations that KPFA rightly tries to fight the good fight against.
Music CDs, for example, although the immediate donor might be the artist, are still produced (at least some are) by huge corporations; books similarly originate somewhere in corporate-land.
KPFA has also recently taken to thanking volunteers from local businesses who supply food, coffee or whatever. But some of those businesses, thanked by NAME on the air, are chain outlets for major corporations.
I don’t know what Catherine’s ‘premium’ was going to be, but I’m always suspicious of ‘financial advisors, no matter what kind of progressive cap they may be wearing, and I was, quite frankly, very surprised that Dennis, whose anti-corporate credentials are unimpeachable, was featuring such a person on a regular basis on his show.
Nothing personal Catherine, I found your comments enlightening. But I agree with KPFA for being wary.
Rex Flatbush
Sent this message to KPFA on July 28th
Hi Dennis,
I first started supporting KPFA after your past spring fund drive. One of the highlights of my listening to your station is the “Community Business” segment with Catherine. In fact, even though money’s tight, I again donated again last Wednesday during the Flashpoints segment, while I was waiting for Catherine’s appearance. I agreed with Dennis that Flashpoints is worth preserving.
I like to think that your temporary exclusion of “Community Business” was due to bad judgment by upper management rather than a Pacifica monetary conflict (i.e., pressure to censor information).
I contribute to KPFA and Flashpoints because I assume it to be one of the last bastions of truly free speech. Now that Peter Byrne has rescinded his allegations, I will be forced to conclude that, unless Catherine is promptly reinstated as a guest and this matter aired publicly, that there is something shady going on in the upper management/funds of KPFA/Pacifica.
Regards
–Darcy Menard