Saturday, Jul 19, 2008
Mary Frances Berry talks back, defending KPFA strategy; Cintra Wilson is "simplistic and condescending; differentiating between self-love and self-absorption.
Oct 20, 1999 | There's something about Mary
BY JUDITH COBURN
(10/13/99)
I have not described "white male hippies over 50" as somehow a problem at KPFA or anyplace else. What I have called attention to is the need for greater diversity and a larger audience at KPFA and at other Pacifica stations. The Arbitron data analyzed for us by Audience Research Analysis show that about 90 percent of KPFA's audience (only about 146,000 in a potential market of 8 million persons) is non-black and non-Hispanic. The greatest share of that audience, which was in decline in the year before the protests started, is male and white and over 45, with many over 50. I do not point this out to play a race card but to deal with a reality. By the way, Arbitron Data was already being collected and analyzed for Pacifica before I became chair; it is not some recent innovation.
This does not mean KPFA should ignore the existing listeners. It does mean the station needs to pay greater attention to drawing from the populations of people of color who live in the area, from San Jose to Mendocino, that KPFA is expected to serve. Pacifica's mission is social justice, inclusion and a voice for today's and tomorrow's voiceless. Meeting Pacifica's goals at KPFA and throughout the network requires change, not stagnation. There must be greater involvement of a wide range of social activists to insure that their needs are met by KPFA programs. There must also be greater outreach to children and youth, and people of color, as volunteers, programmers and audience -- both to sustain the stations and to extend the reach of the progressive voice.
I accepted the non-paying volunteer post as Pacifica's board chair when former chairman Jack O'Dell asked me to do so, because I have worked in the cause of social justice for most of my life. Although, change is often controversial and conflict-ridden, I still believe local staff, programmers and listeners will find a way to move the agenda forward.
-- Mary Frances Berry
Chairwoman, Pacifica Foundation Governing Board
I am writing to clarify the discussion regarding the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. As the presidentially appointed staff director, I serve as the chief executive officer for the commission and am responsible for the supervision and management of the day-to-day activities of the agency. Under my tenure, with Dr. Berry as the chairwoman, the commission has finished the backlog of reports that were not completed due to a lack of resources and ideological conflicts among a commission divided in a 4-4 split. As my Oct. 1, 1999, letter to GAO indicates, we have completed the three specific management recommendations that GAO identified as having gone unaddressed since the early 1980s. The article's reference to Berry and a teaching job for an employee contained inaccurate information. Nevertheless, a thorough investigation by the GAO found no impropriety in this matter.
Over the past two years, the commission has completed reports on critical issues such as equal education opportunity, enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act, racial and ethnic tensions in American communities, equal access to quality health care, and schools and religion. Most recently, the Commission has examined the problems and progress of young African-American men in the inner cities. In addition, we responded to alleged incidents of police brutality in New York City by conducting a one-day hearing which examined police practices and civil rights in that city.
-- Ruby G. Moy
Staff director, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
Judith Coburn's piece on Mary Berry described someone I don't know. The Mary Berry I know was a valued inside-the-government source for me when I was at the New York Times during the Carter administration. She became a friend shortly thereafter and a colleague in many constructive endeavors, including work on the Jackson campaigns in '84 and '88, the Free South Africa Movement and on the board of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Unlike Coburn's anonymous sources, I have found Mary to be a thoughtful, collaborative energetic and entirely reliable colleague in some of the work that I have valued most in my lifetime. The Free South Africa Movement is one of the best examples of the way Mary works. We demonstrated every day, rain or shine. A lot of people showed up only on the sunny days when celebrities were getting arrested and the cameras were around. Mary showed up on the cold rainy days when only the toughest and most dedicated anti-apartheid activists came out. She was also always there for the hard strategizing and the tough fund-raising. And she didn't make a lot of noise or get her name in the paper or break consensus either.
When I was in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, we blacks thought it was our job to break the prevailing consensus because, believe it or not, there are a lot of people around Democratic administrations who either don't give a hoot about racial or economic justice or who are convinced that they know better than anybody what is good for the black folks or the poor folks. Usually they were seeking a consensus that had to do with the well-being of the administration rather than of the folks the programs were designed to help. We blacks who called them on it were not valued for that by people who basically condescended to us. But we were valued by outsiders like Whitney Young, Jim Farmer, Martin King and Roy Wilkins.
Similarly, when I wrote about HEW issues in the late 70s at the Times, I found that time after time Mary was fighting for the black and the poor against people who "knew better" and who valued quiet consensus over justice. As American history tells us, the process of obtaining justice is rarely neat and tidy; it takes forceful advocates for people who themselves have no voices. I thought Mary covered herself with honor during those days, and if those she opposed thought she had a big mouth -- well, I say hooray for that mouth for justice.
I don't know enough about the Pacifica problem or about the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to comment on those portions of Coburn's story. But I do know Mary Berry, and I do have an example of Coburn's journalism. Hands down, on all counts, I put my money on Mary. There's something about her that's splendid.
-- Roger Wilkins
Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History
George Mason University
Despite the fumbles of Pacifica there is a point to be made about the on-air staff complaints, professionalism and the relevance of the station's programming. In what other form of media would employees be allowed to use the medium to complain about the boss? For those of us who work and have worked in broadcasting, the on-air complaints about Pacifica were mind-boggling. What did they expect? No one in this industry has a job for life, unless you work for KPFA.
Professionalism is not a dirty word. High production standards, good writing and attention to technical detail doesn't mean that the station can't still champion progressive issues. Somehow the idea has caught on that to be liberal or progressive you have to tolerate mediocrity.
KPFA has a signal that booms out over the entire Bay Area and into the Central Valley, yet it pulls in less than half a share in the ratings books. Compare that to right-wing talker KSFO, which is in the top 10 stations with a 3 or greater share. These numbers show that KPFA isn't even reaching the choir in the Bay Area, let alone informing the masses to the progressive point of view in local and national affairs.
-- Mel Baker
As a longtime Pacifica listener and supporter (through KPFK in Los Angeles), I've closely followed the current problems concerning KPFA and Mary Frances Berry's clearly dubious leadership of the network. However, I must also note how sick and tired I am of the phrase "using the race card."
Its usage normally indicates that the notion of race and or racism is being unfairly injected into a situation where it is clearly not appropriate. As a young African-American male who almost every day is subjected to the far too often overt slights generated by a society fueled by paranoia, ignorance and fear, forgive me for being skeptical as to whether that kind of situation can truly exist.
While giving sole blame at KPFA or any of the Pacifica stations for their lack of a diverse listenership is a gross misstep by Berry, it's not wrong on her part to voice concern about it. Quite honestly, I think more people, regardless of race, should support and listen to Pacifica (and NPR for that matter) just because it adds badly needed dimension to the mass distribution of news and analysis to the nation.
Regardless, there seems to be an endless desire by people (primarily, but not exclusively, white) to deny or downplay the effects of this country's inability to deal with its institutionalized racism. It's usually dismissed cavalierly, with the phrase "playing the race card." I, for one, am sick of it.
-- Roland Poindexter
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