Berkeley-The legal wheels are spinning at a rapid speed and it is not easy to keep up. We will try to keep you as informed as we can.
Unable to accept their 12-9–1 loss at a board vote on 10-13-2019, the 9-person shutdown crew on the Pacifica National Board appealed to the federal courts to strip control of the Pacifica Foundation from the members and their elected representatives and the judge has at least partially complied. The Pacifica Foundation board’s ability to take actions is constrained until October 21st per the United States government
An AM order prevents the restoration of WBAI until a hearing on October 21st, prevents the majority of the Pacifica National Board from changing their officers, and prevents them from restoring WBAI for six days, essentially making the foundation a ward of the court, and stripping democratic control of and autonomous action by the Foundation. Membership donations of $1,000 provided the bond for the suspension of membership rights.
After the morning’s freeze on the decisions of the duly elected majority of the Pacifica Foundation’s board of directors, the federal judge, who it has been clarified is Paul Engelmayer then issued an order in the afternoon restoring the temporary restraining order against the Pacifica Foundation.
Which one? We don’t know. There was a restraining order issued Monday, and then a modified one issued on Thursday which restricted the scope of the TRO to merely preventing the termination of WBAI’s staff. The perpetrators complied with neither of them.
There may be more motions filed prior to the scheduled hearing in federal court on October 21st at 3pm.
The Pacifica National Board has scheduled a meeting of the board of directors on October 20th prior to the federal court hearing.
The turn to the federal courts in the era of Trump places the left-wing independent media outlet in severe jeopardy that is probably far more extreme than any the angry out-voted board minority can envision.
The board members who have turned Pacifica over to the federal government after being out-voted are:
Christopher Cory (KPFA), Sabrina Jacobs (KPFA), Jan Goodman (KPFK), Mansoor Sabbagh (KPFK), Bill Crosier (KPFT), Donald Goldmacher (KPFA), Adrienne La Violette (KPFT), Wally James (KPFT), and Gerry Boast (Affiliate)
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Started in 1946 by conscientious objector Lew Hill, Pacifica’s storied history includes impounded program tapes for a 1954 on-air discussion of marijuana, broadcasting the Seymour Hersh revelations of the My Lai massacre, bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, going to jail rather than turning over the Patty Hearst tapes to the FBI, and Supreme Court cases including the 1984 decision that noncommercial broadcasters have the constitutional right to editorialize, and the Seven Dirty Words ruling following George Carlin’s incendiary performances on WBAI. Pacifica Foundation Radio operates noncommercial radio stations in New York, Washington, Houston, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and syndicates content to over 180 affiliates. It invented listener-sponsored radio.