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….
Hi,
KPFA is a CIA operation.
– W. Greer
Dear Catherine,
I do not know if you remember me, but we met about four years ago when you toured with Caroline Casey at the First Congregational Church in Oakland, California. Like you, I am a recovering Republican and a former Marine ( Semper Fi!), and also enjoyed our all too brief conversation.
From reading this blog,and with the chain of events that have culminated with the election of Barack Obama, It appears that there is a concerted effort by mangement and paid staff which does indeed have a purpose, and its basis is financial. There is a desire among certain influential people to make KPFA and Pacifica into a major national broadcast network. Indeed, the so-called “Concerned Listeners” have said so in their literature. Thats a very expensive proposition, and would require massive ammounts of funding to accomplish. I’ll make an educated guess here and say that there is a concerted effort on behalf this faction to rid the station of certain types of programming that potential affluent funding sources would find offensive. And with the economy being the way it is, the inner circle that run Pacifica will use this as an excuse to cut back or otherwise eliminate personnel and programs which would challenge the economic status quo.
Its also interesting that during this last election, there was a concerted effort by KPFA to push the Obama candidicy hard, and all but ignore Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney. It is also an interesting coincidence that many of the unpaid staff who have been banned, fired, or otherwise silenced have tended to be critical of Obama and the Democrats in general. With Obama this week showing his true corporate sellout Democrat colors, there is still a campaign of massive denial on the part of Pacifica and other “progressive” media. About the only reason why I still listen to KPFA are the great music programs that still have a semblance of free form and spontaneity, which 90% of the public affairs programs sadly lack.
We shall see what happens when their annointed in the White House really takes charge.
Thank you again for a wonderful website.
Regards,
John F.
Oswald as a lone assassin? Oh, dear! Well, we know why Vince was not censored while I was…
Thanks!
Catherine
Catherine Austin Fitts wrote-
“Aug 10th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I just listened to a fascinating interview that was broadcast on KPFA radio on July 31, 2008 of Vincent Bugliosi about his new book “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.” During the interview, Bugliosi, the highly respected prosecutor who….”
…Bugliosi?!!?..Ouch. I listen to KPFA constantly and I have to follow up on this mention of Bugliosi since CAFitts has done amazing work outing how the CIA and Wall Street loot this country while destroying it with drugs and war.
…The people at KPFA are, in my judgement, uncharacteristically ignorant about infowar and the REAL CIA disinformationists like Vincent Bugliosi who in 2007 published a huge $50 book reinforcing the Warren Commission’s nonsense about Lee Harvey Oswald as a lone gunman killing President Kennedy. A large community of honest researchers have cracked that nut and exposed the media shills paid to muddy the waters, too. THAT is an education in itself, how spook media can cover up evidence and lead pack journalism into affirming the cover story. (See ‘9/11.)
Obviously, Bugliosi fronted for this massive glossy book generated by psyops experts at Langley.
…During his JFK disinfo book tour, Bugliosi was booked by someone onto KPFA’s Morning Show where Andrea Lewis just let him spew lies without any challenge by her until a few callers-in spilled the beans about what Bugliosi was trying to pull off. Once a caller mentioned that Bugliosi had written the forward to a Mark Fuhrman book (famous LAPD racist), then Andrea Lewis (a woman of color) started to notice just who she was “interviewing.” But that’s what it took for her to get a clue.
So both the Morning Show’s booker and the host seems to have had ZERO knowledge of the most important CIA Cold War history (domestic political assassinations-JFK/MLK/RFK) and their counterpropaganda disinformation tactics and players. I think the booker is young but Lewis is old enough to know better, a former editor at Mother Jones.
So KPFA unwittingly provided a platform to the CIA to perpetuate the cover-up with younger naive progressives in their radio audience just in time for the 2008 45th anniversary of the crime. (Signpost years get more haystack around the needles due to increased visibility.)
…KPFA also promoted a local appearance by New Yorker author, Jane Mayer, who has a book which nobody apparently read because it was loaded with disinformation ranging from grotesque to subtle on topics from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, the Korean and Vietnam wars, and even IranContra. All in the guise of being about torture, the bone tossed to get attention.
…And all of that is to point out both how careless about sources and how little knowledge about the CIA the on-air people display (except Bonnie Faulkner and Dennis Bernstein) AND exactly why Vincent Bugliosi is theatrically ingratiating himself and stocking up creds with the anti-war/anti-Bush people – to gain traction for his all-important JFK disinformation. Because once one cover-up is out of the bag, it’s easier to see through all the others.
…It’s ugly but there’s a method to spook madness.
…CIA specializes in controlling cultural norms through mainstream media and this was exposed by Carl Bernstein (among others) way back in 1977 when he wrote up suppressed material leaked from the [Frank] Church Senate subcommittee hearings on CIA abuses. Read it on his own website, CarlBernstein.com. Bernstein belatedly found out he’d been suckered by a spook named Bob Woodward.
…Bob Woodward has been exposed (‘Silent Coup’ 1991) as a high-ranking Naval Intelligence officer who was helping run top-secret communication systems in the Vietnam War shortly before his role in the coup called ‘Watergate.’ Yes, media is a miltary-intelligence zone and woe to those who don’t learn how psychological operations work. Or it will use you.
…And CAFitts has written a precious history of Narcodollars and Wall Street’s hand in the game that all at KPFA (and Peter Byrne) would do well to LEARN FROM.
Thanks for keeping at it, Ms. Fitts.
Now if KPFA employees will just do their homework, their audience will have a better chance of catching on to the Big Game, too. *end rant*
Bravo Mitchel Cohen ! I hope your letter gets sent to KPFA. They need to read your simple yet eloquent logic.
> From: Mitchel Cohen
> Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:54:30 -0400
> To:
> Subject: Re: Censored: Catherine Austin Fitts Kicked Off KPFA
>
> Catherine Austin Fitts is an *Analyzer* of what’s
> happening on Wall Street, and has many powerful
> insights, much more than the investment advisers
> on WOR radio here in NYC and elsewhere. I have
> never heard Catherine Austin Fitts ask people to
> send money to her company, Solari, to invest it for them in gold futures.
>
> Seems to me that *IF* Catherine Austin Fitts is a
> gold broker, as claimed by Peter Byrne, then that
> should be easy enough to check out. And IF she is
> promoting on air that people buy gold *through
> her company* (which she adamently denies — see
> below), then and only then does that become a
> problem and potential conflict of interest.
>
> If she’s simply giving her opinion that buying
> gold in some circles is the way to go, that’s her
> prerogative. Why should she be censored for that?
>
> HOWEVER, this can be remedied easily enough:
>
> 1) Find out whether Byrne’s charges are accurate.
> That should have been done first, before
> censoring her and blacklisting her from KPFA. In
> reading his letters, below, it seems to me that
> he’s sending out a warning for something that
> he’s concerned about but hasn’t specifically investigated.
>
> 2) Make a general rule that no one can advertise
> their products or services on the air (this means
> that musicians cannot advertise their upcoming
> shows, health experts can’t advertise their
> vitamins or books, psychotherapists can’t give
> out contact information, etc.); it’s not fair to
> single out one individual for giving her opinion
> on what is or is not a way to respond to the
> current collapse of Wall Street. If you think
> she’s wrong, engage her in debate.
>
> 3) Put a disclaimer at the beginning and end of
> the show, and on the website — IF and ONLY if
> the charges made by Peter Byrne against Fitts are true.
>
> All of this can be done in 10 minutes with a few phone calls.
>
> Much better than censoring the show and causing
> this enormous screw-up and bad feeling.
>
> *** Mitchel’s disclaimer: Please note that I
> interviewed Southern California attorney and
> author Ellen Brown (WebOfDebt.com) on my
> non-Pacifica radio show yesterday, covering some
> of these same areas, including JP Morgan’s
> confiscation of Bear Stearns (with the assistance
> of the Federal Reserve), and her fascinating
> book, Web of Debt. My show will be broadcast over
> the internet, only, on Thursday at 11 a.m. and
> repeated next Tuesday at 6 p.m. on
> http://www.tribecaradio.net . Click on “Listen Live”.
>
> Mitchel Cohen
> Chair, WBAI Local Station Board
I just listened to a fascinating interview that was broadcast on KPFA radio on July 31, 2008 of Vincent Bugliosi about his new book “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.” During the interview, Bugliosi, the highly respected prosecutor who prosecuted Charles Manson, describes his evidence for prosecuting George W. Bush for murder and offers his services to any state or local prosecutor who will take on the case. He also discussed the evidence for Condoleezza Rice and Dick Cheney to also be indited and convicted for murder.
Bugliosi did not discuss the money that they have stolen or how we could get the legal system to get it back.
If he had, would he have been censored?
This is an interesting debacle, as it calls a focus to the inconsistency of policy and also to the reaction by those duped by the very process that ‘Catherine’ discusses, specifically the tapeworm effect of shifting the commons to private pockets.
The idea of moving KPFA to a commercial station is exactly what the tapeworm effect would have happen, so I am surprised to see that suggestion from someone who understands the process.
Perhaps that was just a random suggestion, which also brings to bear that those in charge of KPFA should be vetted as highly experienced in managing NON-COMMERCIAL public radio. It seems Pacifica stations prefer to hire people who may have handled a megaphone well at some rally for some Cause Celebre. Those may be interesting people, but they may know nothing about running a non-profit business which is involved in media.
By the way, a radio station cannot become “more” dependent on the federal government, because one cannot simply ask for more money. From what I understand, KPFA is maxed out on fed grant funds (Community Service Grant from the Corp for Pub B’casting). So that is not a fear, nor can be used as a rally cry.
The most hypocritical aspect of this action by KPFA is exactly what has been talked about early on in this discussion: 99% of musicians and writers, poets and other artists, bloggers and politicians, are making a living from their appearance on KPFA. Even the hosts of the programs are getting paid in many cases. The stations sells commercial junk to raise money. The odd rationale for evicting Ms. Austin-Fitts just doesn’t make any sense, unless she was directly selling her discs on the air.
As someone who has been pushed out of a radio station, I can suggest that “There’s More To This Story”.
Probably someone didn’t like Catherine personally and the letter just provided the ammo.
And that person is high enough in the power tree that no-one else has the time, gumption, personal power and is already so distracted by their personal dramas to take on that upper management person that didn’t like Catherine.
For those of you who DO have the time and personal resources to take this on: This is my suggestion:
1) Go to the Board Meetings. Figure out who didn’t like Catherine.
2) Start sniffing “innocently” with the Socratic Method of questions to figure out WHY and WHO (one or more most likely) was out to get Catherine.
3) Then join the relevant subcommittees whose declarations in support of those who support Catherine would make it uncomfortable to be those upper managers that are out to get Catherine.
Be useful, become relevant to the functioning of that subcommittee.
(Note: This will all take quite a bit of time. Months)
Start getting policy developed and implemented that would make this more difficult in the future.
Also: “Board Development” and positive interaction with the volunteers is VITAL to keeping KPFA from sliding … it sounds boring, but pay LOTS of attention to it!
ALTERNATIVELY if you don’t have TIME for the positive approach above:
You could just write up a clearly defended and thought out position paper and send those to the funders of KPFA. Make sure you realize that this is a bit of potentially “nuclear option” as many funders may just pull back from drama and thus push the station further into the arms of remaining funders. This could actually INcrease concentration of power. That’s why I would prefer the slower but more positive approach.
To reduce the “nuclear effects” of this more destructive (but less time consuming) approach, make sure your letter ID’s the problem person on the Board and make sure the funder realizes this is one person (or clique) and not the many hundreds of people that make up KPFA.
Overall, I’d say this is an example of why we all must support a vibrant Low Power FM radio movement. If KPFA falls, but there’s a 100W pipsqueak that can take over the job of serving real community activity, then that backup, while weak, will at least provide SOME outlet for those frustrated by destructive ego BS. as it takes down a station.
Rex:
Here is the important question. Where should KPFA get its funding?
Currently, it gets money from:
1. Listener donations
2. Listener donations with premiums
3. Congressionally controlled appropriations through CBC, NEA
4. Foundations
5. Endowment earnings
If it does not use premiums, its dependency on the federal government will grow even more.
One alternative is that it switch to a for profit status and have advertising or it could make the archives available to subscribers only such as Coast-to-Coast does.
Whatever the model, there needs to be a sustainable financial model that supports editorial independence and integrity. Given the wealth available in the bay area, another possibility could be creating a serious endowment.
Re: Essie’s comment.
Your second paragraph is part of my original point: I don’t like the idea of KPFA offering premiums at all. I think it does indeed compromise the station’s independence, and it moves the station closer and closer to sounding like just another KQED clone.
Also nobody on air ever mentions that your ‘tax deductible’ donation is only tax deductible after the ‘fair value’ of the premium is deducted from it. Which in some case means there’s no tax deduction at all.
It is duplicitous on the part of KPFA to engage in this kind of lying by not revealing all.
We’ve come to expect this kind of thing from everyone in recent years, but I might have hoped that KPFA would not descend to that level.
My message was not aimed at Catherine specifically. As I said, I found her comments enlightening.
It’s just that I had naively hoped that KPFA would remain the one place where people might provide enlightening information *without* making anything off of it.
Rex
@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
Sent this message to KPFA today.
Dear KPFA friends,
Today I was shocked to hear that Catherine Austin Fitts was banned from speaking on the KPFA show Flashpoints due to a message from a misguided “listener”.
I’ve been a fan of KPFA for a number of years, and have been interviewed for several of your programs myself. In fact, I’ve met some of you (including Lemlem) as part of a fundraising effort we collaborated on (9/24/06), and consider the station a great resource for our entire nation. That’s why I was so concerned to hear that someone who has inspired me and so many others was treated this way by KPFA.
Please reconsider your decision. One of the biggest problems that we have today is the inability to understand money, and how it works. At one time I was employed for a “not-for-profit” (UL) and I can tell you they are anything but that. And my own efforts at lasting, positive change have led me to understand just how fully dependent on corporate funding our academic communities have become. In contrast, Catherine is one of the few people I’ve heard who might be able to show us how to turn a fundamentally corrupt financial system into a vitally needed community-based wealth system. We really can’t afford to lose her in this effort.
Sincerely, Kevin Ryan
I think this little debacle illustrates an important trend: the radical evolution of our culture away from centralization and greed towards cooperation and sustainability IS NOT taking place in the normal context of left vs. right or business vs. government…it is taking place outside of those arbitrary categories and is being spearheaded by business ventures like Solari along side NGO’s like the the Center For Holistic Ecology. Solid design and models for sustainability like Permaculture and Solari circles are the lowest common denominators as we work towards creating freedom and sustainability. Empowering individuals to take back the reins of their finances is the first step in this evolution from centralized control to decentralize empowerment. This is the function media needs to take if this message is going to spread to a critical mass of people. Perhaps its time to abandon the old public stations in favor of the burgeoning blogosphere and world of dynamic, democratically created content available online in forums like this one.
Quote: My understanding is that Flashpoints may only have academics and not-for-profits to discuss economic issues
————-
It appears to me that this ban applies only to Flashpoints and not to KPFA as a whole? If so, then this appears to be a power grab, and an internal power struggle — a google search on Lemlem Rijio — will clearly show her to be a nexus for a great deal of dissension within and without KPFA ranks.
Sorry to hear about this. Let’s hope that KPFA management just doesn’t understand what you’re trying to accomplish, because the alternative is that the station does understand and is simply indebted to the financial status quo.
As someone who has worked for major corporations for twenty years, and hopes to be rid of that bondage before it is too late, I appreciate your efforts to create and promote more viable alternatives.
Of course, you will always be a great hero to many for your past courage and good work. Don’t let them get you down, and let us know how we can help.
Dear All,
As a contributor to Pacifica, and DemocracyNow!, I am frankly, very disappointed in KPFA’s inability to allow Catherine to return. Has KPFA ever had small business people on their shows? If so, how many, when, and what did they talk about? I think their policy is shortsighted, especially if someone like Catherine has such great things to say and is so free ranging and creative in her analysis, and a magnet for other such likeminded people. Also, I am suprised that Catherine has not yet been invited on DN! to talk about Tapeworm Economics. I’ll have to seriously consider supporting Solari instead of DN!.
Ummm, Catherine, I thought you were an academic. You are highly educated. What is their problem over there? They lost me as a listener and I hope everyone else stops listening. I knew you being on their channel was too good to be true. I knew someone would silence you. That is the way it always is. I bet you are on the No-Fly list too.
It’s sad and amazing to me how the political left shoots itself in the foot time and time again.
I listened to last Wednesday’s show, the one in which “Dispatches” took the place of Catherine’s segment, and heard to Dennis begging for money (he’s actually quite good at it). Arbitrary rules like not allowing small business owners to discuss economic matters push KPFA, and unfortunately, Flashpoints, towards irrelevancy and insolvency. The internet makes it all to easy for people who believe Catherine has something valuable to say to find her elsewhere and put their time and financial resources towards that outlet.
I guess what remains confusing is why the KPFA management finds Catherine so threatening. Because she has some audioseminars she sells? Has the KPFA management ever listened to a major national radio show like Fresh Air? Are the aware that nearly every guest on that show has something to hawk, usually a book? That’s small business at work. Actually, sometimes quite big business, given the size of the publishers profiting off those book sales.