Critics of Pacifica Management have responded to the unprecedented use of the network's, and affiliates', airwaves by Pacifica Management to label it's opposition as “violent.” Besides the press releases and protestations, the man arrested in Texas is consulting his lawyer regarding the filing of charges of false arrest against KPFT General Manager Garland Ganter.
The Pacifica Corporate Campaign has issued a press release on these allegations.
KPFA News report on allegations of violence, including statements by the accused.
Pacifica National Board member Tomas Moran on WBAI regarding Pacifica Management's allegations.
Audio of WBAI Interim General Manager Utrice Leid removing producer Ken Nash and his guest Congressman Major Owens from the air.
Ken Nash's public statement about his banning from WBAI and Management allegations of violence.
Pacifica National Board member Beth Lyons has resigned from the Board in protest of these allegations.
The dissident Pacifica National Board members have issued a statement regarding these allegations and violence in general.
The man accused of assault in Texas has issued the following statement:
From: Edwin Johnston <edi@hal-pc.org>
To: plu-kpft@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 12:36 PM
Subject: [plu-kpft] Pacifica Radio attacks Johnston in national broadcast
Feel free to forward.
Pacifica Foundation Executive Director, Bessie Wash, interrupted the regularly scheduled broadcast of Democracy Now! this morning to personally attack and libel me in regards to an incident at KPFT in Houston on Friday night. This broadcast went out nationally to all the Pacifica stations; NYC, LA, Berkeley, Washington, DC and Houston as well as many other affiliated stations across the US and over the internet worldwide. Ms. Wash, falsely claimed that I violently assaulted KPFT employee Molly O'Brien and praised a KPFT volunteer for stepping in to help her. The fact of the matter is that O'Brien assaulted one of the protestors with me at KPFT, then her husband, Garland Ganter, who is the manager at KPFT, assaulted me twice. Then I was assaulted by the same volunteer that Ms. Walsh had praised. I was later arrested and charged with two counts of assault based on false reports to police by Ganter and O'Brien. For more info and partial audio of Ms. Wash's personal comments, see my post on Houston Indymedia below. The audio link (1/2 meg download) is listed just below my initial post on the topic, as a secondary comment.
Pacifica Exec. Dir. Bessie Wash attacks Johnston on-air
http://houston.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=218
Mr. Johnston also has a Web page with more information and links regarding this topic.
Here is a Web page with some historical perspective on these events.
UPDATE All charges against Mr. Edwin Johnston in the KPFT incident mentioned above have been dismissed.
To the Pacifica Theft Page
To the page with Pacifica Management's allegations of violence.
To the WBAI Union page
To my home page