[Kzyxtalk] David Brooksher

[she-la]

   If what you say about David Brooksher trying to recruit a community news team is true, why is it the best kept secret this side of the Mississippi? It never came up at a Board meeting and isn't that the reason we have a programmer's rep on the Board? In truth, not one word of what the programmers are thinking, saying or doing ever reaches the public via its Board rep, a situation that needs more attention.
  I wrote an article on intentional communities that David turned down saying it was advocacy journalism.
I had to get it published in the Mendocino Country Independent, the paper Annie & Christina had taken on after Richard Johnson left us. So thanks to David, my reporting was redirected into newsprint.
   Brooksher never reached out to me and I believe he was still trying to kowtow to Coate's censorship of people who were deemed philosophically incorrect by management & staff. I am happy that he has found work that appreciates him instead of having his former GM describe his work on air as  'not professional'. That's typical of mgmt's  gratitude.
     Sheila Dawn

Tim Bray <tbray at wildblue.net> wrote:

>In response to Beth's request,  I went back and looked at the e-mail 
>Christina sent to the Programmers list.  I don't think it will violate 
>any confidence or privacy to share the relevant line to which I referred 
>earlier:
>"I was laid off not fired. John has done right the right thing in this 
>process." [sic]
>
>I wasn't her biggest fan, but she displayed some class in that period.  
>That particular e-mail laid out a number of ideas for how KZYX might 
>survive the financial crisis it was facing, and prosper in the future; 
>and several of those have since been followed up by the Board and 
>management.  She did fault the Board for not doing more fundraising, 
>programmers for not making a clear enough case to listeners for 
>contributions, and management for not embracing more of her ideas.  
>There was some justification for all of that.
>
>So there's your reality check; and it was Sako who threw her name around 
>here.
>
>As for Brooksher, he tried to develop a team of local correspondents 
>here.  I remember a Programmers Meeting when he made exactly that pitch, 
>explaining how easy it was to do and that he would train anyone who was 
>interested, etc.  He got a couple of people to do it - like Louis 
>Bigfoot - but not enough to make it work.  That wasn't management's 
>fault, or even Dave's, but ours as a community.   After Dave left, John 
>asked the programmers to pick up some of the slack by covering more of 
>the local events and affairs on their shows, and I think some have done 
>so.  It's too bad they don't seem to be getting any recognition for 
>that; all anyone wants to talk about is the lack of a half-hour local 
>news program.
>
>I may be out of my league, but I am not manufacturing information (that 
>might be John S. you're thinking of) and if I am deaf, it is not 
>intentional.  KZYX is far from perfect and I have long been critical of 
>many aspects.  I think it has improved in many ways since I started 
>listening; perhaps your opinion differs.  Since it is a matter of 
>opinion, neither of us has to be wrong.
>
>Sincerely,
>Tim Bray
>
>
>On 2/11/2014 8:53 PM, nsi at mcn.org wrote:
>> This is crap Tim. John Coate didn't "lay off" Christina. That's just 
>> how he couched it when he promised her she'd be rehired as soon as the 
>> finances improved.
>> What he really did, was take the first step towards shutting down the 
>> News Department as an independent entity; an entity with the 
>> contractual right to negotiate its budget. And which had control over 
>> the content.
>> I'm not even sure now that cancelling the news department and 
>> replacing it with 5 minutes of press releases and recitation from the 
>> Press Democrat was really within his purview. And if so, what a 
>> mistake. Where was the Board oversight?
>> David Brooksher was canned because he resisted Coate's interference in 
>> his news gathering, which began to be an appropriately focused 
>> attention on the struggle over the extension of the Marine Sanctuary 
>> zones in our region.
>> What David did at KMUD was put together and train a team of local 
>> correspondents. In other words: Bush Radio.
>> --Which is what Christina wanted to do at KZYX/Z. Mary Aigner, in all 
>> the years she has been there, has yet to recruit and train a bilingual 
>> public affairs team. And has done nothing to replace the local 
>> programming we once aired re. Native American culture and issues. You 
>> are out of your league here and either manufacturing information or 
>> intentionally deaf to what went on. And continues.
>> As a first step: you need to do a reality check with Christina before 
>> you throw her name around. --beth bosk
>
>
>
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