[Kzyxtalk] Replacing Media Matters

[doug mckenty]

Tim,

I often find it strange when I hear the words coming out of the mouths of
those who advocate for current station policy that have often come out of
my own mouth when advocating for change.  With all due respect, who is
trying to force their views on anyone?  Coate is a lefty politically, but
he has chosen to program KZYX to cater to the center left and those who
adhere to a worldview that is portrayed by NPR.  He has taken a
conservative tact believing it to be the right course of action in steering
KZYX to financial stability.  I believe he has made a mistake by excluding
all those who are not center left, which surveys show to be at least half
the population.

All of those advocating for change are looking for a station that reflects
the diversity of our community.

I also believe Coate's management style to be conservative when he attempts
to control the local news to the point of reducing it to next to nothing
and eliminating all controversial topics.  I feel it is also conservative
to eliminate community input by ignoring, then suspending Open Lines, or
placing barriers in the way of board members trying to establish a board
access program or not helping facilitate the CAB or not implementing the
PAC.

I would also call it conservative for Coate to instruct local programmers
to cover local news rather than produce local news programs himself.  Local
programmers should be treated as independant contractors.  If their program
description is approved by the PAC then management has no right to
interfere with their production.  I feel this attempted control to be just
plain rude.

When I have brought these thing up, nothing is done.  Jeff Blankfort's show
and Corporations and Democracy are used as the example that the far left
should be satisfied and the rest of us are just a "small but vocal
minority."   What about a conspiracy theory show or a libertarian show or a
Native American show or a communist show or a Green Party show or a
.....(fill in the blank).  I don't believe that advocating for diversity in
programming and freedom of speech for all members of our community,
including minority voices, is extremist.  I believe that is what public
radio should be all about.

How is current programming helping anybody understand the issues from all
sides?

I cannot agree with you more than when you say no one has a monopoly on
truth.  That includes station staff.  This is why I advocate for the
implementation of the Program Advisory Committee designed to create a group
of people from a cross section of our community working together making
programming choices with consensus.

Doug Mckenty



On Friday, February 21, 2014, Tim Bray <tbray at wildblue.net> wrote:

>  John Coate is on the extreme right, in exactly the same way that Barack
> Obama is on the extreme left: it only looks that way if you are an
> extremist yourself.
>
> It would be funny, if it weren't so tragic.  This divisive and personal
> campaign against station staff is reducing the opportunities for real
> change, and making enemies of people who should be making common cause.
>
> John is a lefty himself, but he believes public radio should help people
> understand issues from all sides, educating and informing so people can
> make rational decisions, rather than simply reflecting their beliefs back
> to them.  For this, he is castigated as a traitor to "the cause" by those
> who want this station to echo their own political agendas.  He is also
> maybe a little more humble about his beliefs than those of you who seek to
> force their views on everyone else.
>
> We have a really diverse community in this County, and we should have a
> diversity of views presented on our community radio station.  Nobody has a
> monopoly on Truth.
>
> Tim Bray
> Albion
>
> On 2/20/2014 2:06 PM, she-la wrote:
>
> Karen,
>   The simplest answer is that, from John Coate's perspective, the stations news programs were one sided, leaning toward leftist philosophy.
>   Since he, along with Mary was making the programming decisions it didn't matter what any of the members or listeners thought. This is one of the main difficulties with the station--the lack of inclusion of the public base. It is also the main reason why 1/5 of KZYX membership numbers (423) now donate to KMUD while only 44 people in Humboldt County donate to KZYX. The station ignores these statistics by having more pledge drives to bolster its membership numbers and  make it appear as if a boycott of the station by dissatisfied listeners is not occurring.
>     Of course, from where Coate stands on the extreme right, everything is left of his views.
>
>
>
> --
> Oak & Thorn <http://oakandthorn.wordpress.com>
> Facebook: Oak and Thorn
>
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