[Kzyxtalk] Replacing Media Matters

[Patricia Kovner]

Doug makes such good points.  From what I gather, cannabis is a forbidden topic at the station, and I wonder why, especially with the breakthroughs in CBD development, spearheaded by people in our area.  Does management even know the difference between medical and recreational?
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 2/21/14, doug mckenty <dougmck at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] Replacing Media Matters
 To: "tbray at wildblue.net" <tbray at wildblue.net>, "kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org" <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>
 Date: Friday, February 21, 2014, 10:38 PM
 
 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
 
       Facebook: Oak and Thorn
   
 
 
 
 
 -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
 
 _______________________________________________
 Kzyxtalk mailing list
 Kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org
 http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/kzyxtalk