[Kzyxtalk] Demand for Online Donor List

[smmail]

So Scott, you demanded that KZYX put their donor list up immediately on 
the basis of a document that said the station didn’t have to comply 
until 2018. I am sure that the staff are having a good laugh.

Further, you didn’t check to see what “donor list” refers to. I easily 
found the FCC and Cornell law sites that said donors are entities who 
pay to support the costs of airing specific programs and the list has to 
record the time and date of the specific program supported. I then 
checked a couple of law firm sites who advise radio stations of their 
legal responsibilities, and they said the same thing but elaborated that 
donors are, essentially, individual program underwriters who are not 
reported on air. These donors consist of wealthy individuals, 
foundations, trusts, and corporations who support specific issues or 
wish to improve their image. To check this, I went to the KQED website 
to find that their donors lists matched this description.

My presumption is that what you and Doug want are present and past 
member’s names and contact information. It would be blatantly unethical 
for the station to release this information. In this period of concern 
about privacy, can you imagine the anger, potential law suits, and loss 
of membership from angry members who are contacted, for whatever reason, 
because the station released their private information? Also, according 
to federal law, it is illegal for the station to release this 
information unless the members have previously given permission, but 
there is no requirement that this be done at all. To check these facts, 
I looked at the membership list policy of several large public radio 
stations and KQED only releases names of members that have given 
permission. Further the releases are mediated by a third party who 
handles the contact (mailing etc.) in a manner that the requesting 
organization can’t get direct access to the list. The requesting agency 
has to pay all expenses. Minnesota Public Radio, who have a large number 
of specialty stations and transmitters, have a policy of not releasing 
member information at all. You or Doug are not going to get this 
information from the Station, but if there are a thousand dissatisfied 
ex members out there it should be easy to find and organize them.

You say that you have been researching KZYX for three years, but in just 
a few days of watching I have identified several errors that suggest 
that you suffer from confirmation bias, which is the bane of all 
information researchers. This information is very easy to find and you 
don’t own up to your mistakes. Nobody should trust any of your analyses 
and your juvenile insults are pitiful. SM



On 6/7/2016 5:55 PM, Scott Peterson wrote:
> Dear Mr./Ms. SM,
>
>
> Actually, I did read the document I linked. Here's a direct quote from 
> the last paragraph on page 37:
>
>
> "As we proposed in the NPRM and as we required for television 
> broadcasters in the Second Report
>
>
> and Order, we will require noncommercial radio broadcasters to include 
> donor lists in their online
>
>
> public files."
>
>
> That's straight from the FCC and its individual commissioners. Who 
> don't mind using their names.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Scott M. Peterson
>
>
> Mendocino
>
>
> https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-16-4A1.pdf
>
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
>
> You didn't actually read the document you linked and you have no idea
> what is required in a public inspection form. How embarrassing.
>
> This took me a little longer than usual (20 minutes) to find because the
> Gov documents site is down. SM
>
>
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> Kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org
> http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/kzyxtalk


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