We need to endorse Tracy Rosenberg



Today as we enter 2012, KPFA 94.1 FM is still on the air, thanks in large part to Tracy Rosenberg. She is now facing a recall election.


by Virginia Browning & Daniel Borgström
April 26, 2012


Tracy Rosenberg is a member of KPFA's Local Station Board and also of Pacifica's National Board. She is among the very most effective board members Pacifica has ever had.  Having worked  way overtime to understand the financial data, and to report back to listeners about what she found, she is one of the people most responsible for saving the network from bankruptcy.  Tracy continues to be effective in opposing fake campaigns by a group of self appointed gatekeepers to retain control of the station and network, which is undoubtedly why they have mounted this very public waste of time and money--the campaign to recall her.

What is Tracy accused of?   Using a KPFA email list to promote a new show.  She used the list with the express permission of Pacifica's executive director who asked Tracy, as the head of Media Alliance with a large email server, to contact all KPFA members on the list she was permitted to use and promote the new show.

Ironically, those who falsely claim she used the private list inappropriately have themselves been using a mysteriously acquired list to email listener-members.  They do this under the name "SAVEKPFA," a name all of us once used when we wrested the station from a possible sale in 1999.

Some staff members certainly do support the "SAVEKPFA" usurpers, as that support is in sync with their longtime effort to maintain control of the airwaves by a few, and limit access to this community station.

Tracy has supported the unpaid as well as the paid staff, including advocating for more training, perhaps making use of seasoned broadcasters in a much-needed role as mentors and collaborators versus sometimes undercutting and holding hostage unpaid staff for "fill-in" spots if they toe the line.  Tracy supports the democratic opening up of the airwaves to more community voices, not only as interviewees, but as broadcasters of their own stories.  A very effective public speaker herself, she understands the value of good radio, and certainly wants support for training to achieve the most appealing and informative radio possible.  She simply realizes that there are more than a handful of people capable of contributing to this on KPFA.

KPFA has material assets, and it has people assets. Tracy Rosenberg is one of the station's people assets.  We cannot afford to lose her.

Other Activities & Positions
In addition to her work at KPFA/Pacifica, Tracy Rosenberg has been the Executive Director of Media Alliance since 2007. She has organized and advocated for a free, accountable and accessible media system, focusing on the protection and sustainability of alternative media outlets,  from Pacifica Radio to low-power FM, public access and Indymedia.  She has monitored the mainstream media for accuracy and fair representation and facilitated the training of numerous nonprofit organizations and citizen's groups in effective communications.

She writes on media policy at the Huffington Post.

Stop the Recall
Afterword regarding recall elections
Does "why we think the whole idea of a recall is wrong/bogus/dishonest, etc." include that it is fundamentally unfair to allow a bare majority of voters to recall a director elected under a proportional representation election system? The method of election used to elect LSB members is intended to guarantee minority representation on the LSB while allowing the majority of voters to elect the majority of LSB members. Because the bylaws-creators apparently hadn't anticipated quite this degree of trickery, the bylaws as of now have no fair provision for the replacement of the recalled member. If Tracy is recalled, instead of KPFA's representation on the Pacifica National Board consisting of a majority on the LSB from one group and a minority from another or other groups, there would be no minority representation on Pacifica National by the minority viewpoints at KPFA.

This recall campaign was mounted by those who "won" their majority on the local board in part by committing egregious election violations in the last LSB election , then suing Pacifica for the election supervisor's imposed penalty. (She – the National Election Supervisor – NES - was explicitly mandated to remove from the air those who committed the violations; however, as the most obvious of them were committed on the last two days of the election, days with a large number of votes cast – removing those broadcasters from the air then as the bylaws explicitly calls for would have done nothing to further fairness. She could have also thrown the whole election out, costing the foundation many thousands of dollars. Instead, she simply removed the votes of violators as she was more generally if less explicitly allowed to do and as seemed fitting under the circumstances. Whether, in a related case, a local judge and former member of their exclusive "union" seemed to side with the skewed presentation of their viewpoint by the master- rhetoriticians so many have come to trust, with Pacifica lacking resources to pursue its rights further, does not invalidate the right of the NES to mete consequences to those thwarting the election process.


Stop the Recall

Some KPFA election violations 2010

AUDIO of the On-Air Live Debate, Friday, June 29th, at 1 PM, between Tracy Rosenberg and recall proponent Margy Wilkinson. If you missed it, you can listen in KPFA Archives by clicking here

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Updates, reports & essays about KPFA & Pacifica Foundation Radio at
UNITED FOR COMMUNITY RADIO


KPFA 94.1 FM is one of five stations of the Pacifica radio network which are located in major cities across the country. The other stations are WBAI 99.5 in New York, WPFW 89.3 in Washington DC, KPFT 90.1 in Houston, and KPFK 90.7 in Los Angeles. There are also about 160 affiliate stations.






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