censoring Guns & Butter
Guns & Butter CENSORED - Again! during a KPFA fund drive.
Guns & Butter is a radio program that investigates the relationships among capitalism, militarism and politics, hosted by Bonnie Faulkner. It airs on KPFA FM 94.1 every Wednesday at 1:00 PM (except when censored).
Here is a letter from Bonnie Faulkner
May 18, 2016
Dear Guns and Butter members, listeners and supporters,
We have unfortunate news to bring you.
Guns and Butter has been censored once again during a KPFA fund drive. This is the second such censorship in Guns and Butter’s 15-year broadcasting history on Pacifica’s KPFA Radio in Berkeley, California.
The first time we were censored was exactly one year ago, and concerned offering videos on the subject of vaccination produced by author, broadcaster and expert in the field of health and nutrition, Gary Null, Ph.D.
This time the censorship is of Dr. Suzanne Humphries’ and Roman Bystrianyk’s 500-page book, Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History. This is a carefully researched book on the history of disease and the practice of vaccination. The book is full of graphs and neglected written histories of the progress of certain diseases, their treatments and outcomes.
The subject of vaccination is extremely important, most particularly at the present time in California which has seen the passage and implementation of laws that constitute unconstitutional forced medical treatment without the informed consent of children and adults. We feel that this is an issue that is of the utmost importance to air.
I have been informed by the KPFA Program Director that Guns and Butter will be preempted today.
A discussion of this complex topic is beyond the scope of this newsletter, but we did want to let you know that we were going to offer this important book as a thank you gift to those of you who support the station.
Guns and Butter has been in the forefront of courageous broadcasting. We were the only program that brought you uncensored and radical analyses of the September 11th attacks within one month of the crimes. We were the first show on the station to cover contemporary economic analysis concerning the subprime and debt deflation. We are dedicated to bringing you hard-hitting investigative reporting, not withstanding the disapproval of station gatekeepers.
Guns and Butter needs your financial support now more than ever. We have been broadcasting for 15 years with no financial remuneration from the stations that carry our show. We need your tax-deductible contributions to continue our mission - to bring to you the uncensored and hard-hitting investigative reports that you expect.
Read the full statement from the KPFA's Program Director along with some additional links and resources on our blog post.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Faulkner and Tony Rango
Guns and Butter
P.O. Box 184
Glen Ellen, CA 95442
Below is a letter from KPFA Program Director Laura Prives, the censor:
Bonnie,
The book Dissolving Illusions is not KPFA fund drive premium material.
We will have to preempt your show tomorrow.
KPFA follows basic ethical standards for choosing thank you gifts presented to listeners, that is, to tell the truth and do no harm. Thank you gifts must be vetted for authenticity. Offering thank you gifts that contain unverified claims, such as cancer cures or fully discredited theories, such as a link between autism and vaccinations, violate basic ethical standards. Thank you gifts offering cures for life-threatening diseases or those validating unsubstantiated fears on controversial topics will undoubtedly be popular and are likely to bring in a large amount of donations. This is all the more reason to avoid "cashing in" and to hold to ethical standards.
Debates and discussions on this type of information outside of fund drives are certainly justifiable in order to present listeners with a full scope of a topic. But when KPFA offers books, CDs and DVDs during fund drive there is an implied endorsement of the information in that gift. For the same reason KPFA does not offer thank you gifts of items by political candidates during election season. The thank you gift implies an endorsement of the candidate. As a trusted media outlet KPFA has a responsibility to offer thank you gifts that are as credible and unbiased as is its daily reporting and public affairs broadcasting.
Thanks for your cooperation,
Laura [Prives]
LAURA PRIVES is KPFA'S Program Director and member of "SaveKPFA"
Clearly, there's a lot more to this. For more on the censorship of Guns & Butter, please visit Bonnie Faulker's website at gunsandbutter.org
An unfortunate result of this censorship and other shenanigans KPFA could be that some (or perhaps many) listeners may be disinclined to donate to the station. That, however, would be an act of tossing the baby out with the bath water. What you can do to fight against this abuse of power by the gatekeepers at the station is to pledge $25 during this fund drive, thereby becoming a voting member of KPFA, and vote in this year’s LSB (Local Station Board) election. (The date for the board election has not yet been set; it’ll probably be in late summer or this fall.) Please vote for the UCR (United for Community Radio) candidates.
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for updates, reports & essays on KPFA/Pacifica,
please visit these websites:
UNITED FOR COMMUNITY RADIO
PACIFICA IN EXILE
ANN GARRISON, A KPFA REPORTER
LORDS & LADIES vs. the PEASANTS at KPFA
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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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