[Imc] In trouble: FSRN

[Kranich, Kimberlie]

Free Speech Radio News, the daily global newscast aired on WEFT Tuesdays
through Fridays from 5-5:30pm, is in financial trouble and at risk of
shutting down (see forwarded message below). 

WEFT has contributed $300 to FSRN every quarter since we've carried the
program.  We replaced Pacifica Network News with FSRN this summer.  As we
are no longer a Pacifica-affiliate, we cannot broadcast Paficia Network News
as an alternative to FSRN.  Therefore, if we lose FSRN, we will have no
daily newscast in our line-up.

The Programming Committee will discuss alternatives at our next meeting at
7pm on Wed., Nov. 14th. Unfortunately, none of these alternatives includes a
daily global newscast.

The information below includes a plea for financial help from listeners.  

Kimberlie
WEFT Programming Committee Chair
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Lyn Gerry
To: savewbai at lists.tao.ca; freepac at recordist.com; emmasdance at cs.pdx.edu;
freepacifica at recodist.com; Pacifica-Affiliates at yahoogroups.com;
nyfreemedia at tao.ca
Sent: 11/2/2001 2:52 AM
Subject: A message from Alice Walker and Studs Terkel

Send reply to:  	savepacifica at peacenet.org
Subject:        	A message from Alice Walker and Studs Terkel

Free Speech Radio News, the daily newscast put out by freelance
journalists on strike against Pacifica Radio, is nearly out of funds.
Unless they raise sufficient money, the newscast will go off the air in
mid-November. Please consider the following EMERGENCY APPEAL from
writers Alice Walker and 
Studs Terkel...

======================================================
November 1, 2001

Dear Free-Speech Supporter,

Thank you for considering this emergency appeal.

At all times, and especially in wartime, truth becomes a lifeline.

The Pentagon recently bought up the exclusive rights to commercial
satellite images showing civilian dead in Afghanistan.  The U.S.
government is trying to control what the entire country--including the
media--knows about this already-devastating conflict.

In a climate of increasing political repression, Free Speech Radio News
is one of the few remaining independent sources for real information
about our government's so-called war against terrorism--information not
owned by a corporation, controlled by the Pentagon or vetted by the
White House.

Flying routinely under government censors, Free Speech Radio News
recently announced unprecedented war coverage. Anchored by former
Pacifica Network News veteran Verna Avery Brown, this newscast
challenges the information blackout sweeping the mainstream press with a
pool of over 100 progressive 
journalists positioned across the Middle East, in South Asia and around
the world, filing from ever
y continent except Antarctica.

Covering a conflict of this scale takes money, and Free Speech Radio
News needs your help to stay o
n the air. This daily, ground breaking, half-hour newscast, airing on
more than 50 community radio 
stations, over the Internet and beamed to 120 countries via short-wave,
is proud to bring you:

**Fariba Nawa in Islamabad, providing first-hand accounts of U.S. air
strikes, plus coverage of the
 Pakistani refugee crisis.

**Sputnik Kilambi reporting from South Asia, with deep contacts among
Indian and Pakistani peace ac
tivists.

**James Smoot on the ground in Istanbul, reporting on violent police
repression of civilian protest
. 

**Jeremy Scahill, the youngest-ever Polk Award winner offering critical
analysis of the political a
lliances being sought by the U.S.

Other international coverage includes Rafael Krafft in Occupied
Palestine; Steve Negus in Egypt; Ro
ry Mulholland in Turkminestan; Rupert Cook in the Sudan and Sam Olukoya
in Nigeria.

Kata Mester on Capitol Hill covers the clampdown on civil liberties. An
impressive pool of journali
sts, including Polk-Award winner Robert Knight, Geoff Brady, Miranda
Kennedy and Eileen Sutton brin
g daily news from *the first ground zero* in New York. Susan Wood weighs
in from the United Nations
, and an extensive team of U.S.-based Free Speech Radio News reporters
will also stay keenly focuse
d on the U.S. peace movement and other domestic issues. 
 
Nearly two years old, this alternative broadcast was first created by
dozens of freelance reporters
 who struck Pacifica Network News (PNN) last year over rampant
censorship. The success and populari
ty of the newscast is exceptional, with at least 41 former Pacifica
affiliates canceling PNN in ord
er to air Free Speech Radio News.

Independent media sources must work extra hard to secure funding.  FSRN
has always relied on genero
us contributions from supporters.  However, it is facing an unexpected
funding shortfall this month
 that threatens its survival.  (This shortfall is due in part to
increased expenses related to cove
rage of the Afghan war.)
 
Consider this: your donation of $150 pays a reporter for one story.
Your donation of $500 covers m
onthly travel expenses for overseas journalists. Your $1,000 donation
pays for one entire Free Spee
ch Radio News broadcast. Your donation of $1,700 covers the satellite
link for a month, while a don
ation of $5,000 keeps the show on the air for an entire week.

A donation of any size will help concerned listeners get the information
they deserve. Checks can b
e made out to Pacifica Reporters Against Censorship and sent to PRAC,
c/o Kevin Brower, 2210 Curtis
 St., #A, Berkeley, CA 94702. All donations are tax deductible. For more
information, please write 
to pnnstrikers at igc.org, or listen to the newscast at www.fsrn.org.

Without your support, this remarkable, truly grass-roots media effort
cannot continue. Please give 
generously today.

Sincerely,
 
Alice Walker & Studs Terkel

P.S., Free Speech Radio News needs your support to say on the air.  The
Bush Administration wants t
o control all that you see, hear and know.  I hope you'll agree that a
minimum donation of $50 to F
ree Speech Radio News is a small price to pay for access to the truth.
Please give what you can.
 



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