8 reasons KRCC gave for refusing Democracy Now
Reasons provided by Mario Valdes and Constance Dudgeon for refusing DEMOCRACY NOW programming in a February 2, 2006 meeting with community members.
REASON #1:
There would be infrastructure costs involved in bringing Democracy Now’s feed to KRCC, specifically new satellite equipment.
RESPONSE: KRCC can pick up the live feed on the same system from which it pulls NPR content, PRSS (Public Radio Satellite System), at channel A67.7. If not broadcast live, the show is available in broadcast quality MP3 (a 27MB download).
In addition, Democracy Now is FREE for the first year. After that, on a sliding scale, the show would cost $1,000-7-000 per year (about 1-5% of a typical cost for NPR programming).
A strong favorite among listeners, and based on its performance at other stations, there is a high confidence factor that Democracy Now would actually outperform in fund-raising any costs associated with carrying the program, and would be a good fund-raising asset.
REASON #2:
Democracy Now is arrogant and demands prime time slots for airing. Mario will not be told by any content provider how to schedule his programming.
RESPONSE: Democracy Now representatives say that they will be very happy with any time slot. The only time concern they brought up is that if the show is aired at 5 am, the news would be aged 23 hours (they are live at 6 am MT).
REASON #3:
Democracy Now is “advocacy journalism.” Amy Goodman has said that she is an advocacy journalist and it says so on her business card.
RESPONSE: Democracy Now representatives say that they have heard this before. Extensive information is provided at their site in the interest of dispelling this label. The specific reference to “advocacy journalism” is in the video INDEPENDENT MEDIA IN A TIME OF WAR. Ms. Goodman answers a question regarding Democracy Now and advocacy journalism with a sarcastic remark that “the establishment reporters are my model.” Her implication was that corporate media is advocacy journalism.
[Aside: According to Democracy Now representatives, Amy Goodman has never carried a business card with an “advocacy journalist” moniker.]
REASON #4:
There are “only 5 stations” with NPR affiliation which carry Democracy Now. There is a prevailing view among NPR affiliate station managers that Democracy Now is arrogant and pushy (see Reason #2) and these station managers, on principle, will not carry the programming.
RESPONSE: In fact there are 25 NPR stations carrying Democracy Now, including KDNK in Aspen and KUNK at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, among over 350 radio stations nationwide. Democracy Now is heard in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Alamosa, Aspen, Carbondale, Cortez, Crested Butte, Durango, Gunnison, Paonia, Salida, Silverton and Telluride.
REASON #5:
Concern from the college administration over potential loss of significant conservative donor money.
RESPONSE: Has such significant donor attrition resulted from the airing of THIS WAY OUT?
Mario stated that 2/3 of the donors are either independent or conservative, and that 1/3 are independent. This could have just as easily been stated as 2/3 of the donors are either independent or liberal.
Perhaps we could look at the leanings of the underwriters. Could it be expected that many underwriters would pull their funding if Democracy Now is aired? The question can also be asked, how would members and underwriters react to KRCC’s immovability on the issue?
REASON #6:
Not enough people have expressed interest in hearing Democracy Now. It is “way down on the list” of programs mentioned in the listener polls taken during the fund drives.
RESPONSE: Democracy Now falls lower on the list of listener favorites when compared to programs already airing on KRCC. Among programs which listeners mention they would like to hear, it is at the very top. Petition signatures have been gathered from hundreds of community members and students.
REASON #7:
A confrontational relationship exists between Mario and some proponents of the community campaign who wish to bring Democracy Now to KRCC and to bring more community voice and influence to KRCC programming. Mario said that if it were not for this, we might already have Democracy Now programming.
RESPONSE: Taken on its own merit, the above statement implies that there is no objection to the program content, but that the obstacle is an unhealthy relationship between Mario and some community members. This would hardly seem to justify denying southern Colorado access to such high-quality programming. As a media outlet in the tradition of college radio, KRCC has a responsibility to serve the community in which it is a citizen with an every-broadening news menu. Democracy Now is an ideal channel for bringing news to southern Colorado that goes otherwise uncovered by radio broadcast programming. This should be the emphasis of KRCC, and not any of Mario’s perceived community relations issues or attitude problems with content providers (see Reason #4).
Airing Democracy Now should therefore be a simple matter of repairing the relationship. However, taken in context of the other reasons provided to us, Reason #7 contradicts Reason #1-6. [Aside: It can be noted that none of the reasons provided to us address the concept of
community responsibility by KRCC.]
From our experience in the February 2 meeting and in researching these responses, we are inclined to conclude that there is only one reason for the refusal to air Democracy Now on KRCC.
REASON #8:
Mario Valdes doesn’t want it. “It will never happen… not by petition or by election… the horse is quite dead.” He explains: “I don’t believe it’s a news program.” He likens Democracy Now to Rush Limbaugh.
RESPONSE: Democracy Now has won prestigious news awards. Host Amy Goodman filled Shove Chapel when she last visited Colorado College in 2004.
A digital recording of the Feb 2 meeting can be found on file at KRCC. It contains many more colorful statements than are referenced here.
Sunday 05 Feb 2006 | contact | Democracy Now