<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16544" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=2>
<P>An Open Letter to the Pacifica Community</P>
<P>>From Dan Siegel, Interim Executive Director</P>
<P>October 24, 2007</P>
<P>Dear Friends,</P>
<P>Pacifica's local station board elections have taken a particularly nasty
turn. A group of candidates running for the KPFA local board have issued
statements that contain little more than personal attacks on their opponents and
station staff. A candidate at WBAI engages in blatant race-baiting.</P>
<P>As a community and a progressive organization we must ask ourselves whether
this type of rhetoric is acceptable. Pacifica has important challenges. We live
in a nation whose leaders wage unjust and unpopular wars around the globe,
attack our civil rights and liberties, oppose efforts to achieve racial justice
and equality for all people, and pursue policies that widen the gap between rich
and poor. The often toxic debate within Pacifica restricts our ability to
respond to these issues, saps the morale of our hard-working and underpaid
staff, and discourages people of good will from participating in our
organization.</P>
<P>Many people are now calling for administrative and legal responses to abusive
candidate speech. We are reviewing our options, but libel laws, difficulties in
distinguishing between reasonable criticism and personal attacks (as well as
deciding who should be empowered to make such judgments), and Pacifica's
tradition of support for free speech make such measures problematic.</P>
<P>In the end, Pacifica's members will decide whether hate speech and hateful
speech will be tolerated in our community. We need leaders who will work to
improve our programming, broaden our listener base, and attract needed financial
support. I urge all of you to carefully review the candidate statements and to
cast your ballots for candidates who reflect both your views on how this
organization should be run and your values on how democratic debate should occur
in a progressive organization that reflects the diversity of our society.</P>
<P>Dan Siegel</P>
<P>Interim Executive Director</P>
<P>Pacifica Foundation</P>
<P>This e-mail is only intended for members of the Board of Directors of the
Fresno Free College Foundation and the Executive Director. Any other use is
prohibited.</P>
<P>_______________________</P></FONT></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>