Editor,
A recurring theme in the Daily Lobo during my time at UNM has been free speech.
I feel that the most pressing issue to the topic of free speech today involves “Democracy Now,” a radio program produced by the Pacifica Radio network, which is aired by our very own station, KUNM.
I had loosely followed the bizarre sequence of corporate shenanigans and executive boardroom dramas, but last Wednesday my understanding and disgust with the situation was heightened. I was listening to KUNM during the scheduled time for Democracy Now, except it was not the scheduled program. It was the staff members of Democracy Now broadcasting from a different station and talking about their situation within Pacifica Radio.
I have listened to Democracy Now for years to hear the excellent news coverage of important topics facing American and world citizens. I was shocked to hear that the staff of this program has been subjected to physical and verbal abuse, prevented from effectively producing their program by the managers and executives of Pacifica, denied their personal property in the workplace, arrested for going to work and threatened constantly.
If you haven’t been following the story, you might wonder what would bring this situation upon news reporters. The “offenses” committed by these reporters include interviewing Ralph Nader, an American woman who is in prison in Peru and Bill Clinton.
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These don’t seem like amazing crimes to me, but the corporate entities governing media are reacting violently against the workers who tried only to supply listeners with new opinions that never make it to the worthless news programs shown on network television or appear in most newspapers.
I then visited the Pacifica Web site, www.pacifica.org, and read the formal statement regarding Democracy Now. They had actually printed a letter apologizing to listeners for the impudence of Amy Goodman and other reporters who were refusing to produce the show in the quasi-Gestapo environment. The letter also said that they hoped, for the sake of their readers, that the reporters would quit being silly and start doing the show again.
This is scary to me. This is big money and politics trying to keep the people from knowing. Already, more than half of the Daily Lobo readers have probably stopped reading and labeled me a liberal fanatic. Anyone who has gotten this far should consider the implications of a media system of TV, radio and printed news that prevents free speech and public awareness about key topics such as elections or foreign affairs.
I urge everyone to research this further. It’s spooky, and it’s a big deal. I urge the Daily Lobo editor and staff to provide coverage of this situation. More people need to know about this, unless of course you believe that average citizens don’t deserve to know or have the intelligence to deal with the truth of their government, society, and world.
Adam Collingsworth,
Undergraduate student
