Audio and minutes: NCPR Quarterly Executive Council Meeting, February 15, 2018

3 Comments on “Audio and minutes: NCPR Quarterly Executive Council Meeting, February 15, 2018”

1. Richard says:

   February 27, 2018 at 5:39 pm

   I submitted a letter for the council of executives in time for the meeting, it was not read aloud, and it was held for “review”. It was not longer than the three minute time limit as written into the boards rules. Will it appear here? Don’t bother.

   It appears this board is occupied with other matters and is not a Community Advisory Board, in the CPB sense, if it has not preformed the duties of such a board, the satiation should stop taking federal money ahead of the Trump dissolution of the CPB and keeping the money so teachers can pack heat and protect teenagers and children from military assault weapons. Good move POTUS! GOP Guns Over People!

   At the last meeting my call for a member by member vote on the boards opinions as whether or not to recommend Democracy Now news was preempted by Martha Foley, once again, informing the board that they did not have to do that. No need for a vote and involvement on a part of the board! Thanks for the Community input Martha. She also misled the board insinuating that I am asking the board to make, not advise, (read my words) the station to try a new source of news Democracy Now. This is my point of contention, station administrative staff micro manages a board that is not even a remote reflection of the listening community. It does not make programming advisement. The staff is overly fixated on geographic representation of the board and excludes members based on class, ethnicity, income, political, sex etc. and breaks it own rules of voting on new members and turnover………
   Thanks for you time and service

2. Michael Owen says:

   February 19, 2018 at 3:13 pm

   I see that you listed the names of the board members but I don’t see any contact information. Would you please correct this oversight?

   I need to contact each board member individually so that questions they a responsible for resolving can be done without launching a public campaign that may be damaging the station’s fund raising efforts.

3. Richard Paolillo says:

   February 15, 2018 at 1:31 pm

   Dear NCPR CAB February 12, 2018
   Still waiting for the CAB Community Advisory Board of WSLU NCPR to request its members to listen to Democracy Now! as a supplement to NPR news; to vote up or down as to advise recommending or not recommending Democracy Now to the station’s management; and to GO ON RECORD as to its decision. The CAB has only listened to Station management and staff say no to ever having Democracy Now on the station (October 5, 2017), saying this issue is a, “deeply fixed guideline of the station.” The CAB needs to go on the record, and in the minutes with a member by member vote. Yes, I have been working on this for over a decade, primarily because this “Community Advisory Board” aka “Executive Counsel” has failed to preform even this elemental duty and reflect any instance in the record of fulfilling its duty.
   The last meeting someone mistook me for someone who presented at the July Meeting. I am not that person and this was not corrected at the meeting by staff in the know.
   At the July 27, 2017 meeting Mr. Robinson said, he “Listened to Democracy Now!” And thought it was a good program. At the October 5, 2017 meeting, (not sure it I have the right person,Mr. Dzwonczyk?) said, the request to air Democracy Now! “Doesn’t sound terribly unreasonable to me. Is there a reason why we don’t have Democracy Now? If it’s free? (34:00 time into meeting, October 5) ” These two phrases, are the entire extent of the Community Advisory Board’s discussion of the public’s suggestion for the board to consider Democracy Now! The board is negligent in its duty for the following reasons. 1) Ms. Rocco chaired the board until 2017 and then the Boards chairman ran the meetings. Not once has the management or the chairman, initiate a full investigation, by The CAB, of my proposal, or others proposal, to air Democracy Now! 2) In order to consider a program suggestion, the board would ask its members to sample the program several times and place a review and discussion of the program on the next meeting’s agenda. 3) At the next meeting, ask everyone if they reviewed the program, discuss and vote, each member yes or no, to recommend it to management. 4) Management would accept or reject the boards advisement. I am quite aware this is just an “advisory” board as I have read all the CPB laws and spoke with the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, CPB, Inspector General’s office several times. 5) IN the October meeting a board member believed I was the one to make an appearance at the July meeting calling for Democracy Now! I am not that person, and this was not clarified, nor corrected, by staff members who are very aware of the various parties making this petition.
   On October 5, 2017, just the mention of Democracy Now! on the part of a board member, triggered the management squelching all further board investigation, perhaps voting, recording this in the minutes and stopped the board from exercising its duty under CPB law. That, Mr. Chairman, is the main point of my petition over these last few meetings.
   In addition, the management claimed that Democracy Now is not fair and balanced…not neutral, objective or fact based and that there it is a “deeply fixed guideline of the station” to exclude Democracy Now! Where is this guide line? Where is a formal up and down vote, after due process, of this board? NPR news routinely quotes: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram, and Glenn Beck (Just reviewed a movie on related to Alex Johns). When hauled into court over the years, these spokesmen of the Right, claim they’re not reporters, but entertainers, mere performance artists. Why does NPR quote them representing conservative views? Direct samples from these entertainers’ shows are a regular feature of NPR reporting of the Trump reign. Are they, “fair and balanced… neutral, objective or fact based?” No show is a perfect harbinger of the Truth.
   The CAB has yet to identify its members so that they may be evaluated as representative of the community, also required by CPB Rules. At last count July 2017 meeting there are three SLU trustees, several station employees/agents and many others I suspect are SLU alumni. Are all the board members SLU affiliated? It is understandable that station agents and management feel the communities educational and cultural needs provided through Democracy Now could be met “online, cable and other local stations.” There are many financially and technologically challenged listeners that have no access to these relatively expensive modes of media. This is indisputable in this region of low income, low education and high unemployment.
   NPR news is not alone in media circles as unfit and unable to cover the unique challenges of the Trump Presidency. The debate continues on NPR as to whether or not to label Trumps many false statements “lies.” There is an erosion of governmental norms and traditions; blizzards of Trump propaganda legitimized and orchestrated on Fox News; normalization of racism and white supremacy; delegitimizing of Law enforcement and investigations; Russian meddling in our elections; possible impeachable offences and violation of the U.S. Constitution, and on top of all that a president who has not once corrected himself or retracted a lie… NPR has not stepped up, unwilling or unable.
   When to call a lie? The Washington Post has listed Trumps false and misleading claims, “averaged 4.9 claims a day. At that pace, it appeared unlikely the president would break 2,000 in a year. But the longer the president has been in the job, the more frequently he touts an assortment of exaggerated, dubious or false claims.” The New York Times reports, “Many Americans have become accustomed to President Trump’s lies. But as regular as they have become, the country should not allow itself to become numb to them. So we have catalogued nearly every outright lie he has told publicly since taking the oath of office.” In addition, the NYT has a full page poster and online ongoing interactive feature reporting the false claims/lies with details.
   “An NPR News executive explained on Wednesday (January 2017) why reporters, to this day, have avoided using the word “lie” in describing President Donald Trump’s claims of massive voter fraud in the election. “Our job as journalists is to report, to find facts, and establish their authenticity and share them with everybody,” Michael Oreskes, senior vice president of news, said on NPR’s “Morning Edition.” “It’s really important that people understand that these aren’t our opinions. … These are things we’ve established through our journalism, through our reporting … and I think the minute you start branding things with a word like ‘lie,’ you push people away from you.” Other news organizations, like the New York Times, did use that term, and NPR acknowledged that there was some debate within its newsroom. She pointed to the Oxford English Dictionary definition of lie — a false statement made with intent to deceive. “Without the ability to peer into Donald Trump’s head, I can’t tell you what his intent was,” she said.”(Variety January 25, 2018)
   So, it has been a year. Trump still controls reporters like pawns on a chess board. Reporters for NPR, NYT and Washington Post have had more than a year to deconstruct the current President and yet they are unable, unwilling to stop Trump in his tracks with “Facts” and as NPR says “establish their authenticity and share them with everybody.” So were at 4.9 lies a day. That is a blizzard that even an astute news junkie could not keep up or sort out. Intent to lie is easy when a pattern is evident. Trump attacks News as “Fake.” The Press is one of the cornerstones holding a democracy together. To label the press as “Fake news” and for the press not have a strong response is unconscionable and a threat to our freedom. Criticism of the president is dismissed as fake news. NPR based news is just not up to the task. The task: aggressive hard-hitting questions; call out Trumps “intent”; insist Trump walk back “alternative facts”; contrast and compare facts verses Trump claims for authenticity. We cannot continue as a nation if there are no basic agreed upon standards of reality.
   We need in depth people, not corporate centered journalism, produced on Democracy Now more than ever. I know several dozen people who no longer listen or support the station. It needs to evolve, to attract new younger diverse audience; millennials that have better media savvy than us old folks. Many of the ex-listener/members did receive a call from Ellen asking them to contribute and come back as members. Ms. Rocco is a great at outreach and fundraising. We have too many choices of news to choose from. Will this station be the 46th NPR station to air Democracy Now! or the last?
   The Station must establish a CAB Community Advisory Board (not a board that “serve as”); a board that represents the community; its cultural, and educational needs as required by the CPB. If not, NCPR should forgo all CPB funds and declare it to be the private station it already is. Stop taking public money if you don’t play by the rules.

   Sincerely
   Richard Paolillo
   Additional Information Works Sited For Reference Only
   CAB Guidelines at CPB Corporation for Public Broadcasting https://www.cpb.org/stations/certification/cert3
   Tell NPR to Call a Lie a Lie, National Public Radio has announced that it will never refer to a lie by a U.S. president as a lie. Sign this petition to NPR News 45,832 have signed; goal is 50,000 act.rootsaction.org
   National Public Radio, Inc. How the Media Failed in Covering Donald Trump, David Folkenflik May 5, 2016.
   National Public Radio, Inc. ‘New York Times’ Editor: “WE Owed It To Our Readers’ To call Trump Claims Lies,” September 22, 2016 Morning Edition
   https://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2017/01/26/511798707/the-pros-and-cons-of-nprs-policy-of-not-calling-out-lies
   Variety January 25, 2018 Update: Oreskes issued a statement with additional comments. “I have been in journalism for more than forty years. It’s my editorial judgement that use of the word lie has not been necessary to fully communicate the facts of the situation so far. That’s my judgement as a journalist and my decision as editorial director. Our job is to report and present the facts. That’s what gives our audiences the information they need to be good citizens. They are as capable as we are of judging the meaning of those facts. Many have concluded that those facts mean the president has lied. They seem to be the ones pressing for us to use the word. But if they’ve reached that judgement why do they need us to say it for them?” (Because there is a blizzard of 5 lies a day)
   There were also reports last week that the Trump transition team was mulling a budget plan that would privatize the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding to NPR stations. An NPR spokeswoman said that “funding has absolutely nothing to do with the editorial decision-making process in the NPR newsroom.”
   Clarification: Mary Louise Kelly quote was corrected to read that the claim was “provably not true,” not “probably not true.”

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