Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 20:35:16
From: Mitchel Cohen <mitchelcohen-AT-mindspring.com>
Subject: Judging Amy (Goodman) -- PRINT VERSION


JUDGING AMY

Dear New York Press,

Norman Kelley's article on WBAI states that the "latest crisis stems from a
faux pas committed by ["Democracy Now!" host Amy] Goodman: she gave Ralph
Nader, the Green Party presidential candidate, a press credential that
allowed him on the floor of the Republican National Convention. While this
was good political theater, it was bad journalism. It was also bad
politics. Now Democracy Now!'s enemies have a 'legitimate' reason to go
after it."

This is not what happened. It is simply propaganda cooked up by the
Pacifica National Board and its apologists, like Marc Cooper, to attack the
award-winning news show and its producers. Amy stands in the way of them
neutering the biting investigative reporting. The Board does so at the
behest of the Democratic Party national leadership; it plans to corporatize
the entire network.

As Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Michael Ratner explains,
neither Amy Goodman nor Democracy Now! provided Ralph Nader with a floor
pass to the Republican National Convention; this claim was merely a
Pacifica pretext, and a false one, so the National Board could deny
Democracy Now! credentials to the Democratic Party's National Convention in
Los Angeles, and to deny Amy Goodman the opportunity to ask tough and
potentially embarrassing questions of Gore and Lieberman on such issues as
their support for genetic engineering, the death penalty, the
prison-industrial complex, the Rockefeller drug laws in NY, Gore's vote to
confirm anti-abortion Supreme Court Justice Antonio Scalia, their
connections to big Oil and Insurance companies, their support for NAFTA,
GATT, the WTO, IMF and the World Bank, the Clinton/Gore tear-down of the
last old growth forests in the US, their appalling increase in national
police apparatus (via alleged "anti-terrorism" and "crime" legislation),
the destruction of the welfare safety net, NATO's murderous bombardment of
Yugoslavia, the brutal sanctions against Iraq and Cuba, their lack of
support for a real living wage, and the continued incarceration of Mumia
Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier, among others.

Ralph Nader did go to the convention floor at the Republican Convention,
but this was not facilitated by the use of press credentials of either Amy
Goodman or Democracy Now! employees. Ralph Nader entered the convention at
the invitation of MSNBC. Democracy Now! arranged an interview with him in
the hallways of the convention. He was soon surrounded by numerous
journalists and he walked onto the floor without the necessary floor pass
and without being stopped by security. Pacifica knows this, but continues
to repeat a story that does not comport with the facts. However, even
though the story is untrue, Pacifica used it to forbid Democracy Now! staff
from receiving press credentials to the   Democratic Convention in L.A.
Again, the story regarding the claimed misuse of the press pass was a
pretext to keep Democracy Now! out of the Democratic Convention and to
censor Amy Goodman.

The fight over the Pacifica National Board and its directions is is no
"tempest in a teapot". There are now four lawsuits brought against the
Board on behalf of the listeners, local advisory board members, and even
several national board members who are basically whisteblowers fighting the
fascists. The lies of the National Board leadership are intentional, and
designed to impugn the integrity of Amy Goodman and other WBAI
investigative journalists. I'm surprised Norman Kelley fell for this ruse.
Readers who want to learn more can go to www.wbai.net.

Mitchel Cohen
Brooklyn Greens / Green Party of NY

2652 Cropsey Avenue, #7H
Brooklyn, NY 11214
(718) 449-0037
mitchelcohen-AT-mindspring.com