Pacifica in debt, while Amy Goodman takes in millions

Amy Goodman, the earnest and radical egalitarian at the head of the show, “Democracy Now,” one of the left’s most influential outlets, is owed $2 million by Pacific Radio, a non-profit supported by donations.

Someone making $2 million doesn’t automatically inflame my capitalist sensibilities, but when that someone spent a lot of her time deploying class and race warfare to shore up her own constituencies, while carefully engaging in  propaganda by omission, emphasis, and distortion, then my sympathies wilt.

They wilt even more when that person is a noted apologist for the Libyan invasion and a reliable Obama defender.

Seems that Goodman isn’t planning on “forgiving” any of her debts, even though she spent a lot of time raising money to buy up consumer debt and cancel it for pennies on the dollar, so consumers didn’t have to pay ,and even though a majority of Pacifica’s employees have had to be sacked so Amy gets her missing pay-checks:

“WBAI, a progressive radio channel, announced Friday that it will cut 19 of its 29 employees to cover operating expenses—which include $2 million owed to Amy Goodman’s show “Democracy Now!”—according to the New York Times.

At a board meeting last week members wrangled over the night’s agenda for the first 25 minutes, despite the radio station’s sizable layoffs only days before. Audience members sporadically jeered “fascist!” and shouted “Go back to the NSA!” before the board moved on to discuss financial matters.

WBAI’s greatest obstacle is paying their most popular broadcast, “Democracy Now!” which is hosted by Goodman. So far, “Democracy Now!” has refused to restructure the station’s debt.

Owned by the nonprofit organization Pacifica, WBAI depends on its 14,000 members to cover operating costs. Last year members contributed just $2.5 million.

The Times reported:

Berthold Reimers, WBAI’s general manager, reported that the station had $23,000 on hand and was scouring Craigslist and other sites to furnish new, cheaper studios in Brooklyn. An Ikea chair was bought for $40, he said. “That’s the cheapest we could possibly get.”

Former WBAI staff members complain that constant management turnover as the board instituted one “coup” after another made their jobs nearly impossible.

“For the last 10 years working at WBAI has been a nightmare,” said Jose Santiago, the news director for two decades. “I compare it to the nation facing Democrats and Republicans in Washington. Their priority is to stay in power and bash each other in the head, and nothing ever gets done.”

World War II “conscientious objectors” founded WBAI in 1946 as the first radio station depending solely on listeners’ donations.”

2 thoughts on “Pacifica in debt, while Amy Goodman takes in millions

  1. If all debts both moral and material, were collectable, I’d be a wealthy man. I am not a privileged elite however so my claims can be safely ignored. I cannot say the same of the claims on me.

  2. Yeah. One rule for us, another for the big-shots.
    I used to like Amy G when I first started out..but then within a year or so, I began to see through a lot of these activists. The neocon tools are pretty obvious, but the antiwar crowd is less obvious. There are plenty of people misleading deliberately.
    Misleading by accident is a different thing. There’s only so much anyone can know and sometimes we all get taken in.

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