Paul DeRienzo (by way of mf@MediaFilter.org (MediaFilter)) on Fri, 14 Mar 97 13:01 MET |
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nettime: Pacifica Responds to WRTI |
http://www.pacifica.org/pacifica/democracy/mumia/pacrel3.html Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii; name="pacrel3.html" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline; filename="pacrel3.html" Content-Base: "http://www.pacifica.org/pacifica/democ racy/mumia/pacrel3.html" <BASE HREF="http://www.pacifica.org/pacifica/democracy/mumia/pacrel3.html"> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Pacifica Responds to WRTI</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff" TEXT="#000000" BACKGROUND="../../images/bg.gif"> <br> <center><img border=1 src="../../images/branchsm.gif"></center> <blockquote> <p> <pre> TEMPLE UNIVERSITY CENSORS NEW COMMENTARIES BY DEATH ROW INMATE WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -- Pacifica Radio is saddened to report that Temple University has cancelled its contract with Pacifica Radio, just minutes before new commentaries by Pennsylvania death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal were set to air on Pacifica's daily public affairs program Democracy Now!. These are the only commentaries by Abu-Jamal since 1994 when National Public Radio decided not to broadcast (or release to Pacifica) commentaries it commissioned, a decision that fueled a nationwide controversy over censorship, the death penalty, and public broadcasting funding. "We are deeply concerned and disappointed that Temple University has cancelled Democracy Now! and pulled all Pacifica programming from the airwaves," said Julie Drizin, Executive Producer. "We know this is a serious loss for tens of thousands of listeners who have come to appreciate and support JAZZ-FM for airing Pacifica programs. Something is deeply wrong with the fact that voters in the state of Pennsylvania will no longer have the rare opportunity to hear the voice of a man their government is planning to execute in their name. It's politically motivated censorship, pure and simple, and a move sure to raise questions about Temple University's commitment to academic and journalistic freedom." Mumia Abu-Jamal is a former public radio reporter (WHYY Philadelphia) and Black Panther who was convicted in the 1981 shooting death of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has been on death row for 15 years. The Prison Radio Project recorded these 13 commentaries just 10 days before the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections banned journalists from videotaping, audio recording or photographing any inmates. Similar crackdowns on media access to prisons are taking place in other states. In these commentaries, Mumia Abu-Jamal addresses topics including: Life on Death Row, Rap Music's place in African American Culture, South Africa and the Death Penalty, Police Brutality, reflections on his parents, and the experiences of fatherless young black men behind bars. "Pacifica radio unequivocally asserts that Mumia Abu-Jamal has the fundamental and inalienable right to write these commentaries without harassment and intimidation from prison authorities, that the Prison Radio Project has the 1st amendment right to record Mumia Abu-Jamal reading these essays face-to-face without undue burdens, that Pacifica Radio has the absolute right to broadcast these commentaries without political interference or threats, and that the American public has a right to hear them and make their own decisions. That's what it means to live in a democracy," said Drizin. As a national radio network, Pacifica takes no position on the guilt or innocence of Mumia Abu-Jamal, but the network considers its decision to air his prison writings as the latest chapter in Pacifica's 50-year tradition of advancing the cause of freedom of the press -- a tradition that has benefitted all journalists in this country. Mumia Abu-Jamal's commentaries are airing on Pacifica's cutting-edge daily public affairs program Democracy Now!, carried on public radio stations around the U.S, including the 5 Pacifica stations: WBAI-New York, WPFW- Washington D.C., KPFK-Los Angeles, KPFA-Berkeley and KPFT-Houston. If the state of Pennsylvania prevails in suppressing Mumia Abu-Jamal's voice and ultimately executing him, these tapes could be the last recorded works of Mumia Abu-Jamal. "If Mumia Abu-Jamal has nothing important to say, why are so many powerful people trying to shut him up?" - John Edgar Wideman PHONE NUMBERS FOR TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, which cancelled all Pacifica programming on Monday, February 24, 1997 in response to Democracy Now's broadcast of commentaries by Mumia Abu-Jamal. PETER LIACOURAS President phone 215-204-7405 fax 215-204-5799 Address: Berk Street at Park Sullivan Hall, Suite 200 Philadelphia PA 19122 Email: pjl@eop.temple.edu GEORGE INGRAM University Relations phone (215) 204-8561 Address: 302 University Service Building Temple University Philadelphia, PA 19122 WRTI phone: 215-204-8405 fax 215-204-4870 Address: Temple University Public Radio 1st floor, Annenberg Hall Philadelphia, PA 19122 </pre> <br> <br> <center><IMAGE BORDER=1 SRC="../../images/branchsm.gif"> <br> <br> <A HREF="index.html">Mumia Abu-Jamal On Pacifica</i></A><br> <A HREF="../index.html">Democracy NOW!</i></A><br> <A HREF="../../index.html">Pacifica Home Page</A><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </BODY> </HTML> -- * distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission * <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism, * collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets * more info: majordomo@is.in-berlin.de and "info nettime" in the msg body * URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: nettime-owner@is.in-berlin.de