Searching
for a specific on the Pacifica website - that is
the organization that is the 'mother ship' or umbrella that presides over those
5 other radio stations - and controls them via the PNB. So in searching to find:
what
do the Pacifica By Laws require or state about fundraising ?? - can
corporate sponsorship be used?
or are there limitations of where and how funds
can be obtained for radio station use ?
who and how is it to set the goals of a
'fund Drive' and how long such 'pledge Drives' last ?
[which also often 'Drive'
listeners away to listen elsewhere instead]
Then, only this was found:
about the Local Station Board [LSB] who apparently does not create or determine
the Budgets nor set the fund drive 'goals'.
[quoted here as found]
"A. To review and
approve that station's budget and make quarterly reports to the Foundation's Board
of Directors regarding the station's budget, actual income and
expenditures."
But-- the LSB does not make a budget but just 'approves' it..
"To
establish and operate for ****educational purposes, ****in such manner that the
facilities involved shall be as nearly self-sustaining as possible....."
the "*****" part is inserted here for emphasis:
So: programming is for the EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES and the bylaws do not say for Political restructuring or revolutionizing, nor for political campaigning support, nor for Social-Victim-saving, nor for any such other similar purposes. Nor continual complaining and blaming chosen selected 'others' either.
These were not the designated Mission - not the main purpose of Pacifica
nor it's 5 stations, but those are is what is mostly heard on these radio programs .
then note what is said re
"Conflicts of Interests":
"An
Interested Person must disclose in writing all material facts related to an
actual or potential Conflict of Interest to the Board and/or the members of a
committee considering a proposed contract or transaction to which the Conflict
of Interest relates..."
It
may be assumed that Conflicts of Interest are not limited to only Financial, $$$$
matters - but also to other conflicts where any management or staff has a
significant interest,
ownership, business trade deal, or other investment - as in any other organization,
project, movement, social actions, political party or campaigners.... and more.
Conflicts
of interest to the basic BY LAWS established for Pacifica are not 'called' on, nor
enforced because perhaps there are many collusions, or unified interests. Perhaps some with staff or management positions are wanting
to maintain their valuable jobs or status positions within those organizations. Access to on-air media is valuable.
Who is going
to dare to whistle-blow or inform on another when they may be similarly called
out on their own alliances ....those that conflict or diverge ??
Who will report what is denied in bylaws as the stated general Principles and Agreed Upon Rules - that all are suppose to work and
live - by while participating in any Pacifica...or KPFK...activities. Any. and All.
Then see:
The
PACIFICA Foundation WEBPAGE is the worst one to do research for information or
to find anything, such as all the amendments to their bylaws.
This one is
a page listing amendments with dates but with no notations of topic or subject therein. Thus making it necessary - if anyone would bother or take that much personal time
& work to do so - to click on each link to find out what it is about.
Apparently someone did make this list because of even more confusion and lack of indexing before.
Is
it possible that any webmaster would think this method or obfuscation is in the
service of the organization ? Or that this would create frustration and
resentment -or even wonder about why there is only such
poor descriptions of the links is listed ? This method is Not Helpful At All.
If anyone can find better access to the bylaws and amendments that is user-friendly, as not all are willing to search and waste personal time to find the ones of interest. Please note any suggestions or findings in comments here or elsewhere that all KPFK interested donors/listeners can find.
Notice also
that there is NO search box or query site to put in a word to search site
for inspection or information. This is a common feature of most organizations' websites. Not here.
Someone has well set up an index for prior Bylaws but there is no easy index nor search
function to find topics, such as which bylaw describes how funds can or cannot
be raised to maintain Pacifica radio stations or any other functions !
One
may well question and wonder why the Pacifica Website is made or maintained so
poorly and meagerly. Conspiracy Thinking would indicate that the
limitations and confusing categories conveniently prevent information from being viewed
or read by those who 'just' Donate - Sponsor - Give monies to maintain both Pacifica and/ or it's radio
stations.
The more difficult and abbreviated the categories are to search
and find, the more frustrated and faster will any researcher leave the website and give up.
Is this why it is so badly set-up? And note that wikipedia has a very antiquated and limited information source and is basically only informative in the most plain, brief and out-of-date way.
Then
notice that there is a prominent "donate" box that continually obliterates part of the
page one wants to read - creating even less readability - as it flickers & moves in front of other
words on the site. Even though some have actually written to ask that
this obstruction be corrected by contacting Pacifica at it's website - more
than once, no one replied nor fixed this obtrusive feature.
So nothing improves nor changes, indicating that this interference may be purposeful, and
the webmaster/site owners are dismissive of suggestions and complaints. The interfering box continues to
obstruct and distract instead.
Who
would want to donate to such a poorly run organization that can't even present a website that is organized, useful, user-friendly and does not demand reader must "donate" with that demand & obstructing home page ?
Can they not even
create and maintain a helpful, informative, simple website, like any school
student knows how to do ?
Or, is no one 'home' there ?
Even someone's caring posting of a deceased "Mary Berg" is found on website, without a date or year attached
to the posting. Was it how many years ago or recently ? Who knows? And
why dont they bother to tell us ?
Yes,
it is easier to complain than to Fix what is not-good-enough - especially for a high-priced
umbrella to 5 radio stations that spend millions per year to operate. Does all the money only go to their PNB board meetings and phone lines? Or where ?
KPFK
requests $600,000 or more in fund drives 2-3-4x/ year alone, as it's
'goal' for basic maintenance. Or so the management there indicates. That is a lot of cash for being part of Pacifica, which each station pays to maintain, yearly.
And who sets up goals and who creates their budgets and pays for lawsuits and arbitrations [KPFK has and had both]?
So
again, searching for a specific:
" what do the Pacifica By Laws require about their fundraising
??"
That information was not found. And no one has ever answered emails previously sent to their
website.
Maybe
the best or most practical response is to NOT CARE ANY MORE IF
PACIFICA AND KPFK OR OTHER STATIONS die off, decay, fall apart or
go into bankruptcy -- and maybe be stolen by those who have already set up a plan to
take over KPFA, or even KPFK, or maybe other stations that fail financially.
Maybe giving
up now is the smarter plan ? Easy to do. But
hope for improvement or someone reading, listening, caring
about those who have for decades provided funding and wanted to keep that version of 'educational' radio, varied but not limited nor slanted radio programs on the air.
When is time ? to totally separate and give up that long term investment that has gone downhill ? now ? when ?
(c) rr
Donors are more than just check-writers. They are members and have standing as stakeholders. Listeners can sue and file complaints to the AG one behalf of themselves as aggrieved stakeholders.
ReplyDelete