I’m Pathma Venasithamby, a former UC Berkeley staff member. I am a software engineering professional who graduated with a Masters degree in computer science. I’m running for the KPFA Local Station Board on the Rescue-Pacifica (RP) ticket (www.RescuePacifica.net). As a Jewish Voice for Peace member I have lobbied Congress in DC against their discriminative policies on Palestinians.
As a KPFA listener/supporter for some 28 years, I remember the quality of the programming that attracted me to this station in the first place. Every day there's money being used to infiltrate and co-opt democratic structures, to bend them to some nefarious will. KPFA is sacred, and the last stand in a corporate media desert, so I stand on the RP ticket to prevent the attempts to turn KPFA to an another corporate financed media. Our democratic society is fragile, and we see it crumbling bit by bit. It is time to get *more* people aware of the value of KPFA and the risk its currently facing against the warmongers who have infiltrated our media.
Amy Goodmans' "Democracy Now!" is what brought me to and kept me here with KPFA. It's the Gold standard of news reporting in my opinion, just the facts, and asking the *right* questions, which requires a depth of understanding in the first place. When I look at CNN, NYT, WaPo and others, it's passionless reporting, by those who have come to learn that not all truth is fit to be printed or talked about. In the end it's just a means to a paycheck, as the higher ups rule the day and set the agenda on the reporting.
"Flashpoints", is another great example of the kind of programming I would like to see. I want to ensure that we have more of that high quality programs. We also used to have programs that engaged our community like the Apprenticeship program. We also have a lot of archival material and we need to provide better access to these online.
Rescue Pacifica hold these ideas, and are motivated to enable these goals. Most of the work at KPFA is done by volunteers, which allow us to run the station without the massive funding like NPR for example. NPR therefore is vulnerable to the providers of those funds. There are those who want to take corporate contributions and elevate the fulltime staff, requiring large financing for those paychecks. KPFA can not be on a money leash like NPR, and it has to start focus on our core principals of a pacific voice and be more listener centric.
For years, the Local Station Board has been dominated by the “Protectors” faction, or its predecessors. As a result, KPFA is losing its way. We want to change that.
Please vote for me and all the other Rescue-Pacifica candidates – we are the reform ticket in this election!
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