Like a good number of you, I imagine, I've been a listener to Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) for a while. Actually, in my case, its entire existence. 2010 should be a year of celebration for the progressive network, as its existence was sparked a decade ago:
In January 2000, free-lance reporters for the former Pacifica Network News engaged in a strike, citing censorship by Pacifica's then Executive Director and Board. The strike lasted twenty-six months until March 2002
...Free Speech Radio News was formed in 2000 as an independent newscast by the strikers and has remained an independent program since that time. Since March 2002, FSRN has been aired and distributed by the Pacifica Network, and received major financial support from Pacifica.
In the intervening years, FSRN has arguably become more important than its sponsor, and while I fought with many others to save Pacifica a decade ago, at this point all I can think about is saving FSRN. It's existence is seriously threatened right now. Below the fold, their desperate plea.
This is the situation: The majority of FSRN's income comes from the Pacifica network, and Pacifica has been facing financial difficulties for several years. For the past 15 months, Pacifica has frequently fallen behind on their monthly payments to FSRN, but has always caught up when its Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds arrived. When payments have been late, FSRN has taken out bridge loans to make do until the next payment.
Unfortunately, this time around Pacifica has not been able to catch up with its debt to FSRN. It currently owes FSRN about $230,000, but has paid us only $70,000 of that total. Meanwhile, FSRN has accrued more than $80,000 in debt to our reporters, staff, creditors, and a bridge loan to keep us afloat. Pacifica has promised us future funds, but the situation is so serious that it is not entirely clear how much or when these will arrive, if ever.
Thus, we cannot in good conscience continue to commission new stories from our freelance reporters. Neither can we continue to keep the same number of people on payroll. We are simply not confident we could cover these liabilities.
So beginning Tuesday, December 7, 2010, we have reduced staffing to a skeleton crew to keep producing the newscast. This will consist of primarily 2-way interviews, cut-and-copy segments, readers, and content from partner media organizations like UN Radio, Workers Independent News, the Real News Network, and others. We will make it the best newscast we can, given the immensely difficult financial situation we are in.
FSRN will continue to distribute daily newscasts through and including Monday, December 20th. Beyond that our very existence is in doubt. If, by Friday, December 17th, we are not able to raise enough money to pay our past due bills and to fund our scaled back newscast through the end of December, we will SUSPEND PRODUCTION beginning Tuesday, December 21st.
I know that you've got lots of good places to put your limited amount of money these days, but if you can afford to donate a small amount to FSRN, it could go a long way. They really don't need a lot, especially compared to what this site raises for politicians in the blink of an eye.
And let's face it- without media voices like FSRN, the leverage we have to make the Democratic Party as progressively powerful as possible becomes severely diminished.
Thank you for reading.