LOS ANGELES, Sept. 9 -- Some 30 Latino activists representing a coalition of community and human rights groups held a
protest outside the offices of Los Angeles Pacifica station KPFK. The demonstrators said they were demanding an end to censorship at the station.
Last week station officials removed from the air a 13-year-old Spanish language program, Enfoque Latino (Latin Focus) after commentators on the show had given a report about the KPFA crisis.The week
before, KPFK manager Mark Schubb banned Pacifica reporter Robin Urevich from the station after publication of a magazine story she wrote about censorship at KPFK. Schubb later asserted that he took his
action against Urevich on journalistic grounds rather than because of a policy disagreement, but KPFK program director Kathy Lo acknowledged that the station suspended Enfoque Latino on grounds of a
"dirty laundry" rule which forbids on-air discussion of internal Pacifica matters. Lo added that she would meet with the Enfoque Latino programmers to discuss putting the program back on the air,
but program host Ruben Tapia said at the protest that Lo has not answered his requests for a meeting. Tapia demanded the reinstatement of the program and said that its removal showed insensitivity to the
concerns of the station's large Latino audience. Other speakers said that KPFK's two hours per week of Spanish language programming are a slap in the face to Latinos who comprise 40 percent of the
station's listeners. Lydia Brazon, an attorney and human rights activist who sits on KPFK's local advisory board, said that the station is violating the civil rights of its Latino programmers and listeners.
KPFK Program Director Lo declined comment on the protest. |
