Saturday, August 13, 2005

Actual Air America MN Policy?

I received an E-Mail today, which I have not been able to authenticate. However, the content of the attachment seems on the up and up. What caught my eye was an inconsistency with Janet Robert's statement to City Pages yesterday.
"We do not censor anybody on this radio station," Robert says
However, the memo sent to me, clearly stipulates in item #6:
JR Broadcasting will not permit discussion of the issues of gun
control, abortion, or gay marriage.
Now that certainly seems like a form of censorship.

The attachment sent to me was an internal memo, dated today. Here is the intro to the memo, and item #6. Most of the rest was boiler plate radio stuff. I'll let you all make the determination as to it's accuracy and credibility. Should I receive confirmation or additional info, I will post accordingly.

Of course, if station management would respond to my E-Mails, we could clear all this up in a more timely manner. Here is the pertinent information from the attachment
TO: KTNF STAFF, GUEST HOSTS AND TIME BROKERS
FROM: JANET ROBERT, STATION MANAGER
DATE: 8/12/05
RE: BROADCASTING GUIDELINES

This memorandum sets forth JR Broadcasting's policy regarding certain programming. This memorandum is intended to address certain issues and not as a comprehensive statement of all programming policy. Specific questions should be directed to the station manager.

If any programming is broadcast in violation of this policy, the responsible party or parties will be subject to sanction, up to and including termination of employment or contract, and indemnification of any party harmed as a result of such violation.

--snip--

6. Certain Subjects Prohibited

JR Broadcasting will not permit discussion of the issues of gun control, abortion, or gay marriage. It is the policy of JR Broadcasting that discussion around these issues tend to be more sensationalistic than substantial. In order to provide for reasoned, substantial discussion of other issues, JR Broadcasting prohibits discussion of gun control, abortion, or gay marriage. Exceptions to this policy can be obtained prior to broadcast by request in writing to the station Manager.
What frustrates me, is I always thought I was on their side.

Flash

UPDATE: Extracting properties information has shown that the memo was written within a law firm that has experience working in the broadcasting field. The author listed is on the 'Professional Staff' of this law firm.

Creation and Modified dates match based on when I downloaded it. But
there is a 'Last Printed' date of 5/4/2005.

I feel relatively confident that the information in the memo is authentic and have forwarded the original to others for their opinion.

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Spam has taken over the comment section, so I've turned on authentication for now. Feel free to contact me directly if this is an issue: flash (at) centrisity.com