I was too busy listening to Jazzbeau Collins (vintage KSFO of the 70's) today to tune into KSFO Hate Speech Radio. But I did take the time to sign the Media Matters Petition against Hate Speech, HATE HAS NO PLACE ON THE AIRWAVES and to read David Brock's, (President & CEO of Media Matters) letter to the corporate heads of Disney and ABC.
I have been working on an all-purpose letter to send to KSFO management, KSFO advertisers, the KSFO hate speech talk radio hosts, the FCC, my California legislators, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the head honchos at Disney/ABC.
Beneath the fold, my attempt at an all-round letter to all concerned.
Dear Corporate Head, KSFO Sponsor, FCC, ABC/Disney, NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller, SF Human Rights Commissioner Khaldoun A. Baghdadi, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Jerry Brown, Senator Diane Feinstein, Congresswoman Doris Matsui, Congressman Mike Thompson, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Congressman John Conyers Jr.,Speaker Pelosi, DNC Chairman Dean et al:
I am writing to you to draw your attention to the hate speech on KSFO AM Radio, San Francisco. I believe that some of the following examples are a violation of US law, California law, and FCC regulations:
- Brian Sussman tells caller to say 'Allah is a whore'
- Melanie Morgan and Ann Coulter say liberals should be executed
- Coulter and Morgan say Bill Keller should be executed - mock execution of Keller on air
- Officer Vic wants to send a hit team after photojournalists
- More laughter about Bill Keller in the electric chair
- Talk-show host is offended because Sen. Obama is a 'halfrican' -- talk show host does not consider Sen. Obama Afro-American
- Paint a bullseye on Rep. Nancy Pelosi?
- More bullseye talk about Rep. Pelosi
- Morgan says 'hang the NY Times editors'
- KSFO crew wants to kill liberals
- KSFO crew says liberals should be 'stomped to death'
- KSFO crew says 'gonna track that e-mail down and do something unpleasant to his cojones'... then Melanie does a live spot for Brite Smile
- KSFO caller says Bill Keller should be 'lined up and shot'. KSFO crew says 'skip the trial'
- KSFO says 'unpleasant things are going to happen to stupid liberals'
Over the last ten years there have been numerous protests against KSFO AM Radio, based on speech that is offensive, racist, profane -- as defined by the FCC:
The FCC has redefined profanity as "including language that denot[es] certain of those personally reviling epithets naturally tending to provoke violent resentment or denoting language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance."
-- and finally that some of these broadcasts would qualify as "fighting words" as defined by the Supreme Court, in that it was threatening to do violence to individuals and groups:
The U.S. Supreme Court did rule in 1942, in a case called Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, that intimidating speech directed at a specific individual in a face-to-face confrontation amounts to "fighting words," and that the person engaging in such speech can be punished if "by their very utterance [the words] inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace."
Some of these protests include:
1995
- Democratic National Committee vs. KSFO
- SF Mayor, SF Supervisors & Gay Activists vs KSFO
- SF Human Rights Commissioner vs KSFO
- El Cerrito Police Association vs KSFO
1996
- CA Senator & State Lawmakers vs KSFO
2001
- Asian American Coalition vs KSFO
2005 - 2007
- Bloggers Coalition vs KSFO
- Media Matters vs KSFO
In 1995 the hate speech on KSFO condoning violence against gay persons was so extreme that it was addressed in a letter by SF Human Rights Commissioner Lucille Abrahamson:
The seriousness of discrimination and hate violence in San Francisco is what led the Board of Supervisors, the mayor and members of the public to ask for the commission's assistance in communicating with KSFO about the dangers of hate speech. As we have said over and over, we cannot and will not censor the media. But we are required by ordinance to speak up about discrimination and stereotyping and to mediate intergroup tensions. The ordinance specifically calls on us to mediate in cases of tensions and discrimination based on race, religion, color, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, HIV status, or place of birth. cite
In 1996 a KSFO listener, based on misinformation broadcast on KSFO that would incite the public to panic and violence, threatened the life of a CA State Senator and his family. cite
In 2006 Ann Coulter, whose program is broadcast on KSFO, claimed that she had sent an envelope containing white powder to executive editor of the New York Times, Bill Keller. cite
Ann Coulter, felon?
An envelope containing a suspicious white powder showed up in the mailroom at the New York Times last week. We can't tell if she's joking or not -- really, can we ever? -- but Ann Coulter is claiming that she's responsible.
Raw Story ferrets out the news from an item in Women's Wear Daily's Memo Pad blog. Memo Pad's source at the Times said the powder incident makes Coulter's call for the death penalty for Bill Keller just "a little less funny." "I wonder," the source said, "if she considers herself at all responsible when lunatics read her columns and she says that we should be killed."
Memo Pad asked Coulter about the incident. Her response? "So glad to hear that the New York Times got my letter and that your friend at the Times thinks I'm funny. Good luck in journalism and please send me your home address so we can stay in touch, too."
The white powder turned out to be harmless, but perhaps it's time to fight fire with fire anyway. If Coulter thinks that reporters at the Times should be tried for treason -- and she does -- wouldn't it be fair game to say that Coulter herself should be tried for threatening to use WMD or using the U.S. mail to send threatening communications? Those are federal crimes, and it seems to us that Coulter has just admitted committing one.
I am concerned that the hate speech on KSFO AM radio does not reflect well on your company or your product. Indeed several companies including MasterCard, Bank of America and Visa have suspended advertising with KSFO because of the offensive content of their programming.
Hate speech is contrary to the inclusive values of our community and our state. Further, it threatens the peace and inspires hatred, racism and violence.
As then Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Dan Fowler said in 1995:
This sort of violent speech should be repugnant to all Americans. And there is clearly a connection between such hateful diatribes and the escalation of violence that our country has experienced.
It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to work to end this uncivil discourse before more innocent lives are lost. Today I am writing to urge everyone to speak out against those who threaten the civility of our society
To that end, I am requesting that you address the serious matter of hate speech on KSFO AM San Francisco.
Sincerely yours,
M. Suskind
Sacramento, CA
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and here for your review, are some more "gems" from KSFO Hate Speech Radio:
- "It's time to pick up all the panhandlers, put them in the back of a truck, and take them out to the dump and leave them there."
- "I'm sick and tired of all these damn immigrants. They should all go back where they came from."
- "Why do we try to keep these prisoners safe? I say if they want to beat the crap out of each other, let 'em."
- "Lawyers are the biggest criminals in the country. The more we put in jail, the better off we'll be."
These radio diatribes didn't emanate from northern Idaho, home of the Skinhead movement.
They came from 900 Front St. in oh-so-politically-correct San Francisco, where the new Rush Limbaugh-style hosts of KSFO "Hot Talk" 560 were in their third venom-spewing day on the air.
San Francisco Chronicle
CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO INVADES LIBERAL S.F.
January 5, 1995