Democracy Now! to Air
A Passel of Pomp and a Circus of Circumstance:
Historic Conventions Coverage
New Two-Hour Special Radio/TV Documentary
Featuring Rare Recordings from
the Pacifica Radio Archives and Dramatic Historical Footage
Broadcast in a Five-Part Series - Monday, July 19 thru Friday,
July 23
‘This new documentary by the Pacifica Radio Archives
of their Convention coverage over the years is a unique
contribution to the historical record, and a fascinating
retrospective, compelling us to think carefully and critically
about the political process which sends all manner of people
to the White House.’
- Howard Zinn,
author, People's History of the U.S.
LOS ANGELES, CA (July 14, 2004) --Only days before the opening
of the first 2004 major Presidential party convention, Pacifica
Network’s Democracy
Now! airs A Passel of Pomp and a Circus of Circumstance:
Historic Conventions Coverage, a five-part radio/TV special
on the vital and sometimes turbulent history of American Presidential
conventions.
The special series produced by the Pacifica
Radio Archives (PRA) with dramatic historic footage edited
by Democracy Now! begins on Monday, July 19th thru Friday,
July 23rd on the more than 230 radio and TV stations nationwide
broadcasting Democracy Now!
Award-winning journalist, best-selling author and host of
Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman narrates the documentary, which
spans more than 65 years of convention coverage and chronicles
milestones in American political history.
From the formal speeches of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936,
to the battles inside and outside the Chicago 1968 convention
and to the radical sounds of Rage Against the Machine in the
streets of Los Angeles in 2000, the two-part radio/TV documentary
on America's national party Conventions showcases the Pacifica
Network's progressive reporting at its most daring.
A Passel of Pomp and a Circus of Circumstance includes highlights
of the Republican and Democratic conventions, the Mississippi
Freedom Party convention in the 60’s, and the Shadow
Conventions of 2000, with the voices in the streets of those
protesting outside convention halls.
‘The Pacifica Archives are a national treasure - a
vast narrative of the grassroots, social justice struggles
that have made this country what it is,’ said Amy Goodman,
host of Democracy Now! ‘The Pacifica Radio Archives
Presidential Convention documentary is timely and necessary,
as the two dominant parties create conventions that are more
and more simply staged events with forgone conclusions and
opulent, corporate-sponsored parties. Democracy Now! and Pacifica
Radio will continue to cover the Conventions, from the suites
and into the streets, to give the public a true picture of
the state of American Democracy.’
'Looking towards the upcoming 2004 Presidential Election,
we wondered how Pacifica's coverage from the past differed
from the mainstream media,' added Brian DeShazor, Pacifica
Radio Archives Director and Executive Producer of A Passel
of Pomp and a Circus of Circumstance. 'What we found was extraordinary.'
Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning
news program airing on over 230 stations in North America.
Pioneering the largest public media collaboration in the U.S.,
Democracy Now! is broadcast on Pacifica, community, and National
Public Radio stations, public access cable television stations,
satellite television (on Free Speech TV, channel 9415 of the
DISH Network and Link TV, channel 375 of DIRECTV), shortwave
radio and the internet.
National Radio:
The Pacifica Radio Network: KPFK
90.7 FM-Los Angeles, KPFA
94.1 FM-Berkeley, KPFT 90.1
FMHouston, WBAI 99.5
FMNew York, and WPFW-89.3
FM-Washington D.C.
Plus more than 40 Pacifica Affiliates, over100 community
radio stations nationwide.
National Television:
Satellite TV
National - Free Speech TV, channel 9415 of DISH network
(satellite TV)
8am-9am (live) Noon-1pm, 8pm-9pm, Midnight-1am ET
National - Link TV, channel 375 of DIRECTTV (satellite TV)
11 AM -Noon ET
Plus nearly 100 Local Public Access Cable Stations
Internet Webcast: www.democracynow.org
To find local times/listings on TV/radio stations broadcasting
Democracy Now! go to www.democracynow.org.
Through a brand new collaboration with Link TV, Democracy
Now! will be available to an additional 12.6 million DIRECTV
satellite subscribers on channel 375, starting July 19th.
TRANSCRIPT OF SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS:
From inside the 1968 Democratic convention Sen. Wayne Morse
of Oregon makes a passionate plea that resonates today: ‘The
issue is whether or not the Democratic Convention is going
to vote today to continue to kill American boys in South Vietnam.
We can't possibly justify this killing of our boys. We gotta
have a change in policy and I hope the Democratic Party will
take advantage of the opportunity to unite the party. And
they'll never unite this party unless they change the policy
in Vietnam.’
Meanwhile, in the streets outside the '68 convention a Pacifica
reporter is caught between police and demonstrators: ‘There's
now a line of police in helmets….There's a few brave
photographers and others in the middle. I am now in line between
the demonstrators on one side.. I'm going to get out the way
as a few demonstrators are throwing rocks, etc. ..I had to
quickly retreat as someone began to throw a few cans. I want
to get close enough so that they can see that this is Pacifica
Radio here and not police radio. You can begin to now... feel
the gas. They're moving back slowly. I don't know where we
are in the park, there are no street signs... The kids are
now moving back into the street. And for the first time, this
reporter can't feel whatsoever it is.. that's.. They're firing
and pushing and shoving.. I'm trying to get far enough back
so I can see what's happening but it's almost impossible to
be able to give you a report as my eyes again... I'm going
to have to.. (starts coughing hard).’
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.’s powerful speech to the 1984
Democratic Convention moves many delegates and even a Pacifica
reporter to tears: ‘We come to together, bound by our
faith in a Mighty God, with genuine respect and love for our
country, and inheriting the legacy of our great party: the
democratic party-- which the best hope for redirecting our
nation on a more humane, just, and peaceful course. This is
not a perfect party, we’re not a perfect people, yet
we’re called to a perfect mission. Our mission: to feed
the hungry, to clothe the naked, to house the homeless, to
teach the illiterate, to provide jobs for the jobless, and
to choose the human race over the nuclear race.…Our
time has come...’
Reporting from inside the 2000 Republican convention:
Amy Goodman: For what's believed to be the first time in US
history, a candidate for president held an impromptu but well
attended press briefing on the convention floor of an opposing
party. We're talking about Ralph Nader... in fact we asked
him to come to the Republican convention.... we wanted him
to provide commentary and analysis. the networks think nothing
of bringing in opposition democrats.. but these political
figures invariably reinforce the official line... We brought
in Ralph Nader as the voice of an outsider.
Reporter: What do you hope to accomplish by doing this....?
Ralph Nader: Well I want to observe for the sake of accuracy...
It's hard to believe when you see it reported.... you have
to see it to believe it... I mean this is the most spectacular
display of political cash register politics with corporate
fat cats in the history of the country..shamelessly paraded
on national TV...
About Democracy Now!:
Hosted by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! is a national, daily,
independent, award-winning news program airing on over 230
stations in North America. Pioneering the largest public media
collaboration in the U.S., Democracy Now! is broadcast on
the Pacifica Network, community, and National Public Radio
stations, public access cable television stations, satellite
television (on Free Speech TV, channel 9415 of the DISH Network
and on Link TV, Link TV, channel 375 of DIRECTTV), shortwave
radio and the internet.
Democracy Now! expanded two-hour coverage of the 2004 Democratic
Convention begins July 26th thru July 30th from the Democratic
Party Convention in Boston- Breaking with Convention: War,
Peace and the Presidency, with reporting from inside and outside
the conventions from the corporate suites to the people's
streets.
To find your local radio/TV station broadcasting Democracy
Now! go to: www.democracynow.org.
About the Pacifica Network:
In 1949, Pacifica Network founder Lewis Hill's mission
was to create a new kind of radio, supported
by listeners, owing nothing to sponsors. Predating National
Public Radio, and beginning with KPFA-FM in Berkeley, CA,
the network added four stations (in NYC, D.C., Houston, and
Los Angeles), over the years along with over 40 affiliates.
Pacifica is best known as a chronicler of social justice movements
and cultural change.
About the Pacifica Radio Archives (PRA):
PRA, established
in 1971, began as a repository for programs of exceptional
historic value. The Archive also preserved programs for rebroadcast
by other stations, or for use as source material for radio
producers, scholars, and others. The archives houses close
to 50,000 programs, dating from the 1950s through the present
day. Many of these tapes are extremely rare and have seldom
been heard by the general public. PRA began digitizing recordings
and re-mastering or restoring the material in 1999. Since
then, Pacifica has restored hundreds of historical recordings
initiated by partner projects or guided by listener requests.
'When NBC and C-SPAN recently needed audio of John Kerry’s
1971 speech to Congress, they obtained it from an unlikely
source. Pacifica Radio was the only broadcaster with a pristine
copy of the 2004 presidential candidate’s indictment
of the Vietnam War. 'NBC’s old copy had a lot of the
inflammatory stuff edited out,' Brian DeShazor, Pacifica’s
archives director’
- Current Magazine, June 21, 2004
For more information about PRA or to purchase a copy of
A Passel of Pomp and a Circus of Circumstance go to pacificaradioarchives.org.
CREDITS:
A Passel of Pomp and a Circus of Circumstance:
Historic Conventions Coverage from the Pacifica Radio Archives
Air Date: Monday, July 19nd - Friday, July 23rd
Narrated by Amy Goodman
Produced and Edited by Christopher Sprinkle
Written by Christopher Sprinkle and Mike Hodel
Executive Produced by the Pacifica Radio Archives &
Brian DeShazor
Technical Direction by Mark Torres
Archival Footage Edited by John Hamilton
Contact:
Karen Pomer,
310 463 7025
Krpomer@aol.com
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