Inbox

[May 27th, 2009]

FANNING THE FLAMES
Last week, WW ran a story [Rogue of the Week] about three KBOO program hosts who are among the hundreds of diverse community leaders we bring to the airwaves. As with any community organization, sometimes conflicts arise, particularly within organizations dealing with some of the most challenging conflicts of our time, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. KBOO continues to be deeply committed to using dialogue in the service of conflict resolution, and we expect, and facilitate, the people involved in conflict to work in good faith towards resolution and understanding.

Because KBOO is an open and democratic organization, we welcome any light that is brought to bear on us; we have nothing to hide and we share WW’s concern that peacemaking opportunities not be squandered. That said, we seek to use our resources to facilitate conflict resolution, not scuttle it.

I, and several of those involved in this issue, shared with your reporter that we were actively engaged in the delicate task of working towards resolution and that a negative story would not contribute to this work of facilitating understanding between the parties, but rather risked inflaming them. It was therefore disappointing that WW chose to run the story anyway.

We applaud all efforts in support of peacemaking but were saddened that filling the Rogue of the Week segment was more important than allowing the parties to put their best effort forward, come to an understanding, and repair the damage. Now wouldn’t that be a story?

Arthur W. Davis
KBOO Station Manager

CORRECTION:
In the May 20 “Most Web Comments Last Week” feature, we incorrectly attributed one of the comments on “Revisiting Renn Fayre.” The author was “PAgent.” WW regrets the error.