Citizens for Civility & Accountability in Media

CCAM Reply to KMJ

February 2, 2010

Patty Hixson
KMJ-AM 580
1071 W Shaw Ave
Fresno, CA 93711

Dear Ms Hixson:

Your letter of Dec. 4, 2009, in response to concerns we raised regarding your programming in our letter dated Nov. 12, 2009, completely misses our point. We did not question the overall operation of your station, or deny that your station airs many programs of value. Nor did we suggest that KMJ is not a valued part of the Fresno community.

Our point was, and still is, that the overwhelming majority of your weekly prime-time programming (9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, a total of 91 hours weekly) is dominated by radio talk show hosts whose constant demonization of the President of the United State and of others they do not agree with creates an atmosphere of hate and division. There is precedent for fearing that such programming — unchallenged and non-stop — could result in actual physical violence against those who are constantly demonized, including our Commander-in-Chief.

We broached these concerns with you because we believe that KMJ Radio is a responsible corporate member of our community. We understand that, under current FCC regulations, KMJ has no legal obligation to consider our concerns. We expected, however, that you would at least welcome dialogue with us. We were taken fully by surprise by how defensive, and totally dismissive of what we say, your letter was.

Fresno has just finished celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and we ask you to bear in mind the circumstances surrounding Dr. King's assassination. Not unlike what is happening today, Dr. King was constantly demonized through the media, resulting in an atmosphere of hate and divisiveness that convinced his assassin, James Earl Ray, that he would be doing the country a favor by killing Dr. King. We are in no way suggesting that KMJ Radio endorses such an outcome; but it is our concern that KMJ, as a by-product of legitimate business pursuits, is inadvertently providing the infrastructure for the dissemination of hate messages throughout the valley. Our goal is to bring attention to the possibilities of violence being fostered, and to encourage constructive dialogue on the responsibility of media ownership for furthering civic discourse and civility.

We assure you the issue will not go away if you choose to ignore our concerns. However, it is our deepest hope that you will join us in a search for changes that will promote a more peaceful and civil Fresno community.

Yours,

Richard Stone, Vice-President Fresno Center for Nonviolence
Ellie Bluestein, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Vickie Fouts, Director Uprooting Racism Project
Dr. Sudarshan Kapoor, Professor Emeritus
Dr. Jean Kennedy, Valley Black Talk Radio Show
Les Kimber, Founder California Advocate