From: Arab World and Islamic Resources <awair@igc.org>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Date: 20 Jul 92 21:55 PDT
Subject: Radio Host Fired After Jewish Prote
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1483500289:000:4018
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!awair    Jul 20 21:55:00 1992


From: Arab World and Islamic Resources <awair>
Subject: Radio Host Fired After Jewish Protest

July 1st was the last program on KALW-FM (San Francisco Bay Area)
regularly hosted by Colin Edwards, who for several years on that
station has given valuable information and commentary on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  I spoke with him over the phone
today about what had happened at the station and I am posting this
week's SF WEEKLY article about his firing.  The latest news is
that the station manager Daniel del Solar, who made the decision
to fire Edwards, has announced his resignation.  An investigation
into Edwards firing has been called by school board member Tom
Ammiano.  (The San Francisco school district runs the station.)

(A correction should be made to this article that while Edwards
worked for many years doing a great number of programs for the BBC
and other broadcasting systems around the world, he had never been
a BBC Middle East correspondent on staff.)


----------------------------------------------------------------

Controversy at KALW
RADIO HOST FIRED AFTER JEWISH PROTEST

by John Roemer

(Reprinted from SF WEEKLY, July 15, 1992, p.8)

Outspoken radio commentator Colin Edwards has been fired from
KALW-FM after a months-long protest campaign by the Jewish
Anti-Defamation League and the threat of a lawsuit by state
Senator Quentin Kopp (I-S.F.)

Edwards announced on his last show July 1 that "the station has
received many objections to my remarks from the Israeli Consulate
General and Zionist organizations and individuals....It was not my
decision to stop."

Edwards, an Oxford-educated, former BBC Middle East correspondent
who now lives in Oakland, angered pro-Israeli listeners by voicing
provocative opinions and airing dirty historical linen on his
five-minute Wednesday morning program.  He spoke of how Yitzhak
Shamir and David Ben Gurion colluded with the Nazis during World
War II.  He described recent Israeli arms dealing with the
government of South Africa.  And he talked about the present-day
policy of "Israeli aggression" against Lebanon.

He also outraged Kopp last November by an on-air reference to Kopp
having served in the Israeli armed forces reserve during a trip
the then-supervisor took to Israel in 1985.  Kopp threatened to
sue, insisting he had merely been a non-military volunteer.

The Kopp incident spurred the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) into
action, Assistant Director Nancy Diner said last week.  "We
started transcribing [Edwards'] shows to check for accuracy.  We
wrote many protest letters to the station."

Diner said that although it was not the ADL's intention to force
Edwards off the air, one member of the group recently compiled a
list of Edwards' alleged inaccuracies and took them to station
manager Daniel del Solar in a personal effort to get Edwards
fired.

Del Solar denied the campaign against Edwards figured in his
decision to end Edwards' four-year-old program.  "he was getting
boring," del Solar said.

But producer Alan Farley confirmed that outside pressure provoked
the firing.  "Edwards' commentaries have drawn a lot of flack from
the Israeli consulate and elsewhere in the Jewish community," he
said.  "Our station manager finally got tired of dealing with
it."

Loyal listeners, upset at the decision, jammed the station
switchboard with irate calls for half an hour after Edwards
announced that the July 1 program was his last, Farley said.

The San Francisco school district runs the station, and school
board member Tom Ammiano called for an investigation into Edwards'
firing.  "I am concerned about censorship," he said.  "It's not up
to del Solar to decide these things.  The board sets policy.  We
don't want to look as though we cave in to pressure, although we
always do."
-------------------------------------------------------

KALW's phone number is 415-695-5740.


Jennifer Smith
awair@igc.org
AWAIR: Arab World And Islamic Resources and School Services
2095 Rose Street, Suite 4
Berkeley, CA  94709