BROADCAST STANDARDS CHALLENGED : PACIFICA FILES SUIT AGAINST THE FCC

Charging that it was unfairly singled out for political reasons, the Pacifica Foundation filed suit here Thursday challenging the recent Federal Communications Commission action that set new enforcement standards for “indecent” broadcasts.

The lawsuit challenged the commission’s new policy along with the agency’s decision to ask the Justice Department to consider criminal prosecution of Pacifica’s non-commercial Los Angeles station, KPFK-FM (90.7) for its 1986 broadcast of excerpts of a play about homosexuality and AIDS.

In papers filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals, attorneys for Pacifica called the commission’s action a “contravention” of the First Amendment. In addition, Pacifica said that the FCC policy violated provisions of the Federal Communications Act, “which prohibit the agency from engaging in censorship or interfering with the right of free speech by means of radio communications.”

David Salniker, Pacifica’s executive director, said that the foundation is committed to fighting the FCC action vigorously.

“We will defend our licenses with all of our resources,” he said. “We will not simply take this as a slap on the wrist.”

Pacifica will be joined in the lawsuit by the 200-member National Federation of Community Broadcasters and by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, he said.

At a news conference announcing the filing of the lawsuit, Salniker called the FCC’s action “political harassment” and said that it resulted from pressure applied on the agency, “particularly (from) the Religious Right.”

Salniker maintained that the commission’s action against Pacifica is part of a “nationwide campaign in the name of decency to eliminate textbooks from our schools and cultural presentations from the radio airwaves in order to control this country for political purposes.”

In a twist of irony, Salniker said that as a result of the FCC action, KPFK will probably become more political, because “political analysis will be safer in some respects that cultural programming.”

If the Justice Department rules against Pacifica, the Foundation and its executives could be fined $10,000 or sent to jail for up to two years.

William J. Byrnes, Pacifica’s attorney, said that the FCC action also may have been influenced by KPFK’s plans to provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of congressional hearings on the Iran- contra affair which begin next week.

Byrnes also said that the regulatory agency may have been motivated to single out Pacifica because it is a smaller, less powerful broadcaster with less ability to wage a fight against the commission.

Without discernible legal standards, Byrnes said, “broadcasters generally are left to the mercy of changing political winds.”

Salniker defended the late-night broadcast by KPFK as “part of a long artistic discussion with cast members of ‘The Jerker,’ ” a play about homosexuality and acquired immune deficiency syndrome, which is running in New York at an off-Broadway theater.

Terabu Betserai, KPFK’s general manager, said that the program was broadcast after 10 p.m. with a clear warning about the language, in accordance with the FCC’s guidelines that suggest sensitive programming be broadcast in late-night hours when children are less likely to be listening.

“Criminal prosecution strikes Pacifica as being a constitutional abuse when we were dealing with a serious international health issue in an artistic way,” he added.