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© St. Petersburg Times, published April 10, 2002
Is it an ethical stand or censorship?
That question has surfaced after officials at WUSF-FM (89.7) decided to refuse to air underwriting announcements from Democracy Rising, the group founded by consumer activist Ralph Nader.
Democracy Rising had planned to place 18 underwriting announcements (valued at about $1,800) on WUSF's broadcasts of National Public Radio news shows this week promoting a Saturday Sun Dome event featuring Nader, author-filmmaker Michael Moore, punk rocker-political activist Jello Biafra and musician-activist Patti Smith.
But JoAnn Urofsky, interim general manager of WUSF-FM and TV station WUSF-Ch. 16, said the radio station has a policy against accepting underwriting announcements from political organizations. Urofsky said University of South Florida administrators supported her decision.
"What we don't want to do is ever take money from someone that would cause an appearance of bias in our newsroom," she said of Democracy Rising, which on its Web site supports issues including publicly funded elections and universal health coverage. "We really thought that having something from that organization would give the appearance of bias and endorsement."
Members of Democracy Rising challenged Urofsky's definition of their group.
"The purpose of the organization is to get people (to become) civicly active," said Mark McDougal, a volunteer from Portland, Ore., serving as national coordinator in Tampa. "The only one being political is this radio station. They're making a political decision about who will and won't (be allowed) to advertise."
Complicating matters is WUSF's policy that local anchors read underwriting announcements to minimize the clutter of voices on broadcasts.
"The same voice you hear interviewing Ralph Nader (for a news story) would then turn around and express gratitude to Democracy Rising for the underwriting," WUSF-FM news director Rick Stone said.
Stone said Tampa Bay Water purchased underwriting announcements in March 2001 that aired before public hearings on their efforts to build a desalination plant in Hillsborough County. WUSF eventually tapped a nonjournalist staffer to read them.
Stone said the station tries to avoid airing newsmakers' underwriting announcements close to stories in which they are featured.
"The ideal thing would be to never have news voices read underwriting," he said. "But I'm not sure that Democracy Rising would have gotten a different result, even then. The fact remains, (WUSF) doesn't air political underwriting."
Democracy Rising has drafted a open letter to the USF community that it plans to publish in the campus newspaper, the Oracle, as a paid advertisement, urging supporters to "withhold financial support of 89.7 until USF President (Judy) Genshaft and Ms. Urofsky meet with Democracy Rising and publicly explain how their recent decisions serve the university community."
"This is a first-brush decision that cannot survive scrutiny," McDougal said. "The shame is, students that want to go to such a top-notch event may not hear about it at all."