WBFO, a public radio station affiliated with the University at Buffalo, has decided that the university community and the city at large should not hear listener commentaries criticizing Israel's military invasions and occupations.
In the most recent issue of ArtVoice (vol. 5, no. 35), Mr. Walter Simpson, UB Energy Officer, reveals that WBFO rejected his news commentary opposing the Israeli war on Lebanon and pointing toward Israel's occupation of Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon as the root of the regional conflict. Moreover, WBFO informed him it "was no longer going to air commentaries critical of Israel's conduct in the recent war in Lebanon because callers had complained about a previous commentary critical of Israel." And although Simpson has been a featured commentator on WBFO for years now, his "regular monthly WBFO commentary has also been canceled."
This sort of censorship would be bad enough at a commercial radio station. But it is appalling that an NPR station affiliated with a university would demean itself by hindering the free circulation of ideas. WBFO seems to have forgotten that the proper response of anyone at a university to a speaker whom we disagree with is alternative speech, not an attempt to silence that speaker.
This censorship would be no less offensive if WBFO and the University at Buffalo were censoring commentators on both sides of this controversial issue. But so far, it seems to be singling out anti-Occupation speakers. It continues to broadcast monthly commentaries by Mr. Dan Lenard, which regularly argue a strong pro-Occupation line ("Come to Israel, See Reality," July 13). And on August 3rd, it broadcast a pro-Occupation commentary by Mr. Mickey Osterreicher, Esq., a former WBFO staff member, photojournalist, and lawyer ("Israel's Right to Defend Itself").
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
