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L.A. charter school sues radio station (Academia Semillas del Pueblo)
LA Times ^ | April 19, 2007 | Tami Abdollah and Howard Blume

Posted on 04/19/2007 9:06:27 AM PDT by LNewman

A year-long feud between a talk radio personality and an L.A. charter school is ending up in an unusual court case.

School administrators filed a lawsuit this week against KABC-AM (790) and Doug McIntyre, alleging the host of "McIntyre in the Morning" targeted the school in a slanderous, racially motivated campaign last summer that resulted in a bomb threat to the school and ongoing security risks.

Academia Semillas del Pueblo and Marcos Aguilar, the El Sereno school's co-director, claim McIntyre "targeted the school for destruction because the children were Latino, the teachers were Latino, the principal director was Latino," according to the suit ...

The school was founded in 2002 with the mission of "providing urban children of immigrant families an excellent education founded upon native and maternal languages, cultural values and global realities," with teaching primarily in Spanish.

It became a focus of controversy last year when McIntyre accused the school of pursuing a racist, separatist and dangerously revolutionary agenda ...

Last June, a man tried to run down a KABC radio reporter who was outside the campus interviewing parents. The suspect was arrested on assault charges ...

The suit alleges, however, that McIntyre is guilty of civil rights violations for inciting others to harm the school and its students, as well as slander.

According to the court filing, McIntyre made a number of false statements, including: "His [Aguilar's] job is to keep his school, his madrasa school, open so they can train the next generation of Aztec revolutionaries.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: academiasemillas; aliens; dougmcintyre; immigration; kabc; madrasa; marcosaguilar

1 posted on 04/19/2007 9:06:28 AM PDT by LNewman
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To: LNewman

OR....because they are virulently anti-American and anti-”gringo”


2 posted on 04/19/2007 9:11:05 AM PDT by Shimmer128 (FR is a party where the guests like you, but the hosts don't.)
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To: LNewman

“The Imus Effect”...


3 posted on 04/19/2007 9:18:56 AM PDT by olderwiser
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To: olderwiser
The article makes reference to "the Imus Effect":

"The lawsuit follows the firing of radio host Don Imus last week over a racist and sexist remark, which set off a large-scale debate over whether some talk-show hosts go too far. "

"Shock jocks" are not new, said Marty Kaplan of USC's Annenberg School for Communication. "The more they could make your jaw drop … the more their ratings went up — it has since become a standard genre."

4 posted on 04/19/2007 9:21:53 AM PDT by LNewman
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To: LNewman

McIntyre is correct on this one. They even roughed up a KABC reporter asking questions. This should get good when it goes to trial.


5 posted on 04/19/2007 9:28:26 AM PDT by Parley Baer
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To: LNewman

Huge mistake by the school. The radio station will file what is called an anti-SLAPP motion, win it, and not only get the case dismissed but also get ITS ATTORNEYS’ FEES.

If not, it gets worse for the school, because the radio station will bury the school in “discovery,” finding out every tawdry, racist thing about the “academy” and make it even more of a laughingstock than it already is.


6 posted on 04/19/2007 9:32:01 AM PDT by pogo101
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To: LNewman
Talk radio hosts have long taken advantage of 1st Amendment free speech protections that give them broad latitude.

Amazing...simply amazing. You want media bias? How about this huffy passage from Tami & Howard? It would make the NYT blush.

A talk radio hosts dares to TAKE ADVANTAGE of the 1st Amendment? What did he do, get the 1st Amendment drunk and take it to a motel? The "long" adjective is a huge tipoff - it means these writers think that talk radio should be eliminated - of course, newspapers and especially their articles should be more widely distributed (take note, prospective buyers of the LA Times operation).

The writers certainly don't like this "broad latitude," except, of course, when applied to pornography, sick-out gore films devoid of any artistic merit, and hip-hop (them again). Sorry, H&T but the 1st Amendment gives the BROADEST latitude, especially with regard to political speech (at least until the unholy union of McCain/Feingold).

I know it's probably not getting worked up about left-wing bias in the LAT but this kind of how-dare-he sniping drives me up a wall.

7 posted on 04/19/2007 9:32:31 AM PDT by relictele
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To: relictele

not getting = > not worth getting


8 posted on 04/19/2007 9:33:26 AM PDT by relictele
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To: relictele
Excellent observation. We've been "taking advantage" since the amendments came into effect on December 15, 1791.
Long live freedom!
9 posted on 04/19/2007 9:46:38 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: pogo101

I don’t have any legal training, but it would seem to me that LAUSD would have had a say on whether or not this suit went forth based on its merits or lack thereof. After all, and as you mention, any judgment against the school is not coming out of Aguilar’s piggy bank.


10 posted on 04/19/2007 10:06:00 AM PDT by LNewman
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To: LNewman

Hmm, so the teachers are saying it is slander. I think that is going to be very hard to prove.

The say this: McIntyre “targeted the school for destruction because the children were Latino, the teachers were Latino, the principal director was Latino,” according to the suit.

So? If I was the lawyer I might stipulate all that. “Yes, my client targeted the school for derision in part because the school was Latino.”. So? Since when is that against the law?

Freedom of speech means I can say “I don’t like Latinos” and “I don’t like Latino schools”. Others are free to disagree, but I fail to see that this is cause for a lawsuit.

Calling it a “madrass” is clearly within the limits of parody and as part of a legitimate discussion of its mission.

I think these ladies are being poorly served by their lawyers and I doubt, even in LA, that this travesty of a law suit gets very far. Especially considering it is a “public” school. That inherently makes it a legitimate target for (even hostile) criticism.

Unless the host was urging people to attack the school I don’t see where their suit has merit.


11 posted on 04/19/2007 11:48:17 AM PDT by Jack Black
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To: All
From LA CBS2 (KCAL 9) May 8, 2007:

Man Charged With Assaulting Radio Reporter Due In L.A. Court

(Los Angeles, CA) -- A Los Angeles man who is charged with felony assault and robbery for an alleged attack on a radio reporter near a school has a hearing set for today in L.A. Ramon Flores was arrested in September during a traffic stop. Police say reporter Sandy Wells was covering a story in June about a local charter school when he saw a speeding car jump the curb and continue toward him. Wells jumped out of the way. According to authorities, the driver jumped out and made off with the audio tape from the reporter's tape recorder. Wells was shaken, but otherwise unhurt. Flores faces up to six-years in state prison if convicted on all counts.

12 posted on 05/08/2007 8:41:41 AM PDT by LNewman
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