Ken Ikeda’s Remarks

In our webinar on Tuesday, November 10th, our day of action and education for DEI in public media, Ken Ikeda from AIR gave an inspiring speech about disruption and innovation. He’s kindly shared his transcript notes with us here:

November 10, 2020
Transcript from Public Media For All’s Day of Action

Hi- My name is Ken Ikeda and I’m here representing AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio. 

As the world has changed, so have we, and our community extends well beyond radio alone.  AIR is an inspired network of professional journalists, editors, engineers and storytellers. 

Collectively, a spirit of independence, the pursuit of stories and the craft of storytelling and reporting bind us. 

We are about the work, yet as we know, work happens in the context of relationships, institutions, policies, practices and power that require constant negotiation. 

AIR has signed on as an organizational ally in support of Public Media For All. We are here for a movement. One that leads to a change in what we are forced to negotiate every day- relationships, institutions, policies, practices and power. 

I’ve always believed that great stories fuel movements. Stories have the ability to transform understanding, build proximity, and whether through empathy or rage, translate to engagement. Public media represents arguably the greatest community of storytellers, anywhere. The potential and power of this group is really unlimited. 

So…I wanted to offer a few suggestions for how we might collectively proceed. This is an invitation, not only to participate, but to lead. 

There is no particular order to what I am sharing and they are my own words, reflecting how I am choosing to participate in this moment, hoping that I might add value to this movement for change. 

Break the rules. Break the rules…to win!
The rules in place now are there to maintain the current reality. Save your frustration with apologies and promises crafted by PR and Legal teams. They are mostly about self-preservation and cowardice. Let their awkwardness be met with silence. Lets focus on winning. 

If you trust yourself to do right, if you are ready to lead and know the changes that have to be made, and how to deliver them, go for it, but don’t go it alone. 

Leading through change is difficult, decisions that no one has asked for are often necessary to make, and there can be a cost to jobs in order to realize a greater good. 

For movements to evolve, grow and sustain themselves through ups and downs, requires vision, persistence and courage. 

The short game builds space but the long game wins. 
Follow stories and moving speeches with deeply tactical work. 

You know where you want to get to but how you and everyone else gets there is where you need to organize for collective intelligence.  

Focus on what needs to change and not just who. 

• Who is delivering to President-elect Biden, the short list for new CPB Board Directors? 

• What are levers for change? 

  • What system or station leaders would wilt under the pressure of 10 protestors in front of their building?

• Who are you willing to call into the room and trust?

  • Who needs what information to better understand what they are missing? 

    • Who can you call on to deliver this invitation and the lesson to them?

    • Can they become advocates and socialize the collective effort?

• Are you operating with clear objectives and an ROI on your efforts? 

  • Is it still clear that the sacrifice will yield benefit to others? 

  • Is building up or burning down worth the return? Something else entirely?

• Are you ready? 

  • To fail? 

  • To see jobs lost? 

  • To step back to allow someone else to lead? 
    

Disruption is the short game and everything beyond can’t rely on an organic process. 

We are talking about change within a working industry and complex economy that will not wait on pubic media to work itself out. 

Movements require more than one idea or possibility to persist. The ideas don’t need to be revolutionary. They need to be targeted and disciplined, to further independence, leverage operating advantages of being in public media, and shift power and innovation to new leaders.

A few ideas as examples- 1) Public radio stations as local internet service providers. This can be built on the trust of the public media brand and using the infrastructure of major telcos. 2) Consolidation among willing stations to build a new network that can renegotiate licensing terms, invite new investment, build new formats and grow the space for local voices to be heard in their communities. 

These examples may feel easy to dismiss, but I’d argue what has kept them from happening are the rules that we have been playing by. An executive’s discouragement and their lack of willingness to take risks to disrupt what is working for just enough people or just the right people, keeps things running as they have been. 

Don’t let them shut you down! Trust yourself and share your vision, persist and give courage to others. Don’t give up. Find others to join the movement and in moments of doubt, lean on them, and borrow their courage to recharge. The long game allows you to step up and step back when need to so that you stay in. 

With a new White House administration on the horizon, we are editing our scripts and strategies. Lets not forget that we remain a divided country, or that we have colleagues in public media who refuse to acknowledge or see how they have built and condoned systemic racism. 

Don’t let up. Draw a line in the ground and ask each person who stands in the path of change where they stand. Its amazing how fragility and the absence of deep conviction are revealed under pressure. 

Lets deliver a movement that is undeniable, that reflects the public as producers and audience and represents a new mission through which we see meaningful change. 

Public Media For All is a fight worth winning!

Thank you.