adbusters and TV

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interesting....

Adbusters suing networks for not airing spots

By JOE FRIESEN

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

POSTED AT 5:30 AM EDT Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

Adbusters, the Vancouver-based alternative media organization, is suing Canada's major television networks for refusing to broadcast advertisements that criticize consumerism.

It has hired prominent civil-rights lawyer Clayton Ruby to act as counsel in this case, which it describes as the opening salvo in a war for greater media democracy.

"For the last 10 years I've been trying to buy air time and by and large I've been unable to do that," said Kalle Lasn, editor-in-chief of Adbusters magazine.

"I think it's a violation of my right to freedom of speech."

The lawsuit, which was filed in Ontario Superior Court, names the CBC, CanWest Global, Bell Globemedia and CHUM Ltd. as respondents.

It also names the Government of Canada in its role as regulator of the airwaves.

Adbusters is seeking a declaration from the courts under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that the broadcasters have infringed on its right to freedom of expression.

It hopes the court will force the networks to accept its ads.

The 10 ads, or "social marketing spots," submitted to the networks were all approved by Telecaster Services, a branch of the Television Bureau of Canada that acts as a guardian of good taste.

They include a spot promoting Buy Nothing Day, one that criticizes violence on TV, and one that points out how much fat is contained in a McDonald's Big Mac.

A CBC spokeswoman said its lawyers are considering their legal options.

In an e-mail, a CTV spokesman said the network told Mr. Lasn in April that it was prepared to air three of his commercials, but that it reserved the right to refuse the others on the grounds that they were bad for business.

"The idea of a TV executive lording it over me and telling me what I can and cannot say, it violates my democratic principles," Mr. Lasn said.

Transcripts of Adbusters' conversations with TV executives are included in the legal filing. In one case, a CHUM representative is quoted as saying the ads "were so blatantly against television and that is our entire core business. . . . You know we can't be selling our airtime and then telling people to turn their TVs off."

Another executive at CTV said the idea of Buy Nothing Day would go over "like a lead balloon" with major retail advertisers.

Adbusters first launched a legal challenge to get its television spots on the air in 1995. The suit wound its way through the British Columbia courts after the CBC terminated an advertising contract because an anti-car ad caused automobile advertisers to complain. The case eventually fizzled out when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear it.

But this time, with Mr. Ruby as counsel, Mr. Lasn believes his group has a better case.

Mr. Ruby cites as precedent a Supreme Court ruling from 2002 in which the court protected the right to counter-advertising that criticizes a product or service.

In the judgment, Mr. Justice Louis LeBel wrote that "this type of communication may be of considerable importance even beyond the merely commercial sphere. It is a form of expression of opinion that has an important effect on the social and economic life of a society. It is a right not only of consumers, but of citizens."

Mr. Ruby said Adbusters merely wants to present the other side of the argument on airwaves that are inundated with messages promoting consumerism.

"This is a public space which the government regulates," Mr. Ruby said. "Given that [the government] have monopolized it, they have an obligation to guarantee freedom of expression."

Most major networks in the United States have rejected Adbusters spots. But CNN has aired several over the past five years, which were paid for by donations made through the Adbusters website.

Mr. Lasn said he plans a court challenge later this year if U.S. networks continue to refuse his business.

But first, Canada has a historic opportunity to become the first country that "opens its airwaves and gives citizens the right to communicate," he said.