[kictanet] Fwd: Adbusters Wins a Legal Victory

[Wainaina Mungai]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Adbusters Magazine <jammers at lists.adbusters.org>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:13:42 -0700
Subject: Adbusters Wins a Legal Victory
To: 56509 <wainaina at madeinkenya.org>

ADBUSTERS WINS A LEGAL VICTORY AGAINST CANADA'S MEDIA GIANTS, LEGAL ACTION
IN THE US MAY BE NEXT

After 15 years of legal tussling to bring democracy to the public airwaves,
Adbusters has finally scored a great victory. The Supreme Court of British
Columbia has granted us an appeal in our landmark case against Canada's CBC
and Canwest Global, giving us the go-ahead to set a precedent and establish
some public rights over the airwaves (check out the judges¹ ruling here
<http://adbusters.org/files/pdf/adbusters_courtappeal_20090403.pdf>).

People are spending an unparalleled 8.5 hours per day in front of screens
and even with the influx of new screen formats ­ cell phones, computers,
kindle ­ TV is still dominant. It¹s the most powerful social communications
medium of our time. And yet it is a place where commercial imperatives rule
and dissenting voices are routinely censored. Adbusters¹ attempts to
purchase airtime from major commercial broadcasters for its socially-minded
public service spots <http://www.adbusters.org/abtv/censored_tv_spots.html>
have been repeatedly denied over the years.

The airwaves are public property ­ just like city sidewalks or parks. They
are a public space where freedom of speech must prevail. This is an
inspiring idea for media activists and could pave the way for further legal
victories down the road not only on the TV airwaves, but in cyberspace as
well.

Not surprisingly, none of Canwest¹s 13 daily newspapers or 23 TV channels
covered the appeal court ruling. The silence has been deafening. Canadians
citizens should be aware that the largest media conglomerate in our country
is censoring the news to suit its own interests.

Here¹s who did cover the story: CBC Radio
<http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/latestshow.html> (after April 9, the link
changes to <http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20090408.shtml>, the
Globe and Mail
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090406.wads0406/BNStory
/National/>, the Georgia Straight
<http://www.straight.com/article-212819/bcs-highest-court-rules-adbusters-med
ia-foundation-can-sue-cbc-and-global-tv> and the Tyee
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Media/2009/04/07/Adbusters-win-appeal/.

CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, MTV and the Food Channel have also repeatedly refused to
sell us airtime over the past 15 years and we would like to launch a freedom
of speech legal action in the US. If you know an American lawyer who may be
interested in being part of our legal team then let us know, email
kono at adbusters.org.

The endgame will be a series of lawsuits around the world forcing the half a
dozen media megacorporations controlling the bulk of news and entertainment
flows around the planet to return some control back to the public.

Email kono at adbusters.org if you want to talk strategy or contribute to our
legal war chest.

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