mediacarta

A Great Victory

We need to raise $50k to continue our legal battle.

A Great Victory

Every human being has the unassailable right to seek, receive and impart information without hindrance.

This right, enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is something we at Adbusters have been fighting for since our inception. Our nonprofit organization, Adbusters Media Foundation, was born 20 years ago in response to censorship after numerous broadcasters refused to run our citizen-produced ads. Over the last two decades, our TV spots have been refused by networks all over the world. We have launched numerous legal actions in Canada against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and private broadcasters (notably CanWest Global), fighting for the right of citizens to walk into their local TV stations and buy airtime.

For 20 years we were knocked back at every stage: we were defeated in the lower courts and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear our appeals. But last April, we finally scored a great legal victory. In a unanimous decision, the British Columbia Court of Appeal overturned previous court rulings and concluded that television airtime may indeed constitute public space. This crucial ruling allows us to proceed with our groundbreaking case against media conglomerates.

In order to take our fight to the next stage, we need an immediate injection of funds. We are asking for donations from people all over the world who believe that information rights are the key to a flourishing democracy and are vital in navigating the dangerous times ahead.

To donate, please visit www.adbusters.org/donate ... or send a cheque to Adbusters Media Foundation ... or give us a call at 604-736-9401/1-800-663-1243 (toll-free in North America). As Adbusters magazine has subscribers in 20 countries around the world, we are also trying to get in touch with media lawyers in the US, Australia and the UK who are interested in launching Right To Communicate legal actions in their own countries.

If you have ideas, need more information or want to talk strategy, email kono [at] adbusters.org.

for the wild,

Kalle Lasn
Editor and Co-founder, Adbusters Media Foundation

Adbusters

Censored TV Spots

These socially-minded public service spots were rejected by big broadcasters.



Buy Nothing Day Pig

Big Mac

Network Rejections

Listen to the network rejections to get a taste of how the unelected and unaccountable gatekeepers of the public airwaves really operate.

CTV Rejection

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CanWest Rejection

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Adbusters Wins Legal Victory

Our appeal was unanimously approved. We're one step closer to winning the right to buy airtime for citizen-produced, social marketing messages.

Adbusters Wins Legal Victory
Press release issue by the Adbusters Media Foundation on Monday, April 6th, 2009: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Adbusters Media Foundation, the publisher of /Adbusters/ magazine, has won an important appeal in its case against the CBC and Global Television Network. Adbusters initiated a landmark legal action against the media companies for refusing to sell airtime to Adbusters for its social marketing television campaigns. In a unanimous decision [1] released on Friday, April 3, the BC Court of Appeal overturned a previous BC Supreme Court ruling. Adbusters can now take its case against the media conglomerates to the BC Supreme Court. Since 1989 Adbusters has attempted to purchase airtime from major commercial broadcasters in order to air its socially-minded public service spots. Routinely denied by network executives in Canada and the US, Adbusters is often left with little to no explanation as to why these citizen-produced messages are being censored. The case against the CBC and Global Television Network Inc. was brought about because Adbusters believes that the Canadian Charter grants every Canadian the right to access the public airwaves; to walk into their local TV stations and purchase 30-seconds of airtime under the same rules and conditions as advertising agencies do. At issue in this groundbreaking case is the right of Canadian citizens to have (as stipulated by the Canadian Broadcasting Act) “a reasonable opportunity … to be exposed to the expression of differing views on matters of public concern.” “This is a great day for Adbusters,” says Kalle Lasn, editor and co-founder of the magazine. “After 20 years of legal struggle, the courts have finally given us permission to take on the media corporations and hold them up to public scrutiny.” For more information or to schedule an interview with Kalle Lasn or Adbusters’ attorney, Mark Underhill, please contact: MEDIA LIAISON: Lauren Bercovitch TELEPHONE NUMBER: 604-736-9401 EMAIL: Lauren [at] Adbusters [dot] org .. EDITOR’S NOTES [1] To view a digital copy of the judgment, visit: http://adbusters.org/files/pdf/adbusters_courtappeal_20090403.pdf [2] Canadian Media facts: Four corporations (CanWest, Quebecor, Torstar and Gesca) control almost three-quarters of the country’s daily newspaper circulation: [3] Facts about Media Democracy: More than 30,000 people have signed the Media Carta to voice their concerns about the way information is distributed in our society. In the past few years a growing number of grassroots media activist groups have formed to express their dissatisfaction with the continued consolidation of Canada’s media: Democratic Media END/ .... Rejected TV Spots *Buy Nothing Day Pig* Watch [2] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Big Mac* Watch [3] .... Network Rejections Listen to the network rejections to get a taste of how the unelected and unaccountable gatekeepers of the public airwaves really operate. *CTV Rejection* *CanWest Rejection* [1] http://adbusters.org/files/pdf/adbusters_courtappeal_20090403.pdf [2] #TB_inline?height=260&width=330&inlineId=bnd-pig [3] #TB_inline?height=250&width=330&inlineId=bigmac

Adbusters' Day in Court

This past Monday, the British Columbia Court of Appeal heard arguments in Adbusters' landmark media democracy suit against Canwest Global and the CBC.

Last Monday we had our day in the British Columbia Court of Appeal. If you've been following the case, you know that we suffered a setback last summer when we lost a decision at the Supreme Court of B.C. in our landmark lawsuit against Canwest Global and the CBC. We appealed that decision, and on Monday arguments were heard from lawyers on both sides. Counsel for Adbusters, Mark Underhill, felt that we received a good hearing before the Court: "This is a challenging case for the Court because Adbusters is seeking to have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply to private broadcasters. However, Adbusters is arguing that those broadcasters are in the unique position to control access for expression on the public broadcasting system, thereby potentialling infringing the constitutionally protected expression rights of Canadians. The unique position occupied by broadcasters on the broadcasting system has not been fully considered by the Courts to date and Adbusters therefore argues that their case should be allowed to proceed to a full trial. The Court was very engaged with the issues arising in this appeal, and asked a lot of questions which confirmed that they were carefully considering the merits of Adbusters' position. We were very pleased with how the hearing went and now await the Court's decision." There's no firm timeline yet on when the judges will deliver a decision, but we estimate that the wait will be at least one month and likely longer than that. We'll send you an update at that time. Read more about it on our Media Carta campaign page.

Historic Victory Over Comcast for Media Activists

The FCC has ordered Comcast to stop secretly blocking legal Internet traffic. Get all the gory details here.

SavetheInternet.com: Historic Win for Net Neutrality!

The FCC has ordered Comcast to stop secretly blocking legal Internet traffic. Get all the gory at here.

A Legal Action for Media Democracy

Adbusters Media Foundation has filed an appeal against the recent decision by the B.C. Supreme Court allowing Global Television and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to continue censoring citizen-produced TV ads.

A Legal Action for Media Democracy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 18, 2008

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Adbusters Media Foundation has filed an appeal against the recent decision by the B.C. Supreme Court allowing Global Television and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to continue censoring citizen-produced TV ads. Adbusters claims that this refusal to sell airtime to citizens and NGOs violates our right to freedom of expression under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"This case raises important questions regarding the nature and scope of freedom of expression on the Canadian broadcasting system," says Adbusters’ lawyer, Mark Underhill. "Parliament has confirmed in the Broadcasting Act that our broadcasting system is a publicly owned resource, but access to the system is controlled by private corporations. We intend to argue before the Court of Appeal that the broadcasters, including Global and the CBC, must remain as defendants in Adbusters' groundbreaking case because they play a critical role in ensuring that the public airwaves are open to a variety of viewpoints on matters of public interest. "

Kalle Lasn, the founder and editor-in-chief of Adbusters, says he’s committed to carrying the case forward all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary.

“Canadians should be able to walk into their local TV stations and buy 30 seconds of airtime under the same rules and conditions as corporations do. The CBC especially, should immediately stop blocking citizen-produced messages or stop calling itself our public broadcaster.”

For more information or interviews with Mark Underhill or Kalle Lasn email paul [at] Adbusters [dot] org.

EDITOR’S NOTES

For more information about Adbusters and the global media democracy movement visit .

[1] Canadian Media facts:

Four corporations (CanWest, Quebecor, Torstar and Gesca) control 72 per cent of the country’s daily newspaper circulation:

Five major media acquisitions in Canada have occurred or are currently in the making in the past two years: CHUM was purchased by CTVglobemedia for $1.4 billion, which then sold five CityTV stations to Rogers for $375 million; CanWest purchased Alliance Atlantis for $2.3 billion; Astral Media bought Standard Broadcasting for $1.2 billion; and Black Press and Quebecor are vying for the Osprey Media newspaper chain in a deal that will be worth more than $400 million.

[2] Facts about Media Democracy:

More than 30,000 people have signed the Media Carta to voice their concerns about the way information is distributed in our society.

In the past year a growing number of grassroots media activist groups have been formed in Canada to express their dissatisfaction with the continued consolidation of the country’s media:

END/

Young men dead

Should the media publish images of dead U.S. servicemen?

Over the weekend, I was reading Susan D. Moeller’s essay on "Media and Democracy"and she pointed out that one of the paramount problems with the mainstream media is that they have failed to show the human costs of war.

From September 1, 2004 to February 28, 2005, 559 American soldiers and Western allies died but not a single picture got published in the seven elite U.S. newspapers. Among these elite: New York Times, Washington Post, Time and Newsweek. During this time period, there were two significant news events: the U.S. led assault on Fallujah and the January 2005 elections in Iraq.

Times have changed. Life magazine published grim pictures of the Spanish Civil War in 1938 with these words:

Once again Life prints grim pictures of War, well knowing that once again they will dismay and outrage thousands and thousands of readers. But today’s two great continuing news events are two wars — one in China, one in Spain… Obviously Life cannot ignore not suppress these two great news events in pictures. As events, they have an authority far more potent than any editors’ policy or readers’ squeamishness. But Life could conceivably choose to show pictures of these events that make them look attractive. They are not, however, attractive events… Americans’ noble and sensible dislike of war is largely based on ignorance of what modern war really is… The love of peace has no meaning or no stamina unless it is based on a knowledge of war’s terrors… Dead men have indeed died in vain if live men refuse to look at them.. [Emphasis mine]
Anbar Province Suicide Bombing - Zoriah's Eyewitness Account - Iraq War Diary
Photo: Alex Majoli (Courtesy of Magnum Photos)

Today its even easier to ignore war’s terrors as the U.S. officials actively try to make it hard for journalists to get the reality out of the afflicted areas. Embedded Photojournalist, Zoriah was barred for publishing photos of Marines killed in a suicide bombing last month. In his blog post, he wrote:

What I saw was abhorrently graphic, yet far too important for the world to ignore. I present images that provide an uncensored view of a terrible event, and some small measure of dignity to those who lost their lives.

You can see all images here and decide for yourself… if these images should be published? Do they, as Zoriah says, give some dignity to those who lost their lives? or are the politicians using this absence of reality to portray the illusion of victory in places like Iraq?

You can listen to Zoriah’s full account (from Demoracynow.org):

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RELATED: New York Times has published "4,000 U.S. Deaths, and Just a Handful of Public Images" accompanied by a "Picturing Casualties" slide show.

Adbusters

Timothy Karr Interview

Full Interview with Timothy Karr from Free Press at NCMR 2008.



Commentary

American journalism is in a crisis

The idea of news being operated as a public trust in the public interest has virtually disappeared.

Adbusters

Adbusters at NCMR

We were at the 2008 National Conference for Media Reform, talking to some of the leading thinkers on media democracy.



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