| SOS: Adbusters at Crossroads March 25, 2008 |
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Four years ago, Adbusters launched a lawsuit against two of Canada’s largest television networks when they refused to sell us airtime. Our 15- and 30-second public service announcements dealt with some of the biggest social and environmental issues of our time, issues that weren’t being dealt with frankly in the corporate media: global warming, rampant consumerism and the growing obesity and mental health crises.
Our hope was that, by challenging this censorship as a violation of free speech under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we’d open up the TV airwaves and re-invigorate democratic debate.
But on February 18, after years of legal wrangling, we lost the court battle against Canwest Global Communications Corporation and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. British Columbia Supreme Court Justice William Ehrcke ruled that, even though the broadcasters are using “public” airwaves, they have the right to run and refuse whichever ads they want. The ruling was a major blow not only to our fight for media democracy, but to the Adbusters Media Foundation as a whole.
And so we are left with a great many unanswered questions. Why does the CBC call itself “Canada’s Public Broadcaster” if they won’t sell airtime to citizens? Why is the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission – our nation’s media regulator – not standing up for public access? Why doesn’t one of the nation’s most fundamental legal documents apply to the most powerful social communications medium of our age?
With due respect to Justice Ehrcke, we think it’s a genuine outrage that the fast food, oil and automobile industries are free to promote their agendas – whatever the social and environmental costs – but regular citizens are not allowed to talk back in the same forum. For that reason, we don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that this issue goes to the very heart of what our democracy is all about.
We are now at a critical crossroads. Adbusters has been given a chance to challenge the ruling. But we’re in a tight bind. We’ve spent more than $100,000 fighting this case to date, and Justice Ehrcke has ordered us to pay both Canwest’s and the CBC’s legal costs.
While we still feel that the broadcasters should be held accountable for trampling on the public interest, we’re now considering abandoning this case and going straight to the source: the CRTC. Ultimately, it is the CRTC’s negligence that has allowed corporate broadcasters to censor legitimate civil concerns with impunity. But to abandon our case against Canwest and the CBC would put Adbusters back at square one.
Whichever direction we take, we have a long and expensive battle ahead of us. Adbusters can’t go on alone. We desperately need to replenish our legal war chest. With your support, the fight for media democracy will go on.
Help keep us going by:
- Sending a cheque to:
Adbusters Media Foundation
1243 W. 7th Ave.
Vancouver, BC V6H 1B7
- Emailing me to talk about strategy
Kalle Lasn
Editor-in-Chief
kalle [at] adbusters [dot] org
