WMATA Advertising Program

Transcription

1 Finance & Administration Committee Information Item IV-C March 8, 2012 WMATA Advertising Program

2 Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority WMATA s Advertising Program Finance & Administration Committee March 8, 2012

3 History of Advertising at Metro 1972 The Board adopted WMATA s commercial advertising guidelines* 1980 The Board reserved a portion of revenue generating advertising space for public service advertising* (#80-25) Be non-commercial, nonpartisan politically not designed to influence legislation 1987 The Board adopted d the Use Regulation which h identified where advertising on Metrobus and in the Metrorail System could occur (#87-02) * Current Guidelines are contained in the Appendix 2

4 History of Advertising at Metro 1996 The Board clarified that WMATA s public service advertising program should not be considered a public forum and that WMATA retained the right to reject advocacy public service advertising (#96-57) Must be non-commercial, nonpartisan politically not designed to influence legislation 2003 The Board reduced space available for public service advertising, and limited such advertising to WMATA s jurisdictions, the federal government, and their respective agencies for advertisements related to community, art, cultural, educational, health, and similar events, programs or messages 3

5 Controversial Advertising Lebron v. WMATA (1984) WMATA was sued when it rejected political poster critical of President Reagan (Jelly Bean Republic) court held that WMATA had established a public forum by accepting other political l advertising i 4

6 Controversial Advertising Christ s s Bride Ministries Ad ( ) 1996) linked abortion to breast cancer WMATA ran the ads and faced public fury; SEPTA rejected the ads, was challenged and lost court tfound viewpoint i tdiscriminationi i 5

7 Controversial Advertising Bishops Ads (2001) questioning whether Catholic Bishops cared that banning condoms kills people. Single largest negative response hundreds of letters/postcards objecting to the ad 6

8 Controversial Advertising Change the Climate Ads (Legalize Marijuana)(2003) WMATA initially ran ads; Congress passed law prohibiting funding if transit grantee accepted ads promoting legalization or medical use of any controlled substance ACLU v. Mineta - WMATA declined to run ads again ACLU challenged the restriction and won 7

9 Controversial Advertising 8

10 Forum Analysis Traditional Public Forum places which by long tradition or by government fiat have been devoted to assembly and debate (parks, streets, etc.) Designated Public Forum places created by government designation to channel communication by public for assembly or speech (WMATA s advertising venues) Government can redefine a non-traditional/designated public forum but guidelines must achieve and maintain viewpoint neutrality Rejection/restriction of speech in either a traditional or designated public forum faces highest form of judicial scrutiny it must be necessary to serve a compelling state interest and narrowly drawn to achieve that end 9

11 Forum Analysis Few restrictions on speech in a public forum survive constitutional challenge Reasonable time, place and manner restrictions are acceptable Obscenity can be banned Non-Public Forum places where government has not opened space to public Receives the lowest form of scrutiny in that restrictions on speech need only be viewpoint neutral and reasonable in light of the purposes of the forum 10

12 Forum Analysis Obscenity in any forum, WMATA has the right to limit speech that is obscene; i.e., material that taken as a whole, to the average person applying contemporary community standards d would find appeals to the prurient interest e.g., sexual conduct and lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value Profanity The Supreme Court has held that profane or vulgar speech alone, unaccompanied by any evidence of violent arousal, are not fighting words and may be entitled to Constitutional protection 11

13 Appendix 12

14 Appendix 13

15 Appendix 14