Biddeford cable-access to go back on the air
Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
BIDDEFORD — Lights, camera, limited action.
The City Council has agreed to put the local cable-access channel back on the air, but only to air governmental meetings of the council, school committee and planning and zoning boards.
Missing from the program outline is the part allowing local producers to put on their own programming, such as Dorothy Lafortune's live call-in show. But cable committee Chairman James Grattelo said producers should soon be allowed to put up their own programs, "if we can work out a set of rules."
The council's decision was designed to help resolve a legal dispute with Lafortune. Lafortune, represented by the Maine Civil Liberties Union, sued councilors in federal court after they took her show off the air last year.
The case is being closely watched by civil libertarians, who argue that it's a violation of free speech for political leaders to silence a show on public-access TV for airing controversial material.
Part of the issue with Lafortune's show was whether it contained slanderous material. Councilors, including Grattelo, claimed it did. They said she had failed to get signed clearances from people whose names were mentioned on the show.
U.S. Magistrate David Cohen said city officials violated her free speech rights and should not require local producers to seek permission from people before using their names on the air.
U.S. District Judge Brock Hornby, meanwhile, gave the city until this month to revise cable access rules so they don't restrict free speech.