LOS ALAMITOS — The Los
Alamitos City Council voted unanimously yesterday to settle a lawsuit over its
censorship of public-access television programming last year. The city agreed to
adopt new policies to protect free speech at Los Alamitos Television
Corporation, whose LATV Channel 3 is available to Time Warner customers in Los
Alamitos and Rossmoor.
The ACLU of Southern California and the law firm
of Kirkland & Ellis LLP filed a free-speech case February 6 on behalf of
Alan Katz, whose arts and politics series had an episode ordered off the air.
“With ever-increasing media consolidation, it is harder and harder for
individuals to have any access to television and radio. Stations like LATV-3 are
a vital outlet for the voices of the public,” said Peter Eliasberg, the
ACLU/SC’s Manheim Family Attorney for First Amendment Rights. “This agreement
keeps real local television alive in Los Alamitos.”
The new policies are
meant to provide fair access to prime time slots and ensure programming is not
removed from the air without careful review.
“Producers’ shows will air
when requested and not be rearranged to suit the city’s point of view,” said
Katz, who produces “OC’s West
End,” an arts and politics
program that has aired since February 2005.
The censorship that led to
the lawsuit occurred after the City Council fired the independent board of
directors who manage the Los Alamitos Television Corporation and took control of
the nonprofit station. Katz taped an episode of his series in September 2006
with former LATV board members. The show aired twice before the city manager —
who admitted she had not seen the episode — ordered it off the air, citing
unspecified “complaints” about its content. The program was later returned to
the air, then pulled again.
The producer of another series taped
interviews with City Council candidates before the November election. The
episode was swapped for local football games and other programs just before the
Nov. 7 election.