Public-access TV returns to Maine town — without the public

By The Associated Press

08.10.02

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BIDDEFORD, Maine — The City Council has agreed to put the local cable-access channel back on the air — but don't expect to see anything other than government proceedings.

The council said the only things Channel 2 can air for now are meetings of the council, school committee and the planning and zoning boards.

Residents will be forbidden from producing their own programming, such as Dorothy Lafortune's local call-in show that motivated the council last spring to pull the plug on the channel in the first place.

Willie Nelson, a member of the city's cable committee, accused city councilors of adopting a self-serving order that puts them on TV yet keeps local programs off.

"We're not getting anywhere," Nelson said.

"They don't want people like us talking about people like them," Lafortune said.

City councilors said they should have a set of regulations over local programming sometime this month. James Grattelo, cable committee chairman, said local programming shouldn't be allowed until the rules are adopted.

"I will not support a free-for-all," Grattelo said.

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.

U.S. Magistrate David Cohen said city officials violated Lafortune's 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.

MCLU attorney David Lourie questioned Grattelo's motives.

"His proposals are a parody of public access, and would effectively destroy it," Lourie said.

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