SEPTA's Board Votes To Change Its Advertisement Policy
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Septa's Board voted unanimously to alter its advertisement policy to ban any ads that express an opinion.
This comes just one month after the agency finished running controversial anti-Islamic ads per a court order.
The vote amends the contract with Titan, the company that sells Septa advertisements, by prohibiting the group from accepting any political ads or ads discussing political, religious, economic, historical or social issues. The new policy also explicitly bans any ads that disparage any person or group.
"We want to conform our standard to the court," says Gino Benedetti, General Counsel for Septa. He says the court loss over the Anti-Muslim ads demonstrated that their previous policy had weaknesses. So they changed their policy to ensure the world knows Septa vehicles are no longer public forums where debates can happen.
"We were already not a designated public forum, but the court thought otherwise," says Benedetti, "so we made these changes so we can avoid this situation in the future."
"It's poor public policy, it's bad business," says Justin Kewder, an attorney who testified at the hearing saying he expects a slew of free speech lawsuits challenging the new policy. He notes Septa buses and vehicles have been designated a "public forum" for decades and the new policy now limits free speech. Benedetti says he expects lawsuits, but Septa is ready.
"We put ourselves in a very strong position to defend those lawsuits," says Benedetti.
The policy also bans alcohol and tobacco ads and forces advertisers to reimburse Septa for monies spend defending lawsuits.
