Defending the use of the web for grassroots organizing.....

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Paul Levy <PLEVY () citizen org>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 15:34:52 -0400
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Defending the use of the web for grassroots organizing.....

We have just filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Talk Radio
Network against Thomas Leavitt and his wife Gunilla, over the web site
on which they attack the crude bigotry of Michael Savage and urge
listeners to vote with the consumer dollars, by urging advertisers to
deny financial support for his nastiness.  The lawsuit represents an
attack on a fundamental weapon that citizens of this country have always
had, to organize themselves privately to use their joint financial clout
to discourage their political or cultural adversaries.  From the NAACP
to the Parents Television Network, from the Concerned Women of America
urging politics-sensitive investing to the National Organization for
Women boycotting states that have not the ERA, from unions to chambers
commerce, private groups have had the ability to appeal to the public to
support their causes through their consumer spending.  The lawsuit
brought against the Leavitts treats such efforts as a tort against which
an injunction may be obtained suppressing the speech, and and based on
which hundred of thousands of dollars in damages may be awarded.

We see the proper response to web sites with which one disagrees as
being the establishment of other web sites, or other efforts to win the
hearts and pocketbooks of the public through the marketplace of ideas.
The lawsuit is a dangerous attack on free speech and we intend to stop
it.  We understand that one of the other defendants, Julie Swigart of
takebackthemedia, will be separately represented.  It is not clear that
the third defendant, the anonymous author of the michaelsavagesucks web
site, has been served.

A URL for the brief on our web site is at the end of the following
press release.  



For Immediate Release:     Contact: Paul Alan Levy (202) 588-1000
June 10, 2003         Angela Bradbery (202) 588-7741
 
Web Site's Call for Boycott of Companies Advertising on Right-Wing Talk
Show Is Protected by First Amendment
 
Oregon Talk Radio Syndicator's Suit Should Be Dismissed,
 Public Citizen Tells Illinois Court
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A Web site that urges people to boycott companies
that advertise on a right-wing radio show is protected by the First
Amendment, and attempts to shut it down should be dismissed, Public
Citizen told a court today.
 
In a brief filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of
Illinois, Public Citizen listed a host of reasons why a lawsuit filed by
Talk Radio Network of Grants Pass, Ore., should be dismissed.  The suit
was filed against four people who operate three Web sites critical of a
right-wing radio host named Michael Savage. Public Citizen is
representing two of those, Thomas and Gunilla Leavitt of Santa Cruz,
Calif., who created www.savagestupidity.com.
 
The site criticizes offensive and bigoted comments made by Savage, who
rails against African-Americans, Hispanics, Jewish liberals, women,
gays, liberals and a variety of other groups on his show, the "Savage
Nation." The Web site also has audio clips from the show and calls for
the public to write letters to Savage's advertisers and urge them to
withdraw their support form his program. The Web site also threatens to
boycott advertisers who continue to support Savage.
 
Talk Radio Network sued on May 12, alleging that the defendants are
running commercial Web sites that make false and malicious statements
about Savage and attempt to interfere with Talk Radio Network's
relationships with advertisers, specifically Culligan, an Illinois-based
company. The suit asks the court to shut down the Web sites and have the
operators pay several hundred thousand dollars in damages.
 
"Urging a boycott is a time-honored action that has long been protected
under the First Amendment," said Paul Alan Levy, an attorney with Public
Citizen who is defending the Leavitts. "The claim that this is
interfering in a business relationship is ludicrous. If Talk Radio
Network were to prevail on that claim, it would effectively turn off a
vital spigot of speech in this country."
 
Much is wrong with the claims in the suit, Levy wrote. First, they were
filed in the wrong court. The Leavitts live in California and have no
relationship to Illinois, where Culligan is based. An Illinois court's
interest in protecting Talk Radio Network from two Californians'
exercise of their First Amendment Rights is slim.
 
Second, Talk Radio Network claims that statements on the Web site are
false, but that claim can't be justified. Savage is a public figure, and
under established legal principles, to libel a public figure, one must
not only make false statements but must do so with a reckless disregard
for the truth. In this case, the Leavitts are expressing their opinion
about Savage, and the statements they make about him are to their
knowledge true. Further, because Talk Radio Network is the party suing,
the company must show that the site says something false about the
company; however, nothing like that is alleged in the lawsuit.
 
Third, the suit alleges that the Leavitts have wrongfully placed copies
of Savage's recordings on their Web site, which appears to be a claim
for copyright violation. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly
made clear that such a "fair use" of material is protected under the
First Amendment.
 
"The Leavitts have every right to criticize Savage and urge people to
boycott his advertisers," Levy said. "This is the wrong suit, filed in
the wrong place. It should be dismissed."
 
David Bradford and David Layden of the Chicago-based law firm of
Jenner & Block, LLC will be joining Public Citizen in representing the
defendants.
 
A copy of the brief is posted on the Web at
http://www.citizen.org/documents/leavitt%20dismiss%20memo.pdf.
 
###
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization
based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit
www.citizen.org.



Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation/litigation.html


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