Settled law...in this case the station refused to take an ad from the filth in the KKK. The KKK's views are repugnant to me, but now public radio can refuse to take anyone’s ad based upon their views and ideology...
http://comm.astate.edu/herald/archive/onlyonlinef00/101700missourri2.html
High court refuses to hear KKK case against U. Missouri-St. Louis
radio station (U. Missouri-St. Louis)
By Tim Thompson
The Current (U. Missouri-St. Louis)
10/12/2000
(U-WIRE) ST. LOUIS -- The U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant the
Missouri Chapter of the Ku Klux Klan a review of its case against the
KWMU radio station at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
On Sept. 16, 1997, the KKK attempted to pay for a 15-second
advertisement during the national radio program "All Things
Considered." In exchange, they wanted an announcement describing
their association as "a white Christian organization standing up for
the rights and values of white Christian America since 1865."
Patricia Wente-Bennett, director and general manager of KWMU, refused
their request. Her decision was supported by Chancellor Blanche
Touhill and the University of Missouri Board of Curators.
In response, the KKK and its attorney, Robert Herman, brought a
lawsuit against the radio station. On Dec. 11, 1998, the U.S.
District Court in downtown St. Louis heard the case.
The central issue in question was whether or not KWMU's decision to
refuse the KKK's contribution constituted a breach of its first
amendment right to free speech. U.S. Magistrate Tom Mummert, who
presided over the case, ruled in favor of KWMU. In doing so, he cited
a 1982 Federal Communication Commission rule which granted radio
stations "the right of discretion of accepting financial gifts in
return for advertising time."
The KKK and its attorney refused to accept this and filed an appeal
with the 8th Circuit Court of St. Louis. On Feb. 8, 1999, their
appeal was denied. The Circuit Court ruled that KWMU had the right to
decide what to put on the air, and what not to.
After its second defeat, the KKK played its final trump card. It
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Oct. 2, 2000, the highest
court in the land simply refused to hear the KKK's case.
Through its silence, the Supreme Court actually upheld the decision
made by the 8th Circuit Court of St. Louis.
Wente-Bennett said she was very happy with the result.
"This represents an important day for public broadcasting," Bennett
stated in a phone interview. "It means that KWMU is now free to
accept or reject financial gifts for advertising from various
businesses just like everyone else."
Bennett said she wanted to thank all of the support KWMU received
during the lawsuit.
"We received an overwhelming number of phone calls, letters, and
e-mails supporting our position," she said. "Chancellor Touhill and
the Board also displayed strong leadership during the whole process."
The KKK and its attorney Robert Herman were not nearly as
enthusiastic about the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case.
In an interview with Deirdre Shesgreen of the Post Dispatch's
Washington Bureau, Herman stated, "When government makes available
third-party speech, it must be without reference to viewpoint. Nobody
is fooling anybody here. This is because of the Klan's viewpoint."
(snip)
Herman cites a 1996 decision on the Arkansas case, in which a federal circuit court -- in St. Louis -- ruled that the public TV network had no right to exclude a minor political candidate from a Republican-Democrat Congressional-nominee debate it sponsored and broadcast in 1992. The 1996 decision explicitly treated journalists at the state-owned Arkansas network as government employees, with no authority to suppress the speech of a political candidate. The plaintiff candidate in the Arkansas case, Ralph Forbes, describes himself as a "Christian supremacist," according to reports.
Herman says he's opposing the hypocrisy of the public radio station. "NPR is a very liberal station. ... It probably represents my point of view better than any station I've listened to. But, you either buy the First Amendment or you don't. You can't buy it to only apply to certain people. You have to buy it completely or it doesn't work. If this were the Temple Israel, and they applied to All Things Considered and the station said, 'We don't think Jews are in the public interest,' there'd be outrage."
Herman is also representing the Missouri Klan in its complaint against the state for refusing to allow the Klan to "adopt a highway."