City settles censorship lawsuit by ACLU

A lawsuit that contended that Los Alamitos officials censored political programs on the city’s public-access cable TV channel has been settled out of court.

The suit, which the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed in February, said city officials violated the 1st Amendment by canceling reruns of two shows on LATV-3, a Time-Warner channel in Los Alamitos and Rossmoor.

The city denied any censorship.

On Monday, the council settled the case by establishing guidelines that limit the circumstances under which programs can be blocked or rescheduled. Political content cannot be censored, but shows deemed violent or risque may be moved to time slots after 10 p.m.

If a show’s producer disagrees with a city ruling, the case can be appealed to a hearing officer.

Los Alamitos’ previous TV policy was vague, said City Manager Luci Romero Serlet, whose actions were at the center of the ACLU’s complaint.

According to the lawsuit, Serlet improperly took the station off the air for two days in September after receiving viewer complaints about an arts and politics show produced by resident Alan Katz. The channel resumed broadcasting after Serlet reviewed the shows and found nothing inappropriate.

Two months later, the suit said, reruns of interviews with City Council candidates were replaced by local football games during their time slots just before the Nov. 7 election.

Derek Shaffer, executive director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center, said blocking reruns wasn’t as drastic as never allowing the shows to air in the first place, but it could still be considered a violation of the 1st Amendment.

ACLU attorney Peter Eliasberg praised the city for acting quickly to resolve the issue.