This morning, Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor went to the Los Angeles Superior Court after allegedly being tipped off by the Dept. of Building and Safety that the LA Weekly was seeking a list of all legal and illegal billboards they had permitted. The media giants were arguing that the information was proprietary.
Instead, the judge ruled in favor of the LA Weekly:
Judge James Chalfant quickly made clear that the location and ownership of billboards in L.A…. is public information gleaned from a public permitting process.
It is not proprietary information… Now, Building and Safety must release the list of 11,000 billboards, their owners and locations. By April 4. Including the thousands of billboards put up illegally by many billboard companies.
Now, as everyone anxiously awaits either a release of the list or a legal challenge from big media, I look forward to finding out how Building and Safety would benefit from tipping off Clear Channel…
[h/t Mack Reed at LA Metblogs]
1 response so far ↓
thunderboltfan // April 3, 2008 at 12:18 pm |
In today’s LA Times op-ed pages, Patt Morrison anticipates a court challenge from the billboard companies, since they’ve been mounting challenges for– get this– the past 100 years.
She suggests self-appointed citizen billboard counters: “Every time you see a billboard, note the nearest address, the company name (at the top of the board) and the number (usually at the lower left). E-mail it to Rocky.Delgadillo@lacity.org. So that just like the billboards on your way to work, he can’t miss ‘em.”
I love Patt.