
{"id":27662,"date":"2012-09-06T09:47:32","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T13:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=27662"},"modified":"2012-09-06T09:47:32","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T13:47:32","slug":"controversial-ads-back-on-buses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/09\/06\/controversial-ads-back-on-buses\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial ads back on buses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Susan Dickson<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_27664\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27664\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2012\/09\/06\/controversial-ads-back-on-buses\/busads090612\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-27664\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/BusAds090612.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"BusAds090612\" width=\"600\" height=\"330\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/BusAds090612.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/BusAds090612-113x62.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/BusAds090612-150x82.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/BusAds090612-100x55.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/BusAds090612-360x198.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27664\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The original ad, paid for by the Church of Reconciliation, was taken off Chapel Hill Transit buses. The church added its contact information, and the ads are back up.  IMAGE COURTESY OF THE CHURCH OF RECONCILIATION<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nA little more than a week after their removal, a group of controversial ads is back up on Chapel Hill Transit buses.<\/p>\n<p>The ads, placed by the Church of Reconciliation, were part of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Join With Us\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Be on our Side\u00e2\u20ac\u009d national ad campaign coordinated by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, calling for the end of U.S. military aid to Israel. Five complaints led to a review of the ads, which found that they were not in compliance with CHT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s policy on political and religious advertising, which requires a disclaimer stating the purchaser of the ad as well as contact information.<\/p>\n<p>Additional residents have contacted the town regarding the ads since the initial review, and the controversy has launched a discussion among bus riders, other residents and Chapel Hill Town Council members. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was terribly disappointed to learn that a local church thought it was appropriate to buy space on our free public transit system that would alienate members of the Jewish community like me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d wrote Lew Borman, former executive director of the Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish Federation, in an email to the council. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153These ads, however well meaning, are insulting. It is a sad unilateral expression.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Though the church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ads had been approved by CHT staff and the town attorney, they did not include the church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contact information \u00e2\u20ac\u201c only that the ads had been \u00e2\u20ac\u0153paid for by the Church of Reconciliation and Friends,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Pastor Mark Davidson. The omission was unintentional, he said, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve since added the contact information and gotten the ads back up. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We wanted to generate discussion and dialogue, and especially to draw some attention to the issue, and it certainly has done that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Davidson said.<br \/>\nDavidson said the church spent about $1,400 printing the ads and less than $1,000 to run them on the 98 CHT buses for one year. <\/p>\n<p>CHT director Steve Spade said the policy on bus advertising was approved by the council in June 2011 when CHT began to sell advertising on its buses. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153From time to time, somebody will call and have a complaint about something,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, noting that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d received a few complaints regarding the Wells Fargo bus wrap. <\/p>\n<p>As for the church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ads, Spade said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As far as we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re concerned, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in complete compliance with the policy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Council members have indicated that they would like to revisit the transit advertising policy in light of the controversy. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153First Amendment rights were a significant part of our discussion [about the policy], and how to balance that right with our interest in maintaining a positive\/neutral ambiance on and about our buses and transit system,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d council member Jim Ward wrote in an email with regard to the first complaint. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not surprised by the concern expressed by one of our bus riders. While we created a very thoughtful set of protocols, sooner or later, someone was bound to voice their concern.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Council member Penny Rich said she felt CHT should not accept offensive political ads. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Being the only Jewish person on the council I can tell you that Israel is a very emotional, complicated issue to discuss,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rich wrote in an email. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I publicly do not take a stand on Israel, however, I do think we as a town have to understand the strong bond Jewish people have with Israel, therefore we need to extend our respect by not accepting political ads that will offend our Jewish citizens.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Davidson said the church has received a flurry of contact about the ads and that their next step will be to hold some discussions or forums. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think we have known all along that the purpose of the ads was to be a catalyst for conversation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done that, and we want for them to continue doing that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What we really care about is the issue of the occupation and the horrendous conditions that Palestinians live under,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he continued. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want the main reason for our effort to get lost in all of these other controversies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A little more than a week after their removal, a group of controversial ads is back up on Chapel Hill Transit buses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27662"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27669,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27662\/revisions\/27669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}