[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Runnemede 3-5-1996 by Ord. No. 96-3 (Ch. 69A of the 1970 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Cable television franchise — See Ch. A451.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms and words shall have the meaning given herein:
BOARD OF EDUCATION
The Black Horse Pike Regional School Board of Education.
GOVERNMENTAL AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES
Those purposes associated with official governmental or educational meetings, act, notices and functions, and shall include the listing of sports and cultural events.
MUNICIPALITY
The Township of Gloucester, Borough of Runnemede and Borough of Bellmawr, in the County of Camden, State of New Jersey.
PRODUCER
An entity which creates or presents a program for broadcast. The producer is solely responsible for the content of the program and for the compliance with programs standards established herein.
PRODUCTION
The activities of the producer and its staff in connection with the program.
PROGRAM REVIEW COMMITTEE
Consists of members chosen as set forth in this chapter.
Only the Mayors of the Township of Gloucester, the Borough of Runnemede and the Borough of Bellmawr and the Superintendent of the Black Horse Pike Regional School Board of Education and the Superintendents of the Gloucester Township, Runnemede and Bellmawr School Boards of Education shall serve as producer. All activities relating to the production of a program shall be directly under the control of the producer.
Nothing herein shall preclude the use of paid professionals or unpaid volunteers in the production of a program; provided, however, that such persons or entities are under the direction and supervision of the producer.
Persons or entities that wish to have a program considered for airing shall first submit four copies of the program on VHS format video tape to the producer. The purpose and content of any program shall be exclusively governmental or educational. The Municipal Governmental and Educational Access Channel is not to be used for public forum or as a general public access channel.
The objective of this chapter is to create standards that will present programs of the highest possible quality. Program content, community interest, aesthetics, artistic excellence, professionalism and technical quality are vitally important and will be rigorously evaluated when determining whether a program is to be approved for broadcast.
A. 
No advocacy. No promotion or advocacy of any political or religious doctrine, philosophy, point of view or position shall be permitted, whether local, state, national or international in scope, and whether direct or implied, overt or subtle. This standard of "no advocacy" is an absolute prohibition and the doctrine of equal time is not sufficient to overcome it.
B. 
No commercials. No commercial message of any kind, whether paid or not paid, shall be permitted at any time. The names of contributors who have assisted with the cost of production may be displayed in block letters for an aggregate period for all such names is not to exceed 15 seconds at the beginning and again at the end of each program; addresses, telephone numbers, products and services are not permitted.
C. 
No obscenity. Prohibited at all times are images, language and themes which are pornographic, lewd, lascivious, obscene or vulgar or of a derogatory, demeaning or offensive to people of any race, creed, color or ethnic background.
D. 
News. Nothing herein shall preclude balanced news reporting or balanced coverage of newsworthy events; provided, however, that such reporting or events shall not be for the principal purpose of stating, promoting, advancing or advocating a particular political or religious doctrine, philosophy, point of view or position.
E. 
Community calendar. Nothing herein shall preclude the timely announcement of bona fide civic or cultural events reasonably expected to be of interest to the citizens of the Borough of Runnemede.
A. 
Any person, 18 years of age or older, whose primary residence is in the Township of Gloucester, Borough of Runnemede or the Borough of Bellmawr may appeal a producer's decision to approve or disapprove a completed program for broadcasting. To appeal, a written notice of the appeal must be submitted to the Clerk of the Black Horse Pike Regional School Board of Education.
B. 
Notice of appeal.
(1) 
The notice of appeal:
(a) 
Must be typewritten;
(b) 
Must include the applicant's full name, residence address, day and evening telephone number(s);
(c) 
Must clearly identify the single program which is the subject of the appeal;
(d) 
Must state the entire reason and basis for the appeal;
(e) 
Must be accompanied by five video tape VHS format copies of the program which is the subject of the appeal;
(f) 
Must be signed by the applicant.
(2) 
When the notice of appeal is in complete form, a copy of said notice of appeal will be supplied to the producer by the Clerk of the Board of Education. The producer will have 10 days to respond to the Board Clerk with a written response to the appeal.
(3) 
The program, notice of appeal and producer's response will be reviewed by the Program Review Committee, and a written ruling of a majority of the Committee will be delivered to the applicant, producer and Board Clerk within 28 days following the filing of a complete notice of appeal. Failure to deliver a ruling within the 28 days will be deemed a decision in favor of the applicant. If the Committee's ruling grants approval to broadcast, then it implicitly states that the program meets the programming standards and no further reason for the ruling need be given. If the ruling denies approval to broadcast, then it will state only the section of the programming standards that the Committee has determined are violated by the program. No elaboration, additional reasoning or specific programming guidance is to be given by the Committee, as it is the producer's responsibility to determine the corrective action required to cure any deviation from program standards.
(4) 
Notice of appeal seeking to prevent the broadcast of a program must be received in complete form not less than 30 days prior to the schedule broadcast date. Once a complete notice of appeal is received, no acceleration of the broadcast schedule will be permitted. Notice of appeal received in complete form less than 30 days prior to the scheduled broadcast date will not cause a delay in the scheduled broadcast but will be heard nevertheless, and any ruling thereon will be used as a nonbinding guide by the producers in approving future programs for broadcast and by the Committee in ruling on future appeals.
This Committee shall consist of seven members, one member from each municipal council, chosen by each respective board of education, chosen by the school board; and one member from each of the three municipal school boards of education, chosen by each respective school board. The Committee may expand the number of members.