[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:
The Black Horse Pike Regional School Board of Education.
Those purposes associated with official governmental or educational
meetings, act, notices and functions, and shall include the listing
of sports and cultural events.
The Township of Gloucester, Borough of Runnemede and Borough
of Bellmawr, in the County of Camden, State of New Jersey.
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.
The activities of the producer and its staff in connection
with the program.
Consists of members chosen as set forth in this chapter.
No program which fails to meet the standards
established by this chapter shall be broadcast on the Municipal Governmental
and Educational Channel.
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.
