Charity challenges ban on political advertising in court
Howard Lake | 20 July 2006 | News
On Monday 24 July Animal Defenders International will present its challenge to the ban on political advertising in the broadcast media at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Represented by Bindman & Partners, Animal Defenders International will challenge the Government’s ban that prevents thousands of campaigning organisations such as Amnesty and the Make Poverty History coalition from advertising on radio and television.
Such organisations can advertise freely in most other European and Commonwealth countries.
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The court will consider evidence from Amnesty and the RSPCA about their experiences of the ban and from academic experts about the impact of television and radio advertising.
Tamsin Allen of Bindman & Partners said: “The European Convention on Human Rights guarantees the right to freedom of expression. The current ban on political advertising means that even campaigning organisations with no connection to any political party may not use broadcast media to raise money or to campaign on issues.
“This leads to unfairness – BP are permitted to advertise their green credentials on TV but environmental organisations are not permitted to criticise the oil industry for its role in climate change in the same media. We are hopeful that the challenge will succeed and open the way for thousands of organisations to advertise on TV and radio and to benefit from the new developments in interactive TV.”
The case will be heard in Court 3 at the Royal Courts of Justice Before Lord Justice Auld and Mr Justice Ouseley on Monday morning.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.