New Hampshire's Supreme Court ruled today against Manchester's alternative newspaper.
The ruling said Hippo Press has no constitutional right to set up news racks inside Manchester's city-owned Verizon Wireless Arena.
New Hampshire Public Radio's political correspondent, John Milne, has details.
The Union Leader has an exclusive deal with Manchester�s Verizon Wireless Arena. Under a contract with the Arena�s manager, S-M-G Operations, The Union Leader is the only paper that can be sold inside the city-owned facility.
When the Verizon Wireless Arena opened the weekly Hippo Press argued that free press rights require distribution of Hippo Press as well as the Union Leader.
New Hampshire�s highest court rejected this argument. Lawyer Alex Walker represented both the city and the management firm:
Hippo1
The Union Leader paid for the right to be the exclusive newspaper in there and anybody who wants to participate in advertising needs to pay for that.
Walker points out that the court did not limit what Hippo Press printed. The decision said distribution was being restricted, not the news and opinions of the paper.
The legal issue under debate was whether the decisions were made by the city government or by the private management firm hired to run the arena. The court said these were private decisions.
Constitutional scholars say a private company can pick and choose for economic reasons. A public body, such as the city, must comply with standards that are much more stringent.
Richard Hesse (Hes-see) is professor emeritus of constitutional law at Franklin Pierce Law Center.
Hippo2
In one sense, it�s a question of whether a private company operating a facility for the government is free to contract as if the government wasn�t involved at all, and that�s sort of what happened here.
The lawyer for the arena management says the decision�s importance goes beyond freedom-of-the-press issues. Walker says the decision will help write rules for public-private partnerships like the arena:
Hippo3
In situations like that, you�re not subject to as strict a constitutional scrutiny as you would be if you were in a traditional public forum.
The publisher of Hippo Press is Jody Reese. Because the case involved rights under the U-S constitution, the weekly could appeal.
Hippo4
We could take the case to the US Supreme Court. That is something that we�re likely not to do. That would be too expensive.
The state�s highest court said Hippo Press could still give away newspapers outside the arena.
For N-H-P-R News, I�m John Milne
