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Supervisors debate Marina Times contract renewal amid First Amendment concerns; vote to approve
Summary
After a week of debate, the Board approved designating Marina Times as a neighborhood outreach periodical and renewing fiscal-year advertising, while several supervisors warned against using political views as a basis for city contracting and said the city needs clearer objective standards for news outlets that receive public funds.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Dec. 8 to designate Jasmine Blue Media LLC doing business as the Marina Times as a neighborhood outreach periodical and to authorize outreach advertising for fiscal year 2020–2021.
The vote followed spirited remarks from supervisors who described a tension between concerns about particular publications’ content and the First Amendment rights of independent news outlets that contract with the city.
Why it matters: The city’s contracts to place public outreach advertising in neighborhood publications are governed by administrative-code criteria (commonly called Prop J standards). Several supervisors said recent debate revealed shortcomings in those rules and called for clearer, objective contracting standards so the city can address complaints about content while avoiding the appearance of viewpoint-based retaliation.
What supervisors said: Supervisor Stephanie, whose remarks occupied much of the public record, argued the board should not terminate contracts because it dislikes a publication’s political views and said, “The First Amendment protects those who contract with the city from retaliation for exercising their rights to free speech.” Supervisor Preston said journalists and others raised concerns about the Marina Times’ standards, including alleged stereotyping and misinformation, but said in the absence of objective standards the wiser course was to renew the proposed contracts and pursue code changes.
Board action and next steps: The board approved the designation and contract for outreach advertising and several supervisors indicated they will pursue updates to the Administrative Code and Prop J contracting standards. Supervisor Preston said his office will seek guidance from the city attorney and journalism leaders on objective standards for news outlets receiving city advertising.
Vote: The clerk called the roll; all 11 supervisors voted aye.
Context and follow-up: The debate reflected broader discussion about how municipal governments should balance free-speech protections for independent press with concerns about disinformation and harmful coverage. Several supervisors said the current administrative framework lacks objective measures to remove public advertising funds without risking unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.
