Imposing On Freedom of Speech? 

The Chicago Transit Authority, or CTA,  banned a series of advertisements promoting Rockstar's upcoming crime themed blockbuster, Grand Theft Auto IV on buses and buildings in the city of Chicago. The advertisements are not violent or naughty, its a simple line up, waist up, of some the games various characters.

 CTA's Transit Chief's reasoning -- "is that M-Rated ' violent video games' ought to be banned from its premises as they compare similarly to X-rated movies."

    A possible influence on the abrupt decision is the recent "expose" conducted by the Chicago branch of Fox news, who strongly criticized the campaign in light of a particularly violent weekend in the Windy City. According to local police 36 people have been shot, 2 have been stabbed, and 9 people have consequently died in the city since Friday as a result of violent crime.

Its not the 1st time GTA ads have been pulled from transit system. GTA: Vice City Stories had ads removed from Denver and Portland.

Of particular interest to this story is a similar case back in 2003 in which a group of people called "Change the Climate" succussfully sued the Chicago Transit Authority for a different case of "viewpoint discrimination". In this particular instance, the CTA was hauled into court after refusing to run ads advocating a debate on the subject of marijuana legalization. At this time, the US 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that "[The] MBTA, a quasi-government agency, does not have the right to turn down advertisements based on the personal viewpoint of its executives." Gotta admit, that only makes sense.

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