In Closely Watched Case, Calif. Court Dismisses Indie Rockers’ Suit Over Magazine’s Cigarette Ads

Noncommercial speech doesn't lose its broad First Amendment protections even when it's tucked into a thicket of advertising, a California appellate court held Thursday. A unanimous three-justice panel dismissed a lawsuit against Rolling Stone brought by a class of indie rockers. Led by bands Xiu Xiu and Fucked Up, the plaintiffs accused the magazine of trading on the names of 186 groups listed in a five-page article to sell four pages of neighboring advertisements to R.J. Reynolds in the November 2007 edition.