The internet has revolutionized the speed of reporting and the ability to access news information. Within hours of a breaking story, videos are posted on news websites allowing the public to access critical information. This means that people no longer have to wait to get their news during scheduled television broadcasts.   

However, CNN.com one of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world, refuses to provide any captioning of its on-line videos, completely excluding the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities from accessing this form of news on its website.

In June of 2011, DRA filed a class action lawsuit against Time Warner Inc., the owner of CNN.com. The lawsuit alleges that CNN.com discriminates against people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing by failing to provide any captioning of its on-line videos.  The lawsuit was brought by the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (GLAD) on behalf of its members with hearing loss, and three individual plaintiffs.

In September of 2011, CNN made a Motion to Strike the case under California’s “anti-SLAPP” statute. CNN claimed in its Motion to Strike that requiring it to provide closed captioning at CNN.com violates its free speech rights.

At a hearing on February 2, 2012, the court rejected CNN's free speech anti-SLAPP arguments. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler indicated that the lawsuit does not implicate CNN's free speech rights under the First Amendment or the anti-SLAPP statute. The Judge noted that the lawsuit is not about the content of CNN's speech, but about the way that speech is delivered to the public. She further agreed with DRA’s position that deaf Californians do not seek to change CNN's speech-- they want access to CNN's speech.

On March 23, 2012, the magistrate judge issued an order that denied defendants’ Motion to Strike the case.

This is a great victory for the plaintiffs who can now move forward with the lawsuit, which seeks to make CNN.com provide captioning of its on-line videos.