This
course is intended to help you develop a sense for the
legal issues surrounding journalism and mass communications.
The discussion and analysis of legal problems facing journalism,
public relations practitioners and advertising professionals
will assist in developing problem-solving and analytic
skills. The core issue in this course will involve law in a new media environment, fair use, copyright, privacy, and online libel. It will address also freedom
of the press and, less than prior years, the limitations on speech
associated with commerce.
Class
time will be a combination of lecture and discussion,
but mainly focused on problem-solving. We'll discuss what
amounts to, in many ways, a history of changes to the
laws governing the press and commercial speech. You'll
be expected to know the topics up for discussion (by doing
the readings) and you'll get a fair amount of out-of-class
work (writing) due every third day. This course will include
several online assignments, including a web site prep
area. Again, refer to the schedule for daily assignments.
Contrary
to popular belief -- at times subscribed to my me -- merely
owning a book is not sufficient. Your text books will
be an invaluable guide in this course only if you actually
read it. Of some note: you will find that your ability
to participate in class and fully appreciate the daily
discussions will be greatly enhanced if you read the text.
To
this end, it is essential that you read the assigned material
before class. It is important that you read everything
in the assigned pages, including the examples provided
and case studies.
Instead
of lecturing, I may at times ask you questions about the
assigned material, and I will not always rely on volunteers
who raise their hand to answer. I will call on you whether
you volunteer to answer or not.
You
will have different ways to demonstrate what you learn
in this course.
One,
I expect you to do the assigned reading in advance
of the specified date. I expect students to take active
participation in class discussions, and I will call
on individual students to answer questions and discuss
material from assigned readings. Make sure you can
participate fully in such discussions and demonstrate
what you have learned from the reading. I also urge
you to come to class with questions and opinions about
media you see or are curious about.
Consequently, you should pay increased
attention to media and relate it to what we are talking
about in class. I
know that shyness can be an issue. So, we'll dive
into chatting on Day One and we will get to know
each other. While this carries no specific value toward your final grade, it certainly will help you in the next section of grading—online responses.
Two,
you will be able to demonstrate your ability to apply
the principles you learn in this course to law problem
by preparing brief "responses"
to various cases/legal problems. The response will be
posted to the message board. We will have 10 of these
in the short "semester." Each of these count 3% (total
30%) toward your course grade. The grading will
be based on a feeling I should detect that you either
have thought about the issue or have blown it off with
a 5 minute silly act of laziness. The gulf here is so
vast that I imagine the latter will be very apparent
when compared to the former.
Three,
you will do a research paper, due on the final day of
class. This paper will cover one of ten areas of mass
communication law:
- First
Amendment
- Libel
- Invasion
of Privacy
- Records
and Meetings
- Protection
of News Sources
- Press
Press/Free Trial
- New
Media Regulation
- Copyright
- Advertising Regulation
- Telecommunications
Regulation
The
paper may be no MORE than 15 pages (not counting works
cited). The format of the paper will be to compare two
RELEVANT
cases dealing with an issue within one of these areas.
In discussing the cases, you will be expected to
-
Discuss of basis of law
- Discuss
the cases
- Provide
a conclusion - THIS IS NOT
AN OPINION -- This is, I do not want
to see the words "I think" or any variation on this.
We'll look at some examples of research papers in
class. You will generally have Fridays off from
class to work on these papers.
This
is a research paper and will require citation of sources.
I would prefer your citations be in the following formats:
Books:
Wayne
Danielson and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, A Computerized
Bibliography of Mass Communication Research, 1944-1964
(New York: Magazine Publishers Association, 1967)
Journal
articles
Donald
Shaw, Bradley Hamm, and Diana Knott, "Technological
Change, Agenda Challenge and Social Melding: Mass Media
Studies and the Four Ages of Place, Class, Mass and Space,"
Journalism Studies 1 (February 2000): 57-79.
Online
Smith,
John H. (2006), "Ralph Spoilsport and the Emergence
of Rational Thinking," <http://www.me.edu/art_35.html>
accessed on June 12, 2003.
Please
use in-text citation of the author or title with year
and page, as in
(Shaw,
2000, 88)
This
paper will be worth 40% of your course grade.
You will find a rubric on how the papers will be graded below.
| |
Great
-10 |
Good
- 8 |
Okay
- 5 |
Poor
- 0 |
| Term Paper |
| Clarity |
No grammatical
or spelling errors. Writing is clear and understandable
with no confusion. Narrative flows smoothly throughout
the paper. |
Three grammatical or spelling
errors. Only two awkward sentences, Writing is choppy. |
Five grammatical or spelling
errors. Only four awkward sentences. Writing is difficult
to follow. |
Six or more grammatical
or spelling errors. Writing is very difficult to follow.
Tense changes more than twice. |
| Organization |
Ideas are presented in
logical fashion with an argument that leads to a conclusion
(the brand statement) |
Ideas are presented, but
they are poorly connected and insufficient to make final
conclusion. |
Some ideas are not relevant
to the argument. Overall the analysis lacks cohesion. |
Mere listing of facts
with no synthesis or relevance. |
| Critical Thinking |
Synthesis of data provides
new, relevant, strong ideas. |
Synthesis of data provides
new ideas. |
Synthesis of data fails
to present new ideas, but restates existing model. |
Synthesis of data is insufficient
to support any argument is is merely opinion alone. |
Deadline on a proposed topic: tomorrow's
class.
Four,
you will have a multiple choice final of 50 questions
on the last day of class (July 2). The questions
will be based on the online responses and in-class
discussions. This section will be worth 30% of your
course grade.
