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JO 213 Media Law & Ethics

Professor Dianne Lynch / Bergeron 117 / 654-2469 / dlynch@smcvt.edu

This course is designed to introduce you to the legal and ethical issues that shape, protect and constrain the American media. 

It is not a law course, but you will become familiar with the legal system, you will learn to conduct research using legal documents and legal citation, and you will be challenged to think critically about the ways in which our legal system has evolved in response to public and political pressures and events. 

It is not a traditional ethics course, but it will help you to consider the competing interests and responsibilities inherent in mass communication, to think critically about your own social and ethical values, and to develop an understanding of the impact new technologies are having on our traditional assumptions about right and wrong in the newsroom.

Finally, it is not an Internet course, but I will expect you to have (or develop) a working knowledge of the Internet.  While our work will be premised upon your understanding of historical and legal precedent, much of our discussion will focus on the ways in which that precedent is being brought to bear in cyberspace. 

Please take the time to read through the material on this site before coming to class.  It includes:

• The Assignments page, which provides a general overview of the work involved in the class;

• The Schedule page, which describes the topics we'll cover, and when we'll cover them;

• The Week-by-Week page, so you can keep track of what we're doing and how we're doing it from now until final exams;

• The Readings/Surfings page, which will serve as your course text this semester.   There is no "hard copy" text in this course; you don't need to spend the $60 and I don't need to lecture from the book.  But you will need to spend a lot of time reading the material I post here, following the links I provide you, and -- if you're a traditional learner -- printing out the materials you want to keep with you (or read in the bathtub, as the case may be).

• The Papers/Projects page describes your major research project in detail;

• Chat explains one of the ways we'll be interacting in class.

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