Overheads for Media Law and Ethics

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1/18/01

Outline:

Three branches of government

Structure of  State and federal courts 

 

US Supreme Court

 

 

US Circuit Courts of App.

State Supreme Court

Federal Regulatory Agencies

US District Courts

State Court of Appeals

 

 

State Trial Courts


The rule of stare decisis
Types of law:

constitutional

statutory

administrative (FCC, for example… see article in NYT, 1/17/01)

the common  law (stare decisis, precedent)

equity

Tort: civil wrong that creates right to sue

tort of negligence, tort of malpractice, a (p. 18)

Damages: General, specific, punitive
Criminal and civil legal actions 

New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)

Ethical Issue:  Photograph of girls on fire escape

Home work: check out Web page for details

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1/23/01

On this day we reviewed the chronology of one court case, New York Times v. Sullivan.  I followed the chronology set down in Overbeck, pp. 19-26 and brought in some key points from the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling and the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling.  You are also responsible for reading the Federal ruling on your own.

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1/25/01

Freedom: Prior Restraint

John Milton’s Areopagitica  1644   

            “Marketplace of Ideas”

Seditious Libel

            “The greater the truth the greater the libel.”

1843 Truth as Libel defense

1735 Zenger trial. Truth as defense

1789 First Amendment

1798 Alien and Sedition Acts (but Truth as a defense)

1865 14th Amendment (p. 47)

1917 Espionage Act, 1918 Sedition Act

                        1919 Schenck.  Holmes’ theater analogy

1969 Brandenburg v. Ohio (p. 55)

Ethics:   2000 Hill v. Colorado

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1/30/01

 

Quiz

Subsequent punishment v. prior restraint (p. 60)

Near v. Minnesota (1931)

                Judges split 5-4

Pentagon Papers (1971)

                Judges split 6-3

City of Erie v. Pap’s A.M.

                Judges split 7-2

Prepublication review (Reagan, 1983)

Hate speech

Flag burning (p. 70-71)

Ethical question:  Jackson next class; 8-foot bubble, continued.

 

 

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2/1/01

HOMEWORK DISCUSSED

FROM LAST CLASS: ROCKER

IN THE NEWS. LAW AND ETHICS: FLAG BURNING, PHOTOS

ETHICS; JESSE JACKSON.

LIBEL V. SLANDER

Who can sue?  (p. 110)

RECENT CASES:

            1999 FOOD LION V. CAPITAL CITIES (We’ll discuss this next week)

            1988 Brown and Williamson Tobacco Co. v. Jacobson

            1994 ABC’s Day One apology

Elements of Libel: Defamation, Dissemination, Identification, Fault, Proving Damages

Major Defenses: Truth, Privilege, and Fair Comment

118 (Truth: shifting burden from media to plaintiff)

130 Malice

Public v. Private

We'll discuss the above concepts, New York Times v. Sullivan, and Gertz v. Welch on Tuesday 2/6/01

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2/6

QUIZ

 

“Libel-proof”

 

Overview of Libel

Elements of Libel: Defamation, Dissemination, Identification, Fault, Proving Damages

Major Defenses: Truth, Privilege, and Fair Comment

 

Actual Malice: (130)

Masson v. New Yorker Magazine (141)

Veggie Libel laws (155) (handout: Oprah Winfrey)

 

Who is the plaintiff?  Public v. Private

New York Times v. Sullivan

Gertz v. Welch

 

2/13 AND 2/15

Right to privacy 

“Right to be let alone” Louis D. Brandeis

 

            Abortion rights? Protected.

            Homosexual rights? Not protected.

 

Overview p. 172.

 

FIVE ELEMENTS OF PRIVACY VIOLATION

 

1. Intrusion upon plaintiff’s seclusion, solitude

            173-4  Wilson v. Layne

            175 Le Mistral Inc. v. CBS

            177 Shulman v. Group W. Productions

 

2. Disclosure of Private Facts

 

            183  Cox v. Cohn (naming rape victims allowed)

            184 Smith v. Daily Mail (naming children allowed)

            187 Newsworthy defense (Sports Illustrated)

 

ETHICAL QUESTION (FOOD LION CASE)

SHOULD IT BE LAWFUL TO USE HIDDEN CAMERAS? IS IT ETHICAL? SHOULD IT BE LEGAL TO LIE IN COVERING A STORY? ETHICAL?

 

3. Publicity: False Light

 

            190-191 Time v. Hill:  Sullivan threshold

            191 Cantrell v. Forest City Publishing Co.

 

4. Appropriation of name or likeness (misappropriation)

           

            194 Carson v. Here’s Johnny

            194 Sinatra v. Goodyear

            195 Waits v. Frito-Lay

                    [Vanna] White v. Samsung

            196 Wendt v. Host International 

 

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3/6/01

For the test, review Menand and Greenhouse

 

3/8/01

To review, reread Barlow and the relevant sections of Overbeck, including the length of copyright coverage (we mentioned, for example, that because the song, "Happy Birthday" is copyrighted until 2010, one must pay its copyright holders whenever singing the song for commercial purposes, including singing it at a restaurant; the copyright for this song expires in 2010).

 

We also discussed how the Internet challenges the idea of copyright and property and we discussed Barlow's points about this. I talked, also, about Stephen King's novella, "The Plant," and the challenges of dispersing a novel for free over the Web.   Finally, we discussed Amazon's copyright over its "one-click" system of purchasing goods on its site.

 

 

 

3/13

Fair trial-free press

O.j. Simpson trial: TVs in courtroom, massive coverage

Rodney King

P. 273: Sheppard v. Maxwell, 1954.  Evidence mounts in 1990s

Newsgatherer's  privilege

P. 305: Branzburg v. Hayes, 1972.   Four justices:  shield doesn’t count.  Powell (swing): doesn’t apply here but should be balanced. 

P. 324: Cohen v. Cowles, 1991.

 

 

 

3/15

Indecent v. Obscene

p. 368: Hicklin Rule (1868)

p. 370: One Book Entitled ‘Ulysses’ v. U.S. (1934).  Abandoning Hicklin

p. 370: Roth v. U.S. (1957)

p. 372: Memoirs v. Massachusetts (1966)

p. 375: Miller v. California (1973)

p. 380: Child Pornography Prevention Act (1996)

p. 385: Communications Decency Act (1996)

p. 387: Child Online Protection Act (1998)

Justice Potter Stewart:     “I know it when I see it.”

 

 

4/3, 4/5/, 4/10

 

To review this section reread your notes on the Frontline video, Bagdikian, and class lectures.   

 

4/12

Student press issues

  Overbeck, chap. 14 (all)

p. 548. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)

“black armbands case”

 

p. 550 Papish v. University of Missouri Curators (1973)

cartoon of policeman raping Statue of Liberty and Goddess of Justice

 

p. 550 Bazaar v. Fortune (1973)

University can’t censor English Department publication

 

p. 552 de facto censorship:  stealing copies

 

p. 557 pre-Hazelwood cases:                  Gambino v. Fairfax (1977)

Ruling supports high school students reporting on sexual activity

Williams v. Spencer (1980) High school can suspend Joint Effort

 

p. 559 Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1985)

Review:  559, 560

p. 564-566 Private high schools and colleges: First Amendment generally not a defense.

 

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