1. Chapter 14 Chapter Outline History Today’s Media Law Controversies
MEDIA LAW: Understanding Freedom of Expression
Chapter Outline
History
Today’s Media Law
Controversies
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2. A Brief History of Media Law
The Development of the Philosophy of Free Speech
John Milton’s Areopagitica (1644) stated that freedom of speech and access to both truth and falsehood was crucial for believers to prove their goodness and earn admission to heaven.
The freedom to protest was important to the many founders of the American colonies who had broken away from the Roman Catholic Church.
Protestants chafed under England’s licensing laws which followed them across the Atlantic and did not allow them to express their religious views for more than a hundred years.
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3. A Brief History of Media Law
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed citizens of the new country five essential and related freedoms:
Religion
Speech
Press
Assembly
Petition
The First Amendment ignited a sometimes bitter debate about free speech that continues to this day.
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4. Controversies Some forms of speech are more protected than others:
Political speech, which includes ideas and facts that back up the ideas about the meaning and correct course of government, is the most protected.
Artistic speech includes creative work such as painting, dance and literature.
Commercial speech includes advertising.
Indecent speech enjoys the least protection.
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5. Levels of Free Speech Protection
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6. Controversies
In the legal sense, censorship consists either of prior restraint or prosecutions after the fact by governmental organizations.
Free speech advocates worry about any type of government sponsorship.
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7. This is the debate today!
Everything interwoven
Thoughts/Ideas easy access
What is considered free speech?
Who has free speech?
What is the balance?
Rise of the Frustrated!
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8. Balancing Act Should everyone get the same ”freedoms?”
In today’s world… ugh.
What are the standards?
Where is the limit on “persecution?”
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9. A Brief History of Media Law
In 1798, the John Adams administration pushed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which once again made it illegal to criticize the government, through Congress.
The unpopular law, aimed at publishers who supported Thomas Jefferson, who was Adams’ political opponent, only lasted two years and helped Jefferson win the presidential election in 1800.
The Comstock Act, passed in 1873, banned all sex education, birth control, and abortion information, and made it illegal to send these materials through the mail.
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10. A Brief History of Media Law
Investigative journalists influenced passage of laws such as the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which lead to restrictions in what and how the media could advertise.
In 1917, the Espionage Act upheld the censorship of ideas considered injurious to the war effort.
The Sedition Act of 1918 made any criticism of President Woodrow Wilson’s administration illegal.
Think about this….
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11. A Brief History of Media Law
Regulating Broadcasting
The FCC regulated more than the placement of radio stations on the frequency spectrum:
The Equal Opportunity Rule (1934)
Why is this important?
What is the flaw here?
The Fairness Doctrine ( )
Notice anything about the doctrine?
HushRush.
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12. A Brief History of Media Law
The government fought AT&T on antitrust grounds ( ), accusing it of using its monopoly on local phone service to keep competitors out of the long distance and telephone equipment markets.
In the 1980s, the government began a process of deregulation which involved the dismantling of many of its controls.
Do you understand what deregulation means? Does?
Deregulation continued with the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
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13. A Brief History of Media Law
In 1957, the Supreme Court decreed that a work could be declared obscene if, according to the perceptions of the average person applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appealed to the prurient (lustfully depraved) interest of the consumer.
This definition tended to confuse rather than clarify.
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14. A Brief History of Media Law
In 1964 Justice Potter Stewart expressed his frustration at the difficulties of defining obscenity when he famously said “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.”
A new category, indecency, was created for broadcast controls. The FCC considers material indecent if it is “offensive to community standards for broadcasting.”
Isn’t this also a problem?
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15. A Brief History of Media Law
In 1971, the U.S. government tried to stop the publication of the Pentagon Papers claiming it would undermine the war effort.
Daniel Ellsberg
The court ruled that in all but the most essential national security cases, the media must be allowed to publish; they can be prosecuted after the fact if they break a law, but they must not be prevented in advance from publishing.
In 2006, the New York Times and others, disclosed a secret Bush administration program to monitor international banking transactions.
Senior administration officials pleaded for nondisclosure to no avail.
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16. Current Trends in Media Law
New Technology
In 1996, Congress passed the Communications Decency Act, which made it a crime to transmit indecent material over the Internet if minors had access to it.
The Supreme Court found the indecency provision of the law unconstitutional.
Other laws had to be written for crimes that did not exist before the Internet.
A 1996 law made computer espionage illegal.
In the 1990s, federal law made the development and purposeful transmission of computer viruses illegal.
See we got things done!!
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17. Protection of Rights in Media Law
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18. Understanding Today’s Media Law
Protection of Rights
Privacy: An individual’s right to be left alone, especially in one’s home, has been established through common law.
Privacy law is always changing with the times.
After the September 11th attacks, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act.
This act gives the government expanded rights to gain access to personal and private communications and examine books Americans buy or check out of the library.
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19. Understanding Today’s Media Law
Defamation is any type of communication that is false and injures the reputation of an individual.
Slander is defamation that appears in transitory form, such as speech.
Libel is published or broadcast defamation.
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20. Understanding Today’s Media Law
Four primary defenses against libel
Truth: In most cases, truth is the absolute defense against a charge of libel.
The Times Rule: A public figure must prove actual malice, which is a legal term that means that the defendant published something that was false, and either knew it was false or had a reckless disregard for the truth, perhaps by failing to check on facts that were readily obtainable.
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21. Understanding Today’s Media Law
Four primary defenses against libel
Privilege: Established to allow judges, lawmakers and witnesses in a trial to be free to call a defendant a murderer, or anything else alleged in the case, without fear of being sued.
Fair comment includes any honest opinion or criticism, such as that expressed by a movie or book reviewer. Satire and comedy are protected as forms of fair comment.
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22. Understanding Today’s Media Law
Libel is the most common type of legal problem faced by media practitioners.
The chilling effect: occurs when reporters self-censor themselves under the threat of libel – even though few libel prosecutions are successful in the long run.
Trade libel: Defamation of a company or its products is referred to as product disparagement or trade libel.
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23. Understanding Today’s Media Law
Intellectual Property Rights
Copyright law grants the author of a work the right to make and distribute copies of that work for a specified period.
First-sale doctrine allows purchasers of copies of a copyrighted work to resell it or rent it out.
Copyright and ideas: Copyright does not protect ideas, only the expression of ideas, such as a screenplay or novel.
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24. Understanding Today’s Media Law
The copyright sign does not have to appear in a work for it to be protected.
Fair use allows copying of a work for noncommercial use as long as it does not interfere with sales or other exploitation by the copyright holder.
Music properties have a long history of copyright problems e.g., Former Beatle George Harrison was found guilty of “unconscious plagiarism” for infringing on the copyright of the 1963 Chiffon’s hit “He’s So Fine” with his 1970 hit “My Sweet Lord.”
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25. Understanding Today’s Media Law
Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998 which made it a crime to break through any technology intended to secure digital copies of software, literary works, videos, and music.
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26. Understanding Today’s Media Law
Trademarks: Words, symbols, or devices – or combination of the three – that identify one seller’s goods and distinguishes them from goods sold by others.
Names like Jell-O, Walkman and Xerox, and symbols such as McDonald’s golden arches and the Energizer bunny are registered trademarks.
Trademarks as generic terms
Fair use of trademarks
Expressions as trademarks
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27. Understanding Today’s Media Law
Patent: An exclusive right given to an inventor to manufacture, use or sell an invention for a specified number of years.
Federal copyright law gives inventors 17 years in which to enjoy exclusive commercial exploitation of the machines, processes, manufactured products and designs they create.
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28. Understanding Today’s Media Law
News-gathering Rights
Sunshine laws, or open meeting laws, ensure that public meetings are conducted in open sessions where the press is allowed to attend.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), passed in 1966, is a federal law to ensure open documents; it requires federal agencies to list all their documents and provide them for news agencies on request.
Shield laws are designed to ensure confidentiality of news sources.
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29. Controversies Conflicting Rights
Free Press/Fair Trial: Courts tried gag orders but the Supreme Court found those unconstitutional.
In a continuance, the trial is postponed until publicity dies down.
Juries are sequestered to shield them from press influence.
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30. Controversies Conflicting Rights
Free Press/Fair Trial: Courts tried gag orders but the Supreme Court found those unconstitutional.
In a continuance, the trial is postponed until publicity dies down.
Juries are sequestered to shield them from press influence.
Change of venue moves the trial to a different location.
Judges admonish juries not to read, watch or listen to news reports.
Cameras are allowed in some state courtrooms but are banned in federal courts.
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