essay

we will be discussing this week the issues of libel law that are in your Week 9 Learning Materials. Remember as you write your posts, you will be awarded significant points (and maybe even some extra credit) for effectively referring to these weekly readings in your post. That means referring to them more than once and making sure you actually know what you are talking about when you refer to them.

Prompt

The study topic for this week concerns the very basics of media law and ethics (if you find, for some strange reason, that you really enjoy this topic, you will probably like my class AJ490 Media Law & Ethics, and should take it at your earliest opportunity).

As you sculpt your entries for this week's discussion boards, make sure that you thoroughly verse yourself on this week's readings, videos and seminars. In both of your postings, you should be able to discuss and mobilize your thoughts about specific news stories based on what you have learned about the following three things:

1. Sullivan vs. New York Times, Gertz vs. Welch, Inc., and other landmark legal cases in media law
2. Legal precedent in terms of free speech, libel, slander and privacy laws
3. The First Amendment
4. The Bill of Rights
5. Protections against defamation and how they apply to current events

Sure, you can try to flim-flam your way through your discussion board entry and casually sling some of these terms into your writing like a short-order cook slinging French fries onto a dish -- but I will just as easily know it, and grade your piece accordingly.

Or you can take a moment to wrap your head around the topic at hand and come up with cogent opinions based on examples and facts. The fact is, no matter what President Donald Trump might argue to the contrary, real media professionals take the First Amendment incredibly seriously.

Initial post: 300-word minimum

As I have mentioned (at least twice), thoroughly familiarize yourself with our weekly lectures and articles before jumping into this discussion. Then survey the news over the past two years and select a legal case that is famous for testing our First Amendment rights. Any case is fair game to analyze, so long as it involves:

• Libel law
• Slander law
• Obscenity laws
• The Stolen Valor Act
• Trade libel cases (this is different than regular libel, and you need to understand how)
• Invasion of Privacy in the media

That should give you a decent platform to jump from -- the gracefulness of your landing is up to you. Try to stay as recent as possible concerning your selected news event (the past two years).

In the first part of your post, tell us why you personally care about the specific case you selected, and explain why it matters to you (and me) as human beings.

Then, provide some history/background for the case. Make sure you explain:

• How the incident came to be
• Why the case is important
• Who were the important players and audiences involved
• What moral/ethical issues were at play

Then elaborate on how the case tested our first amendment rights. Be specific, and make sure you talk about how the case fared as it progressed through the courts and explain what the ultimate decision was. Let us know how you feel about this decision and how it relates to the ongoing argument about the first amendment.

And make sure to provide a link to the story, so we can all check it out.

Week 9 - Learning Materials: 

Readings: Media Law

• Bill of Rights of the United States (1791) (Links to an external site.), from The Bill of Rights Institute
• Definitions of libel vs. slander (Links to an external site.), from Laws.com
• Why Sullivan vs. NYT still matters today (Links to an external site.), from Forbes Magazine