Instructor: Richard B. Kielbowicz

Office: 234A Communications Bldg.

Phone: (206) 543-2660 (dept main office; leave message)

Email: kielbowi@uw.edu

Office hours: Wednesday noon-1:15 and by appointment

Deen Freelon

Ph.D. student, Communication

Email: dfreelon@uw.edu

Office hours: Monday and Tuesday 1:30-2:30

Website for sections: http://staff.washington.edu/dfreelon/com440/

The textbook for the class is Don R. Pember and Clay Calvert, Mass Media Law, 2009-2010 edition (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008).  Be sure to read the assigned material before class.  One copy of the text is on two-hour reserve in Odegaard Undergraduate Library.

Most class sessions will follow the pattern of an informal lecture with lots of opportunities for questions and discussion.  I will highlight key points in the text and present new information.  I expect you to be involved in the class—to practice applying legal principles to hypothetical problems and to get a sense of how the law operates and how it affects media professionals and citizens.  These discussions should help you prepare for the tests.

In addition to readings below, I reserve the right to add a couple of small readings that will be distributed in class or available online.  I'll post a schedule of the upcoming topics.  If you're interested in doing your own research about media law, or you want to track current developments, you might check out these resources.  Some books about mass media law topics, most vividly written, can be found here.

To preview the lecture outline for each topic below, except the first, click on the opening phrase.  These are abbreviated outlines; that is, they don't have the lowest level headings that will be shown in class.  In addition, these might change slightly before each class session as I continue to tweak the day's lessons.

American Legal System--Chap. 1: Sources of the law; the judicial system (we will not talk about chapter 1 in class but I will be happy to answer any questions you may have about it).

Brief History of Media Law--Chap. 2, pp. 34-64: Historical development of freedom of the press and the origins of the First amendment; different conceptions of a free press in American society.

Fundamental Principles of Media Law--Chap. 3: First Amendment tests and doctrines; freedom of expression and violence; hate speech and minorities; censorship in wartime (we'll discuss this topic, pages 76-85, mainly in connection with Chap. 9 on gathering information); the First Amendment and the Internet (we'll mainly discuss this topic, pp. 123-26, at the end of the quarter).  Skim sections on freedom of expression in schools (pp. 85-106).

Prior Restraint--Chap. 2, pp. 65-71.

Libel—Chap. 4: Overview of libel law and establishing the plaintiff's case; chap. 5: proof of fault; chap. 6: defenses and damages.

Privacy—Chap. 7: Appropriation; intrusion; chap. 8: private facts, false light privacy.

Gathering Information—Chap. 9: Constitutional status of news gathering; federal Freedom of Information Act; state laws on meetings and records.  Also review pp. 76-85, censorship in wartime.

Protection of Sources—Chap. 10: The Constitution and journalists' promises of confidentiality; demands for journalists' records and testimony; contempt.

Free Press/Fair Trial—Chap. 11: Prejudicial press coverage; traditional judicial remedies.  Chap. 12: Access to trials and cameras in the courtroom (for this chapter, you have to read only pp. 451-55.)

Obscenity—Chap. 13: History of obscenity regulation; contemporary obscenity laws; controlling obscenity; women's rights and the regulation of obscenity; regulating non-obscene erotic material; erotic materials in cyberspace (you do not have to read pp. 476-79).

Copyright—Chap. 14: Fair use of others' copyrighted works; copyrighting your own work; copyright and the Internet (you do not have to read pp. 488-95).

Broadcast—Chap. 16: History of regulation; recent deregulatory trends; difference between broadcast and telecommunications regulation; broadcast licensing; regulating program content, political programming; rise and fall of the Fairness Doctrine.

Law of new media—Chap. 16 cont'd: regulating cable TV and other new technologies.  Review pp. 123-26 in chap. 3 dealing with the Internet; pp. 270-73 on privacy and the Internet; and pp. 557-60, regulating spam.

Advertising—Chap. 15: Advertising and the First Amendment; regulation of advertising; Federal Trade Commission; false and deceptive advertising (you do not have to read pp. 564-73).

There will be two exams.  Test questions will be drawn from material presented in class and in the assigned readings.  The exams will consist of short-answer questions, case problems, and brief essays.  If you miss an exam, you will not be allowed to take it without penalty unless you contact me in advance and I agree that you have a valid excuse.

The midterm and final exams will be one and a half hours long.   The midterm is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 28.  And the final exam will be at the regularly scheduled final exam time, Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 8:30 a.m.

To prepre for the tests, you might consult the list of key terms for each unit as well as the exam review materials.

The quiz and exams will have questions worth 100 pts.  Generally, the points convert to the 4.0-scale as follows: 95-100=4.0, 93-94=3.9, 91-92=3.8 and so forth down to 0.0

If an exam proves to be particularly difficult, I will adjust the scale downward to raise grades (for instance, a 4.0 might be equivalent to 92 and above)

You must attend and participate in Friday sections.  The sections will help you find your way around the law, analyze case problems (a skill that you'll need for exams), and master material covered in class.

Work completed though sections will be worth 30% of your final grade.  This includes some small assignments, which will be explained separately.

Your final grade will be calculated as follows:

• Midterm--30%
• Final exam--40%
• Friday section work--30% 

I expect you to do your own work.  Cheating on tests, plagiarizing on your assignments, or submitting someone else's work as your own will be severely punished.  Material pulled from the Internet must be credited (with footnotes, references or some form of citation) just as material that you get from books and articles.  The University has an excellent website on what constitutes plagiarism/cheating, along with suggestions on how to avoid it. 

To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, (206) 543-8924 (V/TTY).  If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating that you have a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations you might need in this class.

Investigative reporter Hedrick Smith will be speaking at two lunches in the Communication Building on Monday, Nov. 2, and Tuesday, Nov. 3.  They are open to students who RSVP.  Smith played an important part at the New York Times in bringing the Pentagon Papers to publication.  For more information, and to RSVP, click here.