Media Law & Ethics (370-0-22)

Instructors

Craig Llewellyn LaMay

Meeting Info

Fisk Hall 111: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

This course has a professional goal and an academic one. The former is to make you your own best risk counselor in matters of media liability and to prepare you to talk knowledgeably with editors or legal counsel about your work. The latter is to situate those liability risks in the normative, economic and architectural features of the U.S. and international media systems -- in other words, why the system works as it does. The course is rooted in the constitutional, common law, statutory and regulatory systems of media accountability used in the United States as they have developed in the 20th century, and especially since 1964. Since Medill has a campus in Qatar, we consult comparative law examples interpretive of Article 19 of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights. We begin the course normatively, by putting all this in the context of First Amendment theory and doctrine. After that it's communications law, and each week we'll consider problems practical and principled, profound and pathetic. Typical topics are incitement, prior restraints, copyrights, defamation, privacy and newsgathering activities. While the course is primarily lecture, on the law school model, I strongly encourage student discussion and to that end we do regular pre-publication review assignments in and out of class.

Registration Requirements

Pre-req: sophomore standing

Class Materials (Required)

There is no text to purchase, though I will recommend an inexpensive casebook as a desk reference. All readings are on Canvas.

Class Attributes

Attendance at 1st class mandatory

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Reserved for Medill Sophomores, Juniors & Seniors Prerequisite: Medill Sophomore, Junior, or Senior standing