JMC 559: Law of Mass Communication

JMC 559: Law of Mass Communication Sec. 001, 3:30 – 4:45 pm T/R, LUB S220 Spring 2012

Lecturer Mark Zoromski 129 Johnston Hall Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1:00 – 3:00 pm Thursdays, 5:00 – 7:00 pm Phone Numbers: Office: 414-229-6269 TV Lab: 414-229-5289 Dept. Office: 414-229-4436 email: [email protected]

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND COURSE GOALS:

As you know, this is a course that is required of all JMC majors. It’s required for a reason: if you are going to pursue a career in journalism or media communication, you need to have a basic understanding of mass media law.

Notice the term “basic understanding.” We are not going to try to be lawyers in this class, nor are we going to touch upon every area of mass communication law. We’re not going to read every legal case pertaining to mass communication – that would be impossible in a single semester. And in no way are we going to become experts in mass communication law. That takes years and years of study, and we have just one semester.

Perhaps talking about what we’re not going to do is an odd way to define the goals of a class, but I think it’s important at the outset to understand that media law, and law in general, is complex. The process of becoming an expert in law is intense, and it seems to me that studying law is somewhat of an art form. We simply don’t have time to become experts nor artists, so let’s make sure we don’t think that we are.

Now that you know we’re not going to try to become lawyers in this class, perhaps some of your fears have been calmed. Don’t get carried away, though – this class will be intense, and I will expect you to be thoroughly knowledgeable about the material that we study. It’s just that what we study is just a small fraction of the body of knowledge you would need to be an expert in media law.

Specifically, our goals will be:

 To develop a basic understanding of various areas of mass media law  To understand the concept of freedom of expression and of how it has adapted to changing conditions in American society.  To understand and appreciate the First Amendment.  To understand where First Amendment rights may conflict with other rights, and how the courts have resolved those conflicts.  To enable those who hope to work in the media not only to recognize legal problems but also to know what to do about them. Page 2 Media law can be a confusing, complicated and often frustrating area of study. Students often find its lack of certainty confounding. By the end of the semester, I hope you will come to appreciate the advantages and disadvantages that lack of certainty has for a dynamic society.

ATTENDANCE:

Given the complexity of the subject matter and the intensity of the workload, attendance at every class session is critical. This is an advanced level course and you are all adults, so after the first class session I will not be taking roll call. You should know this, though: the exams will be in the short-answer and essay format, and they will require a thorough, insightful knowledge of the material we covered. In short, you will not be able to BS your way through an exam. Come to class and learn the material thoroughly!

There is a waiting list for seats in this class. Anyone who is registered but does not attend the first class session will be administratively dropped and their seat will be taken by someone on the waiting list. If for some reason you know you are going to drop this class, please tell me now so that I can fairly award your seat to a person on the list.

CLASS SESSIONS, TESTS AND GRADING

Class sessions will be a combination of lecture and discussion. The required readings provide background you’ll need to understand lectures and take part in discussions, so please complete the readings for a given day before coming to class. Lectures will contain lots of material not found in the readings, especially information about Wisconsin law. Questions for tests will come not only from the readings but also from lectures.

Your grade will be determined by the total number of points you accumulate during the semester. There will be 250 points possible:

4 tests (50 points each) 200 5 unannounced quizzes on case readings (10 points each) 50

Students who miss a test or quiz score will receive a grade of 0 unless I have agreed in advance that there is a valid reason for missing the test or quiz. Final grades will reflect the total number of points earned, according to the following scale.

Point total Final grade

225 to 250 (90-100%) at least A-

200 to 224 (80-89%) at least B-

175 to 199 (70-79%) at least C-

150 to 174 (60-69%) at least D-

0 to 149 (0-59%) F

I do not grade on a curve, which means that you are not competing for grades with other people in the class. In other words, everyone in JMC-559 could get an A, which would be great. Of Page 3 course, in theory it’s also possible that everyone in the class could get an F. I’d be pretty depressed if that happened.

Graduate School regulations require graduate students in U/G classes such as JMC-559 to meet additional requirements. Graduate students in JMC-559 will write a research paper on a topic they propose and I approve.

If you need accommodations to meet any of the requirements in JMC-559, please let me know as soon as possible.

REQUIRED READING

Don R. Pember and Clay Calvert, Mass Media Law, 17th Edition (New York: McGraw Hill, 2011, ISBN: 13 9780073511979).

The text does come in an eBook format, which is considerably cheaper than purchasing the book. The eBook has note-taking, highlighting, printing, searching and zooming capabilities. If interested, here’s how you can purchase the eBook:

• Go to www.coursesmart.com • Enter in ISBN: 0073511979 • You can purchase directly online

Also required are a number of statutes and court decisions, available for free via the Internet.

USING DESIRE TO LEARN

All PowerPoint slides can be found before each lecture on Desire To Learn (D2L). Since the material we are covering is complex, you might want to think about printing the PowerPoint slides before class. That way you can take notes on my explanation of the points, rather than writing down the information on the slides.

If you do decide to print the slides, take a look at the print options. There’s an option that allows you to print several slides on a page, so you can save yourself some paper cost. And if you are in a lab with color printers, remember to print in black and white.

The D2L web site is accessible from the UWM home page. Our class site will not only contain the PowerPoint slides, it also contains links to all the assigned court cases, as well as the grade book. Get in the habit of checking it daily for announcements and other important material. If you have problems with D2L, please send an e-mail to [email protected].

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT

Students who cheat risk automatic course grades of F and a recommendation that they be expelled from the university. You may not pass off the work of other people as your own, nor may you use unauthorized materials while taking a test. See “Academic Misconduct” in the 2010-2011 Student Handbook for additional information.

I understand the pressures that may tempt students to take ethical shortcuts. But please don’t; it’s wrong and it’s risky. Page 4 POLICIES:

1. Students with disabilities: If you will need accommodations in order to meet any of the requirements of this course, please contact the instructor as soon as possible.

2. Religious observances: Students will be permitted to make up assignments when (a) There is a scheduling conflict between the student's sincerely held religious beliefs and taking the examination or meeting the academic requirements; and (b) The student has notified the instructor, within the first three weeks of the beginning of classes of the specific days or dates on which he or she will request relief from an examination or academic requirement.

3. Incompletes: A notation of "incomplete" may be given in lieu of a final grade to a student who has carried a subject successfully until the end of a semester but who, because of illness or other unusual and substantiated cause beyond the student' s control, has been unable to take or complete the final examination or to complete some limited amount of term work.

4. Discriminatory conduct (such as sexual harassment): The University will not tolerate discriminatory conduct. It poisons the work and learning environment of the University and threatens the careers, educational experience, and well -being of students, faculty, and staff.

5. Academic misconduct: Cheating on exams or plagiarism are violations of the academic honor code and carry severe sanctions, including failing a course or even suspension or dismissal from the University.

For more information, see: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf Page 5 Course Outline

To find state statutes on the Web, go to http://www.legis.state.wi.us/rsb/stats.html and enter the statute number in the search field. You also can find statutes and court decisions in the Legal Research area of the Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, available at http://www.uwm.edu/Library/database/index.html#acaduni. For case reading assignments, you can access the text of the decision by going under the “links” section of our D2L site, or by following the web address given below. If you print the decision, make sure you do a “print preview” first – finding out where the footnotes begin can save you a lot of paper. Many times the footnotes provide you with important background information and it’s good to read through them, but that’s not required for this class. Unless instructed otherwise below, you do not need to read the concurring/dissenting opinions for the case.

The following is an outline of our semester (subject to change if warranted according to the instructor’s judgment and for the benefit of the class).

1. Tuesday, Jan. 24 -- Introduction

2. Thursday, Jan. 26 -- Sources of law; courts and cases; reading court opinions Chapter 1, pp. 1-30

3. Tuesday, Jan. 31 – First Amendment, part 1 Chapter 2, pp. 38-56

Schenck v United States, 249 U.S. 47 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1919) http://laws.findlaw.com/us/249/47.html

4. Thursday, Feb. 2 -- First Amendment, part 1, continued Chapter 2, pp 62-63

U.S. Constitution, 14th Amendment, section 1 http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendments.html

Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1925) http://laws.findlaw.com/us/268/652.html

5. Tuesday, Feb. 7 — First Amendment, part 2. Chapter 2, pp. 65-70

Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697 (1931) http://laws.findlaw.com/us/283/697.html

6. Thursday, Feb. 9 — First Amendment, part 3 Chapter 3, pp. 85-97 Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988) http://laws.findlaw.com/us/484/260.html

Justin J. Boucher v. School Board of the School District of Greenfield, 97 C 915 (1998) (read addendum as well as the case) http://laws.findlaw.com/7th/973433.html Page 6 7. Tuesday, Feb. 14 – First Amendment, part 3 (continued) Chapter 3, pp. 98-102 Kincaid v. Gibson, 2001 FED App. 0005P (6th Cir.) http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-circuit/1120536.html

8. Thursday, Feb. 16 – Finish First Amendment Unit; REVIEW FOR TEST

9. Tuesday, Feb. 21 -- TEST 1

10. Thursday, Feb. 24 -- NO CLASS

11. Tuesday, Feb. 28 – Libel, part 1 (elements of libel) Chapter 4, pp. 132-161

12. Thursday, Mar. 1 – Libel, part 2 (proving “fault”) Chapter 5, pp. 164-176, 188-200

New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) http://laws.findlaw.com/us/376/254.html

13. Tuesday, Mar. 6 – Libel, part 3 (defenses and damages) Chapter 6, pp. 210-223, 226-229

14. Thursday, Mar. 8 -- Libel, part 4 (Wisconsin law) Maguire v. Journal Sentinel, 232 Wis.2d 236, 605 N.W. 2d 881 (Wisconsin Court of Appeals, 1999) http://www.wisbar.org/res/capp/z1997/97-3675.htm Read Shudson’s concurring/dissenting in addition to the majority opinion.

Wis. Const. Art. I, § 3 Wis. Stat. § 895.05(1) (Reporter’s privilege) Wis. Stat. § 895.05(2) (Retractions and corrections) Wis. Stat. § 891.33 (Proof of malice in slander and libel) Wis. Stat. § 942.01 (Criminal defamation)

15. Tuesday, Mar. 13 – Finish Libel unit, REVIEW FOR TEST

16. Thursday, Mar. 15 – TEST 2

SPRING BREAK

17. Tuesday, Mar. 27 – Privacy, part 1. Chapter 7, pp. 239-273

18. Thursday, Mar. 29 – Privacy, part 2. Chapter 8, pp. 275-291 Wis. Stat. § 895.50 (Right of privacy) Wis. Stat. § 942.05 (Opening letters) Wis. Stat. § 942.08 (Invasion of privacy)

19. Tuesday, Apr. 3 – Free press/fair trial, part 1. Chapter 11, pp. 405-416 Page 7

20. Thursday, Apr. 5 – Free press/fair trial, part 2. Chapter 12, pp. 417-428, 431-434

Sheppard v. Maxwell, 427 U. S. 539 (1976) http://laws.findlaw.com/us/384/333.html

Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, 427 U. S. 539 (1976) http://laws.findlaw.com/us/427/539.html

21. Tuesday, Apr. 10 – Access to government information. Chapter 9, pp. 318-325, 348-354

Doing the Public’s Business in Private, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan. 5, 2003, Pages 1A, 14A. http://www.gojefferson.com/banner/opinion/foust/disband/20030104_js.html

22. Thursday, Apr. 12 -- REVIEW FOR TEST

23. Tuesday, Apr. 17 -- TEST 3

24. Thursday, Apr. 19 -- Copyright, part 1. Chapter 14, pp. 495-518

25. Tuesday, Apr. 24 – Copyright, part 2. Chapter 14, pp. 519-532

Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994). http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/u10426.html

26. Thursday, Apr. 26 -- Regulation of advertising, part 1. Chapter 15, pp. 540-560

27. Tuesday, May 1 – Finish advertising Chapter 15, pp. 560-572

Wis. Stat. § 100.18 (Fraudulent representations) Wis. Stat. § 100.20 (Methods of competition and trade practices) Wis. Stat. § 423.301 (False, misleading or deceptive advertising)

28. Thursday, May 3 – NO CLASS

29. Tuesday, May 8 – Evaluations; REVIEW FOR TEST

30. Thursday, May 10 -- TEST 4