Course Description

This course examines legal issues and court cases involving the media in the United States.

Some of the topics examined include: the First Amendment, libel, privacy, protection of news sources, obscenity, advertising, access to public records and meetings, and copyright.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Here are examples of some famous copyright cases - look for terms like "fair use" and "derivative work" - Examples of fair use include commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. - A derivative work is copyrighted material + new material = new copyrightable work - The book lays out the 4 part test for Fair Use *Take Note* it will be on the final http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2013/04/19/5-famous-copyright-infringement-cases/ ALSO --> You will conduct your teacher evals on Wed during class. They are electronic this year and can be done by phone or computer.

Monday, November 3, 2014

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! I did it!! I finished the grades. If you did not hear from me with your grades, please let me know. Thanks for your patience. Contact me if you want to "fix" your grades for half points. Everyone is doing great. Christina

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

ok - I was about 75% accurate in my telling of the "fig leaf" campaign. I got the basic theme correct - some religious figure decided nudes were a threat to the moral/social fabric and fixed it with a fig leaf. This is a fascinating story of early censorship. http://www.museumsecrets.tv/dossier.php?o=95
This is the event I mentioned in the last class discussion around whether there is an argument to be made that some types of expression or activity should be regulated or banned because it functions like cultural poison - http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/05/27/elliot-rodgers-ucsb-massacre-sexual-assaults-and-campus-speech-codes/

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Cell phones and search warrants - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/us/supreme-court-cellphones-search-privacy.html?_r=0
Here is an article we discussed yesterday - where the government assumed someone's facebook identity. Lots of issues here relevant to our Privacy chapter. http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrishamby/government-says-federal-agents-can-impersonate-woman-online#stdcv

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Hey! I emailed the exam out. Check your Avila email boxes.