Law and Regulation Journalism Principles and Practices Where

Law and Regulation Journalism Principles and Practices

Where do Laws Come From? ● Constitutional - Constitution created legislatures, let them make laws ● Statutory - Laws made by those legislatures ● Administrative - Legislatures set up agencies ● Common Law - Based on tradition, previous decisions ● Common Law gives us the idea of precedent

Interpreting Constitution ● It’s a brief document, and cannot cover everything ● It becomes outdated ● Supreme Court is final arbiter ● Supreme Court must to some extent go beyond boundaries of Constitution

Philosophies of Interpreting Constitution ● Strict construction ● Original intent ● Judicial activism or broad construction o o Example: Earl Warren Brown v. Board of Education, brought in sociologists

Constitution and Expression Covered in earlier lecture, but to review: We do not protect communication that. . . ● Does not communicate an idea ● Is likely to cause immediate harm ● Creates immediate and unavoidable hazard

Laws of Most Relevance to Journalists ● Libel ● Privacy ● Copyright

Libel Elements of libel. . . ● Damage ● ID ● Publication ● Fault

Libel, Continued Defenses against libel. . . ● Truth ● Privilege ● Fair Comment ● Times v. Sullivan

Times v. Sullivan Plaintiff must prove, in addition to other libel elements. . . ● News medium knew it was wrong ● Used anyway to cause harm ● Pro: Enables vigorous scrutiny of public figures ● Con: Makes ignorance a defense

Privacy Types of Privacy Torts. . . ● Misappropriation ● Embarrassment ● False light ● Intrusion

Defenses Against Privacy Charge ● Consent ● Newsworthiness Pro: Allows journalists to freely cover news Con: Allows person invading privacy to make the rules

Copyright Fair Use exceptions for journalists. . . ● Purpose and character ● Nature of work ● Amount or significance ● Impact on original