Laws Ethics 1927 Near Saturday Press Minneapolis citizen journalism paper was suppressed as a public nuisance liberty of the press doesn t mean anyone can publish anything Formal Regulation of the Media something that carries some kind of official sanction laws ex laws against libel court rulings administrative regulations binding professional codes more seen in Dr s Lawyers uncommon in journalism Examples of Formal Regulation censorship no general censorship in U S very rare often only during war gov t officially requiring material to be approved before published prior restraint on publication tends to happen when gov t receives word that something will harm public interest post publication punishment libel invasion of privacy media specific regulation advertising etc Historic Context Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 sedition crime against government 7 years after Bill of Rights was ratified this abridged freedom of speech said that fines and jail sentences would punish those who published false things about President or gov t Pres John Adams Jefferson let the Act expire and pardons those who were affected bottom line will people stick with law that avoided prevention of free speech or will this be allowed Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917 and 1918 WWI makes it imprison able to write things about gov t military or flag aimed at socialists repealed after war clearly unconstitutional Important Precedents Near vs Minnesota 1931 sues for putting newspaper out of business bans prior restraint except in rare circumstances war or obscenity ESTABLISHES CLEAR PRESENT DANGER someones life in actual danger Pentagon Papers post publication agent made intelligence papers public published by WaPost NYT Nixon takes newspapers to court saying it was not in publics best interest Supreme Court rules w news organizations b c there was no evidence of clear present danger post publication libel obscenity invasion of privacy Broadcast Regulation FCC Technical Issues who gets what frequencies indecency little content regulation but dirty language adult material equal time if you give one candidate a special offer you must give it to all Can t charge democrat s 500 and republicans 1000 equal time does NOT APPLY TO NEWS this will be on final Advertising Regulation by Federal Trade Commission Deception and Fraud Internet Regulation government can t regulate and is deciding how print or broadcast precendence Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 can t use someone s product w o permission Congress has tried 3 times to pass laws to prevent pornographic material from being online too broad INFORMAL MEDIA REGULATION consumers marketplace other journalists owners own personal values personal ambition successes Free Speech freedom to communicate without fear of punishment freedom from compulsory speech freedom from government domination of channels freedom of access to media Reasons for Free Speech individual human right vital to self government promotes discovery of truth absence creates worse evils Problems with free speech inaccuracy intimidate bullying other people separating logical hate speech crazy people Criteria for Restricting Speech when the best interests of the group or society clearly outweigh the rights of the individual when irreparable harm is imminent when an individual is harmed unfairly when speech is equivalent to prohibited action
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