Mass Media Law Final Exam Chapters 9 11 13 14 Gathering Information Government Information Three Sources of Law Three Sources of Law Concerning Access to Government Information o Common law limited source strict limitations Must have interest in the record party to a litigation has filed a lawsuit Only records required to be kept by gov are subject to disclosure gov doesn t require all Adopted as means for the public to confront the government not for the press to report to be kept o Constitutional law First Amendment on the government s activities Right to attend criminal trials o Statutory law state and federal Freedom of Information Act 1966 Important for Press rights to gain access to government documents Homeland Security Act 2002 Made any critical infrastructure information that s voluntarily submitted to the federal government by private people or businesses was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act Prohibited people or press from accessing documents submitted by people that commented on the infrastructure of buildings or areas Freedom of Information Act Public Records or Sunshine Laws Broadness depends on how the government interprets it Bush gave narrow interpretation of the Act due to 9 11 Recap the rules o Only applies to federal agencies does not apply to congress or federal courts o Must be a record including electronic records all written or electronic documents films tapes photographs records held by private contracts etc Nine important exemptions national security etc State Public Records Law Vary from state to state General principles o Doesn t matter why you want it or who you are o Applies to records kept by state agencies o Applies to all emails of government employees at these agencies o Various exemptions classified information trade secrets department preliminary papers Florida s Public Records Laws Florida is one of the first states to enact law Source Florida Constitution and Florida Statutes Major problem Once given to government document becomes a public record o Examples FSU and NCAA Free Press Free Trial Free Press First Amendment Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press Right to a Fair Trial Sixth Amendment In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed which district shall have been previously ascertained by law and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation to be confronted with the witnesses against him to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense The Intersection of the First and Sixth Amendments Stories that endanger the right to a fair trial o Stories about confessions Timothy McVeigh accused convicted of Oklahoma City bombing o Polygraph results o Past criminal history o Stories questioning the credibility of plays in a trial o Stories about the Defendant s character personality or friends o Stories that tend to inflame the public against the Defendant o Stories that suggest or imply the Defendant s guilt Casey Anthony Impartial Jurors o Must be free of deep impressions and beliefs that will not yield to the evidence that is presented during the trial U S v Burr 1807 o Jurors need not be totally ignorant of the facts and issues Murphy v Fla 1975 o The question is whether or not jurors can put aside any bias and impartially judge guilt innocence Patton v Yount 1984 What do judges do to limit pretrial publicity and ensure a fair trial o Voir dire their feelings biases opinions about the case the process by which the lawyers and the judge question the potential jurors about Challenges for cause made by an attorney who believes some answer the juror gave displays bias the juror has already made up their mind Peremptory challenges no real reason given striking a juror for an unknown reason limited number of these o Change of venue asking to move the trial to leave pre trial publicity o Continuance court briefly postpones trial in hopes of diminishing pre trial publicity o Admonition to jury courts instructions to the jury direct jurors to listen to evidence not to read outside materials o Sequestration judge decides publicity is so broad that jurors must be sequestered into a hotel can no longer participate in their daily lives Obscenity First Amendment Obscenity overview o First amendment issue is obscenity protected by the first amendment o Sexually explicit material o Adult video industry more than 12 billion a year o Controversial religion feminists Obscenity and the First Amendment o First amendment protects sexually explicit material but NOT obscenity or child pornography o There is no legal definition for pornography social term not used in courts o Even sexually explicit material that is not obscene can be regulated in many ways Variable obscenity statutes accessible only to adults masking magazines at stores Government not permitted to ban the flow of legal material to adults but can limit visibility or sale to minors Zoning regulations government prohibiting adult stores around a school Local governments ability to state that certain types of usability can limit explicit material Definitions Definition of Obscenity o Miller v California 1973 Mail orders sent out Miller was arrested for distributing obscenity taken to Supreme Court Supreme Court determined the Miller test o Miller Test An average person applying contemporary local community standards finds that the work taken as a whole appeals to prurient interest prurient is shameful and morbid interest in nudity sex or excretion The work depicts in a patently offensive way sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law patently offensive is determined by the Court The work in question lacks serious literary artistic political or scientific value Judge s opinion Definition of Child Pornography o Images of minors under 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct o Distinguish with Miller test If an image involves a minor and meets the test it doesn t matter what the community standard is for example Child Porn Prevention Act unconstitutional actors were made to look like minors act aimed at prosecuting those who were interested in these film assumptions Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today Act constitutional criminalized due to people thinking that children were actually involved
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