COMM 245 FINAL STUDY GUIDE Exam will be 15 questions about Media Law and 15 questions about media ethics 20 questions will cover the rest of the class cumulative Media Law Chapter 14 What does the First Amendment protect Free Speech press religion assembly and petition Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances How is free speech defined in practice what is allowed and not allowed to be done said Depends on context Laws against obscenity offensive community standards Commercial speech has less protection than political speech What is the Clear and Present Danger Doctrine Sedition criticism of the government Led to the Clear and Present Danger Doctrine limited the criticism to substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent Expression should be punished only when words are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger then they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent What is defamation What is libel What is slander Defamation false communication that ruins a reputation Libel defamation that is published broadcast or other fixed form that the public can access Slander Defamation that occurs in a transitory form such as speech spoken speech in public that s not recorded What are the intellectual property laws specifically fair use Federal laws that protect writings a diverse category of creative works trademarks and patents under copyright law 1 Copyright owner of a work is entitled to make and distribute reproductions of it 2 Fair Use allows the copying of a portion of a work for a noncommercial use 3 Trademarks word symbol or device that identifies a seller s goods 4 Patents an exclusive right granted to an inventor to manufacture use or sell and invention How is appropriation defined as part of individual privacy right It s the area of privacy law that says individuals own the right to their image and name neither of which can be used appropriated without their permission except in the reporting of news Can sue if they charged people to see an ad or something with your picture in it What are the Sunshine Laws meant to allow Laws that ensure that public meetings are conducted in the open so that reporters are allowed to attend Covers legislative units such as city councils school boards and state commissions as well as state and national legislatures Requires them to announce their meetings to the public including journalists Only specifically listed actions such as a collective bargaining session with a union or personnel actions can be closed Which famous news story in the late 1960 s early 1970 s dealt with prior restraint The Pentagon Papers Government restrained the New York Times and Washington Post from publishing a history of the Vietnam War claiming that it would undermine the effort to win that ongoing conflict Court ruled that the media must be allowed to publish they can be prosecuted after the fact if they break a law but they must not be prevented in advance from publishing Media Ethics Chapter 15 What did Janet Cooke do wrong She was a print journalist reporter for the Washington Post that made up a news story called Jimmy s World about a 5 year old heroine addict It turned out that he didn t even exist she just based him off of what she thought was real What was the Great Moon Hoax Series of articles in the New York Sun made up by Sir John Hershel to make the public buy the paper Story about finding life on the moon Early famous hoax perpetuated on people What were the details of the quiz show scandals Post WW2 Americans prized intelligence and wealth and the Cold War was heating up Networks claimed it was all the advertisers faults Producers lied to the audience Van Doren had lied been given the answers and been coached on how to appear to be concentrating Ended advertisers control of television content giving that job to the networks Why did Ed Sullivan censor Elvis Elvis scandalous way of moving his lower body gyrating when he performed Some videos would only show him from the waist up What are conflicting loyalties When an outside activity influences what a media professional does Checkbook Journalism paying sources to tell you their story Conflicting loyalties may include duty to personal conscience duty to one s organization and duty to society How did Dateline NBC violate media ethics Staged an explosion of a General Motors truck on air They had reports that a GM gas tank might explode during a crash so they purposely set one on fire for publicity GM sued NBC for lying and staging the whole thing President Michael Gartner was forced to resign What are the main features of the RTDNA Code of Ethics Public Trust Truth Fairness Integrity Independence Accountability How does accountability impact ethics The obligation to take responsibility or to account for the consequences of one s actions In media ethics accountability involves the questions of who controls media practitioners and who has the power to punish them for ethical lapses Corporate owners have more power over the media message because the smaller networks like ABC may have to be accountable to their corporate Disney corporate owner professional journals citizens outcry How did Brian Williams and Rolling Stone violate ethical behavior Brian Williams told false stories exaggerated didn t check his facts Said that he was in a helicopter that was shot down in 2003 while he was covering the Iraq war Williams often repeated that scenario making himself look intrepid It was actually another helicopter that was forced down by a rocket hit not the one Williams was riding NBC suspended Williams for 6 months without pay because he was living proof that reporters make it all up White Washing over exaggerating telling little lies Rolling Stone published a story about a rape on campus that wasn t true Jackie s account wasn t reliable Rolling Stone published it anyway Rest of the course Payne Fund Studies 1st large scale attempt to understand media effects magic bullet kids see violence go out and do it kids copied behavior of movie stars they identified with Wilbur Schramm s studies 1st major study of effects of new medium Television in the eyes of our children looked at how children used TV and how that