UGA JOUR 3410 - Legal v Ethical (2 pages)

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JOUR 3410 Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I Beats Twitter Outline of Current Lecture II Legal v Ethical Current Lecture Legal v ethical Ex Name of rape victim Legally journalists have access to this but we usually never do this Examples of times journalists do name victim If prominent people involved If rape victim comes forward Prior restraint doesn t prevent publications from releasing a story Of libel and slander Aka defamation Is a statement defamatory Did it damage a reputation Was it published to a third person Did you identify the person Is there fault do you have fault If there are spoken words sometimes of limited reach it is slander If the words are written or often broadcast it is libel Beware the conduit fallacy that you re merely quoting what someone said and therefore you re protected You re not There are defenses to libel and slander Truth is considered an absolute defense Opinion under the Fair Comment category Especially with cultural artistic sports criticism Reaction is a defense to mitigate damages Public officials in their official capacity enjoy Absolute Privilege Ex Whatever DA says in courtroom is protected can t be sued These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Journalists enjoy Qualified Privilege if they provide a fair and accurate report of an official proceeding Ex could be sued but they wouldn t win A Question of Fault Public figures and public officials The notion of actual malice reckless disregard of whether true or false Gets at state of mind of reporter and whether published while knowing there was a good chance the information was false On purpose possibly greatest offense for journalist Private individuals Still must show some degree of fault but at a lower standard one of negligence And less care than a reasonable journalist should have taken Privacy Without legitimate public interest or newsworthiness you can get