MN Advisory Comm Exhibits 1-18 - Minnesota Judicial Branch

c
Journalism 3-776; Mass Communication Law 34 Murphy Hall
4 credits -- Gillmor Office hours - open
A. Course Objectives
Only journalists possessing some knowledge of mass comnunication law can
thoughtfully assert their rights and avoid needless infractions of the law.
This course is designed to make journalists expert in recognizing their legal
rSghts to gather, prepare and disseminate news and public informatfon, and to
suggest guidelines for ethical pratice.
An effort will be made to cover the following topics: Anglo-American
antecedents and the historical assumptions of freedom of expression in America;
mass media and the First Amendment; the doctrine of no prior restraint; libel
and the defenses against it; privacy and the press; journalist's "privilege"
to protect the identity of sources and the contents of notes, tapes, outtakes,
etc.; the "right" to gather news and the statutory right of access to informa- -
tion; free press and fair trial, judicial orders restricting publication,
attendance of press and public at judicfal proceedings, and the availability
of judicial records and documents, the judge's contempt power, cameras and
broadcast equipment in the courtroom; the censorship of obscenity; the "right"
of citizens to have access to the channels of cmunication; lotteries; copy-
right; the press and the antitrust laws; the press and the labor laws; and
the regulation of broadcasting, with emphasis on the Equal Time provision of
section 315 of the Cormnunications Act and the Fairness Doctrine. r-
Special sections on the constitutional protection and regulation of
advertising, the photojournalist and the law, and the influencing of the opjnion
process in public relations will be assigned students in those specializatfons.
This course is d necessary first step toward a more comprehensive,
philosophical and research oriented study of freedom of speech, press, assembly
and petjtion in 5-777 and subsequent graduate seminars.
B. Textbook
Gillnor, Donald M.-and Jerome A. Barr-on, Mass Communication Law: Cases
and Comment. St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 3d ed., 1979.
Reference
Denniston, Lyle W., The Reporter and the Law: Techniques of Coverinq
the Courts. New York: Hastings House, 1980. Murphy Reserve.