Posted: March 17th, 2023

Assignments for Week #1 Media Law

Introduction to Media Law
and
Assignments for Week #1
Welcome to Media Law.
This class will likely be a little different from others you’ve taken in the course of your eMedia
studies. It’s not focused on developing or enhancing your technical or creative skills. Instead, it’s
about coming to understand how our legal system works, getting familiar with areas of law you
are likely to encounter in the course of a career in the media business, and learning where to go
for authoritative answers you can trust.
Read this Introduction and the following instructions and assignments. Answer the
questions in red below, in writing, in an email to me (stephen.gillen@uc.edu), due by noon
on Monday, August 31.
One of the most fundamental things you’ll have to learn is that you won’t be able to get by in this
course by relying on your instincts – if the question is what does the law require or permit, your
personal sense of right and wrong will often lead you to the wrong answer; or, a common
presumption, true in some contexts, may not be true in others. There isn’t a viable shortcut for
reading the materials, watching the videos, and working through the assignments to be sure you
understand what you’ve just read or seen.
We’ll start, week #1, with a brief review of material you probably covered in your high school
course in American Government – how our legal system is structured, how it works, and how
that is relevant to you.
At the core of American society is a basic democratic principle – the power to govern is initially
vested in the people, who surrender some of that power to a government for the purpose of
maintaining order and stability in the society.
We have a republic (the citizens act through elected representatives), rather than a pure direct
democracy (where everyone, 330 million souls in the case of the US, participates in every
decision). And our republic is organized as a federal form of government with two tiers – the
states have the general power to govern, but have delegated certain specified powers to an
overarching federal government. (The thirteen original colonies were initially organized as a
confederation, a loose alliance, with little central power. This changed with the adoption of the
U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.) So, the federal government has only those powers
delegated to it in the U.S. Constitution. The general power to govern – to do everything else –
remains with the states.
At each level of our government – federal and state – the governing bodies are organized into
three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial (called a “tripartite” form of government).
Some would add to this list a fourth, hybrid, branch comprised of administrative agencies (this
because the administrative agencies encompass all three functions: rule making, enforcement,
and adjudication). Read a more complete description, at the link below, of the three branches of
government at the federal level and answer the questions that follow:
https://www.usa.gov/branches-of-government
Q#1 – Why did the framers of the U.S. Constitution divide the federal government into three
branches?
Q#2 – Explain how each branch of the federal government is able to control or limit the actions
taken by the other branches.
One of the tendencies that will cause you trouble in this course is the tendency to conflate law
with ethics. You will sometimes be tempted to answer a question about what the law prohibits,
requires, or permits based on what feels right to you. But law and ethics are two very different
things. Ethics consist of a person’s sense of right or wrong, good or bad. Law, on the other hand,
is comprised of a society’s enforceable rules governing conduct.
Q#3 – Compare and contrast law, on the one hand, and ethics, on the other (See the Learning
Objectives posted in the Week #1 Module). What is the key factor in the difference between the
two?
So, we have a general definition of what law is and how it is different from ethics. Where do we
turn, then, to find authoritative answers to questions about what the law prohibits, requires, or
permits in any given, specific situation? Read the answer at the following link and answer the
questions that follow:
https://lawshelf.com/shortvideoscontentview/sources-of-law-in-the-united-states/
Q#4 – What is the “supreme law of the land”?
Q#5 – Is there only one constitution?
Q#6 – What role do court decisions play in creating law? Is every court decision of equal
importance in every circumstance? Explain why, or why not.
Q#7 – What two things are required before any given court has the power to decide any given
dispute?
At the link that follows, you will find a 24-minute video of a segment from the cable show Last
Week Tonight with John Oliver. In this segment, John takes to task a West Virginia coal magnate
named Bob Murray. It is included here because you can see in this one short video real life
examples of the kinds of legal questions that come up in the course of media development and
distribution, including:
 When is it okay to incorporate in your video photos or video clips produced by someone
else?
 What is the difference between profanity and obscenity and when are they permitted by
the free speech and free press protections of the 1st Amendment?
 When can you incorporate in your video the trademark of a third party?
 Under what circumstances might you be free to broadcast offensive or private
information about a third party?
Watch the video with an eye out for examples of the above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=aw6RsUhw1Q8
Now read the “Murray Complaint” posted in the Week #1 Module.
Q#8 – In what court was this complaint filed and why do you suppose it was filed there?
Q#9 – Do you think that the claims asserted in the complaint are likely to be found valid?
Explain your reasons.
Now read the “ACLU Amicus” posted in the Week #1 Module.
Q#10 – Did this amicus brief cause you to change your mind? Why or Why not?

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