Woodrow Wilson School 309
Media and Public Policy
Professor Paul Starr
Spring 2008. Wednesdays, 1:30-4:20 p.m..
Professor Paul StarrSpring 2008. Wednesdays, 1:30-4:20 p.m..
Where to find the readings:
= Available for purchase at Labyrinth Books and for free at Stokes Library
= World Wide Web. (Click on the link on the reading list.) 
= Electronic Reserve/Blackboard course documents/Lexis February 6. Journalism in crisis
Project for Excellence in Journalism, "The State of the News Media 2007." Read the "Overview," the chapters
on "Digital Journalism" and "Newspapers" plus one chapter (to be individually assigned) among the following: Online, Network TV, Cable TV, Local TV, Magazines, Radio, Ethnic. (Chapter assignments to be sent by email in January.) Nicholas Lemann, "Amateur Hour: Journalism Without Journalists," The New Yorker, August 7-14, 2006. Walter Lippmann, "Journalism and the Higher Law" and "What Modern Liberty Means" in Lippmann,
Liberty and the News (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe,1920), 3-68. February 13. The constitutional foundations and limits of press freedom
Paul Starr, The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications
(New York: Basic Books, 2004), Introduction, Chs. 1-2, 8. Randall Bezanson, How Free Can the Press Be?
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003), 5-57 (New York Times v. United States [1971; "Pentagon Papers" case]). Kent Middleton et al., The Law of Public Communication (Boston: Pearson, 2007 ed.), 25-51. Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919). Abrams et al. v. United States, 250 U.S. 616 (1919). Near v. Minnesota 283 U.S. 697 (1931).
February 20. Democracy, diversity, and power in the age of the mass media
Starr, The Creation of the Media, Chs. 3-5, 7, 12. Robert W. McChesney, "Fight for a Free Press," The Nation, July 3, 2006, with chart
"National Entertainment State, 2006." Jack Shafer, Big is Beautiful," Slate, January 13, 2000. Bezanson, How Free Can the Press Be?, 58-82 (Miami Herald v. Tornillo [1971]).Associated Press v. United States, 326 U.S. 1 (1945). February 27. Communications regulation: movies, radio, and television
Starr, The Creation of the Media, Chs. 9-11. Newton N. Minow and Craig L. Lamay, Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television,
and the First Amendment (Hill and Wang, 1995), Introduction, Ch. 1. Matthew Lasar, "Cow shit bad, bullshit ok--FCC,"
Lasar's Letter on the FCC, Nov. 6, 2006. Middleton et al., The Law of Public Communication, 311-314, 388-434. Red Lion Broadcasting v. FCC , 395 U.S. 367 (1969). Miller v. California 413 U.S. 15(1973). FCC v. Pacifica Foundation [George Carlin case] 438 U.S. 726 (1978). Federal Communications Commission, Decision concerning "2004 Broadcast of the Superbowl
XXXVIII Halftime Show."
March 5. Intellectual property and cultural freedom
Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture (Penguin, 2004), preface, Chs. 1-5, 7-10, afterword.
Watch Lessig's crash course in the "read-write" internet (9:24), YouTube. Patrick Ross, "Artists and Culture: Empowering
the Former to Foster the Latter," Progress and Freedom Foundation, Release 13.6 (February 2006).Universal City Studios, Inc. et al. v. Sony Corporation of America Inc. ["Betamax Case"] 464 US 417 (1984). Eldred v. Ashcroft 537 U.S. 186 (2003). MGM Studio v. Grokster 545 US(2005).
March 12. Economic forces and the shaping of the media
James Hamilton, All the News That's Fit to Sell (Princeton University Press, 2004),
1-36, 71-120.
Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transform
Markets and Freedom (Yale University Press, 2006), 1-28 [skim], 29-90, 176-272.
You -- Yes, You -- Are TIME's Person of the Year," Time,
December 25, 2006.
Daniel Akst,"Nonprofit Journalism: Removing the Pressure of the Bottom Line," Carnegie Reporter, Spring 2005.
March 26. New Media, New Choices
Lawrence Lessig, Code Version 2.0 (New York: Basic Books, 2006), 3-168, 233-275. Kevin Werbach, "Radio Revolution: The Coming Age of Unlicensed Wireless", paper for the New America Foundation.Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844 (1997). Ashcroft v. ACLU, II (2004) and ACLU v Gonzales .
April 2. The limits of media freedom: libel, privacy, press privilege, and other issues
Bezanson, How Free Can the Press Be?, 163-208 (Bartnicki v. Vopper [2001]); 209-29
(Howard v. Des Moines Register & Tribune Co. [1989]). Kent Middleton et al., The Law of Public Communication, Ch. 4 (Libel), 92-179; Sullivan v. New York Times376 U.S. 254 (1964). Time v. Hill 385 U.S. 374. (1966). Food Lion v. ABC 887 F. Supp. 811 (1999).
In re: Grand Jury Subpoena Judith Miller (2005).April 9. Ownership concentration and localism.
Klinenberg, Fighting for Air, Introduction, Chs 1-5, 7. Marjorie Heins and Mark N. Cooper, "The Legal and Social Bases of Localism are Stronger than Ever," 31-38 in
Mark N. Cooper, ed.,
The Case Against Media Consolidation: Evidence on Concentration, Localism, and Diversity
(New York: Donald McGannon Center for Media Research, Fordham University, 2007). Ben Compaine, "Domination Fantasies:
Does Rupert Murdoch control the media? Does anyone?" Reason Magazine (January 2004).
Federal Communications Commission, "FCC Adopts Revision To Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule," December
18, 2007. Read statement by FCC Chairman Martin and dissent by Commissioner
Copps.
April 16. Globalization of the media [first half].
Tyler Cowen, Creative Destruction: How Globalization is Changing the World's Cultures (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002).April 23. The politics of media reform [first half].
Klinenberg, Fighting for Air, 8-9, conclusion.Benkler, The Wealth of Networks, 383-459.April 30. Student Presentations: Group 2.