Media and Public Policy

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

September 21. Journalism: crisis and opportunity

Project for Excellence in Journalism, "The State of the News Media: 2011." Read the Overview, including "Key Trends" and "Major Findings."
Paul Starr, "Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers (Hello to a New Era of Corruption)," The New Republic (March 4, 2009).
Steven Waldman et al., The Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age (Washington: Federal Communications Commission, 2011), 8-25 (Part I of the "Overview.")
Thomas E. Patterson, "Young People and News" Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, July 2007.

September 28. 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, 7th or 8th ed. (Boston: Pearson, 2009/2010), Ch. 1.


Cases to be assigned for individual presentation
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).

October 5. Democracy, diversity, and power in the age of the mass media

Starr, The Creation of the Media, Chs. 3-5, 7, 12.
Bezanson, How Free Can the Press Be?, 58-82 (Miami Herald v. Tornillo [1971]).
Ben Compaine, "Domination Fantasies: Does Rupert Murdoch control the media? Does anyone?" Reason Magazine (January 2004).
Mark Lloyd and Phil Napoli, Local Media Diversity Matters: Measure Media Diversity According to Democratic Values, Not Market Values (Washington, D.C.: Center for American Progress, 2007), Executive Summary, 1-3.
Case to be assigned for individual presentation
Associated Press v. United States, 326 U.S. 1 (1945).

October 12. 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.
Middleton et al., The Law of Public Communication, pages to be assigned.


Cases to be assigned for presentation
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).

October 19. 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).


Cases to be assigned for individual presentation
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).

October 26 [class begins at 2:30]. Economics, technology, and the reshaping of the media

James Hamilton, All the News That's Fit to Sell (Princeton University Press, 2004), 1-36.
Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom (Yale University Press, 2006), 1-28 [skim], 29-90, 176-272.

Fall break

November 9. New Media, New Choices

Eli Pariser, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You (New York: Penguin Press, 2011), Introduction (1-20), Ch. 2 (47-76).
Lawrence Lessig, Code Version 2.0, Chs. 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 12. 3-168, 233-275. Also available in printed form:(New York: Basic Books, 2006).

Cases to be assigned for individual presentation:
Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844 (1997).
ACLU v Mukasey (2008) [originally ACLU v. Gonzales].

November 16. The limits of media freedom: libel and privacy

Braden Goyette, Our Reader’s Guide to the Phone Hacking Scandal," ProPublica, July 12, 2011; Sarah Ellison, "The Dark Arts," Vanity Fair, June 2011; and Bradford Plumer, "Do Britain's Strict Press Laws Actually Encourage Bad Behavior," The New Republic July 8, 2011. (These readings will be updated as developments unfold.)
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) and Ch. 5 (Privacy and Personal Security).
Cases to be assigned for individual presentation
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).

November 23 (half session). Press privilege, press responsibility

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.
Yochai Benkler, "The Real Significance of Wikileaks," The American Prospect May 30, 2011.
Kent Middleton et al., The Law of Public Communication, Ch. 11 (Protection of News Sources, Notes, and Tape).


Case to be assigned for individual presentation
Branzburg v. Hayes U.S. 665 (1972).

November 30. Media freedom and globalization

Tyler Cowen, Creative Destruction: How Globalization is Changing the World's Cultures (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), Chs. 1, 4, and 6.
Lee C. Bollinger, Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century, 87-106; and
Lee C. Bollinger, "News for the World," Columbia Journalism Review (July-August 2011).

Cases to be assigned for individual presentation:
Supreme Court of Canada, Quan v. Cusson, 2009 SCC 62 (2009). For background, see Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, "Analysis of the Defamation Case Decisions, December 22, 2009."
Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr. The First Amendment in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Comparative Legal Analysis of the Freedom of Speech (New York : New York University Press, 2006), Ch. 4 [Germany].
Krotoszynski, The First Amendment in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Ch. 5 [Japan].

December 7. The future of journalism, local news, and the role of government

Leonard Downie, Jr. and Michael Schudson, "The Reconstruction of American Journalism," Columbia Journalism Review , October 19, 2009. (Check out responses under "First Read" as well as the Downie-Schudson report.
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
Project for Excellence in Journalism, "Survey: Mobile News & Paying Online," from The State of the New Media 2011.
Elizabeth James, "Big Bird to the Rescue?" Columbia Journalism Review July-August 2011.
Cases to be assigned for individual presentation:
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. See also: "Court Overturns F.C.C. Cross-Ownership Rule," New York Times, July 7, 2011.



Second half of class: Student presentations

December 14.

Student Presentations