The First Amendment protects many types of speech. The many ways we use technologies to interact with each other and society has led U.S. courts to interpret and apply First Amendment principles in a variety of ways. This course has explored some of them to help you form an appreciation of the
distinctions among First Amendment rights, protections, and responsibilities afforded U.S. private citizens, public figures, public officials, and the media.
factors shaping the evolution of U.S. mass media laws to understand the synergistic relationship between the U.S. mass media and society, politics, economics, ethics, and religion.
key media law principles for defamation and libel, privacy, copyright, news and entertainment media content, and broadcast, cable, common carrier, and potentially, social media regulation in real-world situations.
For this final assignment, you will write a 5–7-page essay that synthesizes what you learned about First Amendment liberties and limitations in the context of at least one issue(s) we reviewed for these topics during Weeks 3–7:
Week 3: Defamation, Libel, and Invasion of Privacy
Week 4: Intellectual Property and Copyright
Week 5: Online Privacy and Security
Week 6: Cyber-Tracking and Surveillance
Week 7: Internet Policy and Governance
Your paper should discuss in detail the relevant week’s themes and issues, and include an explanation of at least one important case to illustrate your understanding of the First Amendment and media law issues involved in your topic.
Step 1: Review the Weeks 3–7 required learning resources to brainstorm essay topics that interest you concerning a current issue in mass media law.
Look through the supplemental weekly learning resources for potential additional material that you might use.
Consider extending your research to this course’s customized Case Law Index (see the Course Resources), the list of Major Free Press Legal Cases, and this list of Additional Selected Cases and Resources for Assignment 4 for ideas about specific cases that could be developed into topics relevant to the themes of Weeks 3-7.
Use Nexis Uni* or access the university library’s other databases for resources.
*Log into the classroom and enter the university’s library through More > Academic Services > Library in the navbar to use the Nexis Uni database search function.
Step 2: Frame the essay topic that interests you in the form of a question or conclusion.
Some examples:
Should the federal government have the power to require pre-publication review as a condition of employment?
Does the news media’s use of drones to obtain video for news stories outweigh a person’s right to privacy?
Court decisions allowing local governments to censor comments on their social media seriously threaten personal rights to freedom of expression and petition.
Section 230 should not be used to protect social media from liability for cyberbullying.
Government should have the power to restrict the access of minors to pornography on the internet.
Step 3: Review course resources and do enough library research to summarize the legal issues involved in your topic.
Step 4: Outline the points you will make in your paper to accomplish the following:
Introduction: State the topic of the paper, explain the importance of the topic, and give a persuasive thesis that answers the question you raised in Step 2, which you will support in the body of the paper.
Theme(s): Summarize what you learned about the topic’s media law themes from its appropriate week of study during Weeks 3–7 of this course.
Issue: Provide an overview of the various arguments—pros and cons—that have been or can be made about the specific issue you are focusing on within your chosen week’s topic area.
Discussion: Analyze how the arguments relate to specific First Amendment rights, responsibilities, and established limitations.
Some examples:
Would free speech be a powerful right if we did not also have a free press?
How would the freedom to petition be different if we didn’t have freedom of expression on some websites or social media?
Would your favorite YouTuber or blogger exist on the internet if Google could block content that it believed gave little or no value to end-users?
Conclusion: Summarize your discussion and draw conclusions about how the points you raised supported your thesis.
Format Requirements:
text double-spaced
12-point Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial font
title page or essay heading of your choice
APA-style in-text citations
APA-style end-of-text references
