Law and ethics

The First Amendment

 Democracy – government by the people requires
a free press.
 Libertarianism
 People cannot govern themselves in a democracy
unless they have access to the information they need
for that governance.
 Based on “self-righting principle” – fathered by John
Milton (1644)
 Included the free flow or trade of ideas serves to ensure
that public discourse will allow the truth to emerge
 Truth will emerge from public discourse because people
are inherently rational and good.

First Amendment

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubmmWR
6KPhg&feature=related
 What does “NO LAW” mean?
 US Congress can make NO LAW but what about
state legislature?
 Gitlowvs New York – 1925 – settled this, involved
the right of the state to limit the publication of a
socialist newsletter.
 “Congress shall make no law” should be
interpreted as “government agencies shall make
no law…”

What is “the Press”

 What “press” enjoys First Amendment
protection.
 Movies (1952), TV and Radio (1973)
 Advertising and commercial speech (1942)
 Entertainment content (1967)

Abridgment

 Freedom, with some limits
 1919 – Schenk v. United States defined “clear
and present danger” as a limit to first
amendment freedoms.
 A pamphlet was issued urging resistance to the
military draft during WWI.
 This is where the you can’t shout “fire” in a crowded
theater saying came from – that speech would not be
protected.
 Established the legal philosophy that there is no
ABSOLUTE freedom of expression, it is one of degree

Other issues

 Cameras in the courtroom
 Free press vs. Fair trial
 First Amendment vs. the Sixth Amendment
 Should cameras be allowed…supporting the
public’s right to know, or do they so alter the
workings of the court that a fair trial is impossible?
 Consistently decided in favor of fair trial
 Print reporters enjoy access to trials, broadcast
usually denied.
 Later allowed some instances of camera recording

Libel and Slander

 Libel – is the false and malicious publication
of material that damages a person’s
reputation.
 Slander – the oral or spoken defamation of a
person’s character
 THESE ARE NOT protected speech under the
First Amendment

Three tests for libel/slander

 TRUTH – if what is said can be proven as true, it
is protected speech.
 PRIVILEGE - coverage of legislative, court or
other public activities could contain information
that is not true or that is damaging to someone
but the press can still cover it without fear of
being hauled into court for slander or libel.
 FAIR COMMENT – press has the right to express
opinions or comments on public issues. Theater
and film reviews for instance, however severe are
protected speech.

Public Figures

 Different rules
 BECAUSE they are in the public eye, usually by
choice, they are fair game for comment
 1964 – NY Times vs. Sullivan (MLK ad)
 Have to show that there was ACTUAL MALICE in
order to prove libel in a case regarding a public
figure.
 ACTUAL MALICE when reporting on public
figures is regarded as KNOWLEDGE of its
FALSITY or RECKLESS DISREGARD for whether
it is true or not.

Prior Restraint

 Ability of the government to prevent the
publication or broadcast of expression.
 Rare use in the US but it has been used…number
of times the government has attempted to
squelch the release of information.
 If it will cause danger, overthrow by force of an
orderly government…threat to national security.
 Pentagon Papers is a good example. Leaked info.

Obscenity and Pornography

 Obscenity is not protected
 Basic guidelines –
 Whether the average person, applying
contemporary community standards would find
that the work taken as a whole, appeals to the
prurient interest
 Whether the work depicts or describes, in a
patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically
defined by the applicable state law, and
 Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious
literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

Problem

 What is offensive to me, might not be offensive
to you…what I see as art, you may not.
 The Internet blows “Community Standards”
concept OUT of the water.
 Justice Potter in Ginzburgv. US came up with the
“I know it when I see it” judgment of
pornography.
 Pornography IS protected speech, until the court
rules it illegal, then it becomes deemed as
obscenity.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0X3T6-
K22o

Other issues

 Indecency – broadcasting
 Think in terms of the Janet Jackson wardrobe
malfunction

Other Issues

 Deregulation
 Fairness Doctrine
 This required broadcasters to cover issues of public
importance FAIRLY
 Other regulations included rules on children’s
programming and ascertainment, which required
broadcasters to ascertain the wants of the audience
 When deregulation occurred it was MUCH easier to
get their licenses renewed and the burden of proof
was no longer on the station….began with Reagan.

Copyright

 Internet
 Music
 Public Domain

Social Responsibility Theory

 How the media SHOULD, in theory…act
 It is a normative theory, or practical and
applied theory.
 It is the standard against which the public
should judge the performance of the US
media.
 The theory states that: media must remain
free of government control, but in exchange
the media must serve the public.


 Balances libertarian concepts of freedom
with practical admissions of the need for
some form of control on the media.

 Media should accept and fulfill certain obligations of society
 Can meet these obligations by setting high standards of
professionalism, truth, accuracy and objectivity
 Should be self-regulating within the framework of the law
 Should avoid disseminating material that might lead to crime or
violence or civil disorder, or might offend minority groups
 As a whole should be pluralistic, reflect the diversity of the
culture in which they operate, and give access to various points of
view and rights of reply
 The public has a right to expect high standards of performance,
and official intervention can be justified to ensure the public
good
 Media professionals should be accountable to society as well as
to their employers and the market.
 WELL!

So what

 Basically by rejecting government control of
the media and accepting SR theory – which
calls for responsible, ethical industry
operations – it still does not free audiences
from THEIR responsibility.
 ?
 Media literacy

ETHICS

 http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-
january-26-2000/media-ethics
 What is LEGAL is not always ETHICAL
 What is ETHICAL is not always LEGAL
 They are NOT THE SAME THING.

Ethics

 Ethics = rules of behavior or moral principles
that guide our actions in given situations.
 For this class, it specifically means the
application of rational thought by media
professionals when deciding between two or
more competing moral choices.

Three Levels

 Metaethics
 Normative ethics
 Applied ethics

The big ones

 Truth and Honesty
 Privacy
 Confidentiality
 Personal Conflict of Interest
 Profit and Social Responsibility
 Offensive Content

Ethics

 Creates a web that balances many competing
personal and professional norms
 There is no overseeing body that can punish a
journalist for breech of professional codes of
ethics
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

The Steve Jobs example

 http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tec
h/2011/01/23/rs.steve.jobs.health.cnn.html

Law and ethics

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