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23F Media Law
This will be a socratic lecture course that will use audio, video, and text to explore the basics of media law: Copyright; privacy; libel and defamation; and free speech. This is a "hybrid" course. The class will meet once per week, on Tuesdays. Class attendance will be required. The other "meeting" will be an audio or video lecture that students will be required to listen to or watch before the Tuesday class meeting. That lecture will often be a conversation between Professor Vaidhyanathan and a legal scholar. GENERAL COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course will present you with one or more disciplined, analytical approaches to understanding the ethical ramifications of producing media for a public: 1) Identify the contours of American media law and how they differ from -- or overlap with -- media policy. 2) Deepen knowledge of social and historical context to put contemporary issues in perspective. 3) Appreciate differing perspectives and integrate your views with those of others. 4) Sharpen reading, writing, speaking, and discussion skills. SPECIFIC COURSE OBJECTIVES: Students who successfully complete this course will be able to: • Describe the tension between efforts to sustain an informed and responsible public in a democratic republic and protect individual and collective rights of expression. • Identify legal agents in the global media ecosystem. • Identify the powers of the various legal agents. • Identify the legal responsibilities of the various agents • Grasp the basics of the First Amendment, free speech, defamation, privacy, copyright, and other areas of media law. • Prepare for deeper analysis and further study of one or more of these areas of law.