Media Policy and Law
MDST 3405  - Fall 2012
Claude Moore Nursing Edu G010
Tuesday and Thursdays 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.

Professor Siva Vaidhyanathan
sivav@virginia.edu
Office phone 434-243-4333                                                                       
Office: Wilson 223
Office Hours Wednesdays 1:30 to 3 p.m. and by appointment

Grader: Andy Foust: aff2ah@virginia.edu

                                                                       
The Winklevi aren't suing me for intellectual property theft. They're suing me because for the first time in their lives, the world didn't

work the way it was supposed to for them.

                                                                         - - Mark Zuckerberg

            The Social Network is a story about a website that most of us use most days, but it’s also the story of a lawsuit, a big lawsuit. It’s a story about privacy, copyright, advertising and technology - about an unintended revolution in communications that’s touched more than 500 million people - and laws and public policies that are barely keeping pace with the entrepreneurial spirit of a generation and the zeitgeist of digital communications.
              What rights to privacy do we surrender when we join a social network managed by people we don’t know, thinking we simply have found an easier way to communicate with our friends? What protections exist in a capitalistic system – and what protections should exist - for people with ideas that could earn them lot of money and could make life easier for the rest of us?  And what implications do the synergies and conflicts created by old laws and new policies have for the future of our participatory democracy?
            This course offers an overview of basic media law and policy, the regulatory and judicial systems that administer and interpret it, and the public policy apparatus those relationships create. It draws on a comprehensive textbook and supplementary scholarship, case studies, films and guest lectures by media professionals for insight into those relationships. Information from those sources will provide tools you need to critique legal and political decisions presented in historic case studies and documented in film and flush out your own ideas on two short essay-driven exams.
            You’ll finish the course with a better understanding of how law and public policy shape the way mass media work in journalism, advertising and politics  - - as well as in the development of new technologies and the businesses they enable. Most important, you’ll better understand how media enhance public life in our participatory democracy, and you’ll be in a better position to advocate for or against new laws and regulations under consideration now or in the coming years.  
            Media law – once the professional playground of highly specialized attorneys and top editors – is now an essential tool for anyone involved in the creation of content. For a blogger, it can make the difference in a lawsuit over privacy or libel. For an entrepreneur, it can mean millions of dollars in profits lost or gained. But most important, for all of us as individuals and citizens, it’s an important part of media literacy in a rapidly changing digital democracy.   

Class Environment. This is a lecture course with weekly topics that draw on a primary text, supplemental readings, films, case studies and guest speakers. Lectures are designed to enhance, not just summarize the weekly texts. Some supplemental texts are online; others are posted on the course website. Regular attendance is required. Students may miss two classes without academic penalty. A student who misses three classes should arrange a meeting with the instructor to discuss his/ her standing in the course. 

Academic Standard. Written work should adhere to a professional standard of quality in terms of grammar, spelling and punctuation. It should be free of typographical errors and formatted so that the instructor and fellow students can print professional quality copies from a standard printer. Citations and margins should follow MLA, Chicago or another commonly accepted academic style. Late work will be not be accepted without justification and permission. There are no excuses and no second chances for academic dishonesty. Students who commit plagiarism or other acts of evil will fail the course and be reported to the department chair (i.e., me). 

Grades:
            First Midterm                                                25 percent            
            Second Midterm                                    25 percent
            Third Midterm                                     25 percent
            Final exam                                                  25 percent  
            TOTAL                                              100 percent

The first midterm exam will focus on copyright law and draws on key concepts and ideas from the primary text, supplemental readings, films, case studies and lectures. It will be a take-home essay exam with some short-answer questions. It is due September 24 at 11:59 p.m. The midterm is 25 percent of the course grade.

The second midterm exam will consider privacy and draws on key concepts and ideas from the primary text, supplemental readings, films, case studies and lectures. It will be a take-home essay exam with some short-answer questions. It is due on October 10 at 11:59 p.m. The midterm is 25 percent of the course grade.

The third midterm exam will cover Internet policy, FCC policy, cultural policy, and global media policy and draws on key concepts and ideas from the primary text, supplemental readings, films, case studies and lectures. It will be a take-home essay exam with some short-answer questions. It is scheduled for October 29 at 11:59 p.m. The midterm is 25 percent of the course grade.

The final exam will concentrate on free speech and First Amendment law but will include material from the entire course. It will resemble the midterms in format. The final exam is worth 50 percent of the semester grade. Its due date will be announced later in the semester.

Books (Required)
           
Middleton, Kent R., and Lee, William E. 2012. Law of Public Communication 2013. Pearson College Div.

Vaidhyanathan, Siva. 2001. Copyrights and copywrongs: the rise of intellectual property and how it threatens creativity. New York: New York University Press. Available on EBrary via UVA Library. Link on Collab.

Selections of other book chapters and articles available in “Resources” on Collab.

Films (available on Collab)

Milos Forman (1996), People V. Larry Flynt
     Michel Gondry, Be Kind, Rewind
      Alan Pakula, All the President’s Men
      Kembrew McLeod, Copyright Criminals
      Joost and Schulman, Catfish
      Steven Speilberg, Minority Report
      Francis Coppola, The Conversation
      Tony Scott, Enemy of the State
      Ondi Timoner, We Live in Public
     

Calendar

Week 1. August 28 and 30. Introduction.
·      Middleton, Chapter 1

Week 2. September 4 and 6. Intellectual Property: The Basics
            • Middleton, Chapter 6
• Christopher Sprigman and Siva Vaidhyanathan, "Cue Barracuda", Washington Post
            • UVA alum and copyright lawyer Howell O’Rear guest lectures September 6.
• Chris Sprigman discusses Apple v. Samsung on Brian Lehrer show WNYC radio http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2012/aug/28/apple-vs-samsung/

Week 3. September 11 and 13. Copyright Basics
            • Chris Sprigman guest lecture Sept. 13
• Sprigman and Raustiala, Chapter 3.
• Vaidhyanathan, Copyrights and Copywrongs, Introduction through Chapter 3.
            • See Be Kind Rewind.

Week 4. September 18. No class September 20. Copyright Present and Future
            • Vaidhyanathan, Copyrights and Copywrongs, Chapter 4 through Epilogue
            • See Copyright Criminals

Week 5. September 25 and 27. First Midterm Exam due Monday, September 24 11:59 p.m. Introduction to Privacy
            • Middleton, Chapter 5
• Read Vaidhyanathan, Googlization of Everything, Chapter 3
            • See Minority Report and The Lives of Others.
• Balkin, "The Constitution and the National Security State"

Week 6. October 2. No class Thursday, Oct. 4. Privacy as Contextual Integrity
            • See Catfish and We Live in Public (Warning: Very disturbing themes and images)
            • Read Nissenbaum, “Privacy as Contextual Integrity.”

Week 7. No class on October 9 for reading day.  October 11. Internet Policy and Net Neutrality
            • See and The Conversation and Enemy of the State.
            • Read Wu, The Master Switch ( excerpts).

Week 8. October 16 and 18. The First Amendment and Free Speech

            • Middleton, Chapters 2 and 3.
            

Week 9.  October 23. No class October 25. Political vs. Commercial Speech

            • Middleton, Chapters 7 and 8
• Garrett Epps, "Does Cigarette Marketing Count as Free Speech?", The Atlantic Monthly. August 29, 2012  

Week 10.  Second Mid-term exam due Monday October 29 at 11:59 p.m. October 30 and November 1. The FCC and How US Policy Works.

• See All the Presidents’ Men (ideally at Virginia Film Festival)

            •

Week 11. November 6 and 8. Political Speech, Continued.

  • Read Boston Review forum on Citizens United v. FEC (link on Collab resources).

• Read Gilbert, Michael D., Campaign Finance Disclosure and the Information Tradeoff (October 29, 2012). Iowa Law Review, Vol. 98, 2013 (Forthcoming); Virginia Law and Economics Research Paper No. 2012-13; Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2012-66. Available on Collab.

Week 12. November 13 and 15. Libel and Free Speech
            • Middleton, Chapter 4

            

Week 13. November 20. No class November 22 for Thanksgiving (BEAT TECH!). Obscenity and Indecency
            • Middleton, Chapter 9

            • See The People v. Larry Flynt

            • Lydsky, "Not a Free Press Court?", Brigham Young University Law Review, available on Collab.

Week 14. Third Midterm due SUNDAY, December 2 11:55 p.m.

November 27 and Nov. 29 Is “free speech” a white, male, and Western thing?
            • Read Crenshaw,  "Beyond Racism and Misogyny: Black Feminism and 2 Live Crew" from Boston Review. Available on Collab and at http://bostonreview.net/BR16.6/crenshaw.html

            • Read Mackinnon, "PORNOGRAPHY, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND SPEECH" available on Collab.

            • Read Sen, "Human Rights and Asian Values" available on Collab

            • Read Bartow, "Pornography, Coercion, and Copyright Law 2.0" Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law, Vol. 10, No. 4, 2008. Available on Collab.

 

 

Week 15. No class December 4 or December 6.          

Final Exam due Friday, December 14 at 11:55 p.m.