To foster a free and independent press, most states protect the confidentiality of a journalist’s sources through “shield” laws. When these statutes were drafted decades ago, they had “journalists” of traditional media outlets in mind. But in the information age, is a blogger a “journalist”?
The New Jersey State Supreme Court recently [...]
Continue Reading →The “reality” of so-called reality shows has long been a topic of hot debate — and it’s pretty clear that at least some altercations and dramatic encounters are done (at least in part) for the cameras. MTV is host to two of the most popular “reality TV” series on the air: Jersey Shore and Teen Mom. [...]
Continue Reading →On January 18th the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) gave Comcast, the country’s largest cable company, the green-light to take over NBC Universal. Comcast already owns a handful of cable channels, including E! Entertainment and the Golf Channel. However, through its acquisition of a fifty-one percent stake [...]
Continue Reading →Cam Newton has been torching the SEC field so far this year, throwing for over 2,000 yards with twenty-one touchdowns, and rushing for another 1,300 yards and seventeen touchdowns. As the quarterback of the Auburn Tigers, Cam has led the team to an undefeated record, a birth in the [...]
Continue Reading →While Brad Pitt and Rupert Murdoch are an unlikely pair, it is video footage of Pitt that has landed Murdoch in an awkward position over comments the media mogul made regarding “fair use.” Rupert Murdoch, the 79-year-old Australian born founder and CEO of News Corporation, is [...]
Continue Reading →Part I of this article defines the “CSI effect,” a phrase has come to have many different meanings ascribed to it. It emphasizes the epistemological importance of first describing the effect of the “CSI effect” as observed in juror behavior documented in a new study conducted in Wayne County (Detroit), Michigan, and [...]
Continue Reading →The Terminator has added a new weapon to the arsenals of celebrities, like himself, who are waging an ongoing war against the paparazzi. This past Sunday, Governor Schwarzenegger signed an amendment to California’s anti-paparazzi law, which will allow lawsuits against media outlets that provide compensation for and first publish images that they [...]
Continue Reading →Last month, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued new restrictions on foreign correspondents and their ability to accurately and independently report news from their homeland–the fast-growing, emerging power that is China. Chinese law already forbids Chinese journalists from working for foreign news sources. The new law, known as the “Code of Conduct,” imposes restrictions on [...]
Continue Reading →It’s no surprise that the media make mistakes, but sometimes irresponsible reporting runs afoul of the law. The “facts” reported during the coverage of the Duke lacrosse rape case turned out to be less than factual and, from a legal perspective, this case poses interesting issues.
Don’t miss the Vanderbilt Journal [...]
Continue Reading →On Monday, July 21, 2008, the Third Circuit in CBS Corp. v. FCC overturned the fines levied against CBS for the so-called “Wardrobe Malfunction” that occurred during the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show. The 2004 fine of $550,000 was the largest ever against a television broadcaster at the time. CBS paid [...]
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