Media Law and Ethics

JMC 3056

This course examines the regulation and protection of the media in democracies and the making of ethical choices by professionals in a free legal environment. The legal focus is on laws and principles developed by U.S. courts and the European Court of Human Rights to promote vigorous scrutiny of government and the free flow of information and diverse opinions while protecting individual rights and such social interests as public order. The ethical focus is on classical and modern models of thinking that help editors and other professionals make ethically justifiable decisions about the conflicts of principles that confront them daily.