Department of Journalism and Mass Communications

Journalism 301—Law and Communications

Fall Term 2009
M, W, F—C Hour (10:10-11:05 a.m.)

Professor Toni Locy
203 Reid Hall
Office Hours: 1 to 4 p.m. Monday; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; and by appointment.
Office phone: 458-8434
Locyt@wlu.edu

Course Description:

This course will examine mass communications law in the United States from historical and contemporary perspectives. The course also will provide students with a basic understanding of the important laws and legal issues that confront journalists today and the ethical standards that guide the profession.

Objectives:

A key goal of the course is for students to understand the rights that they and others possess and the legal implications of the work they will do in the future.

Expectations:

Students are expected to participate in class discussions of several court cases and their implications. This means that students will be asked to read court opinions and make sense of them. It also means that students must be prepared for class: Reading assignments must be completed before their respective sessions.

You are expected to arrive in the classroom on time. Chronic lateness will be penalized as unexcused absences and will result in a lowering of your grade by a half point for each offense.

I also will not give make-up tests or exams to accommodate early departures from campus for breaks. Nor will I give make-up tests or exams for any other reasons except in emergencies.

I expect you to turn off your cell phones during class. You can surf the Web only when I instruct you to do so as part of an assignment.

The tests and exams will contain essay portions. I expect W&L students, especially journalism majors, to avoid errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation and AP Style. If you make mistakes you will lose points. Factual errors will result in a zero.

Finally, students will be expected to attend public lectures and seminars on campus as assigned.

Textbook and Readings:

Don R. Pember and Clay Calvert, Mass Media Law 2009-2010 edition. McGraw-Hill.

Students also will be assigned to read more than 50 court cases affecting journalism and the First Amendment. Cases can be retrieved from the following Web sites:

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/name.htm
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe

You will be required to know the details of significant cases and the implications of certain court decisions. As a result, you should take thorough notes on the cases—or “brief” the case, a process I will explain during our first class meeting.

I have set up a blog for the class at http://locymedialaw.wordpress.com/ for students to use as an online study group to help each other with the readings and in preparing for tests and exams. I will use the blog to direct students to new developments in media law. At the end of the term, I will take your use of the blog into account when I calculate the class participation part of your final grade. You must observe good manners and respect others when you use the blog.

Students also should check their e-mail regularly for additional readings I might assign.

Grading Scale and Attendance:

Attendance is mandatory and a portion of your grade depends on it. If you are going to be absent, you must inform me via e-mail or by phone before class. If your absence is due to illness, you must be seen by Student Health Services and provide written proof.

Because of the size of this class and my course load this term, you must take the final exam by the end of the exam period on Wednesday, Dec. 16.

I use a point system in grading. This course has a total of 100 points. There will be no make-up tests or exams except in emergencies. An emergency is a life-threatening situation or a family crisis. The point system breaks down as follows:

            Class participation: 10 points
            Test 1: 15 points
            Mid-term Exam: 25
            Test 2: 15 points
            Final Exam: 35 points

At the end of the term, the points will be tallied and your grade will be determined. The scale will be traditional: 90 percent is an A; 80 percent is a B; 70 percent is a C; 60 percent is a D; and anything below 60 percent is an F.

You must complete all of the assignments in the course. If you do not, you will receive an F for the course.

Competencies:

The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications identifies several core values and competencies that should be the focus of a journalism education. Several will be addressed in this course, including the ability to:

Work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness and diversity;
Think critically, creatively and independently;
Write correctly and clearly in forms and styles appropriate for the communications professions, audiences and purposes you serve;
Critically evaluate your own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style and grammatical correctness;

Plagiarism:

You cannot pass someone else’s words, phrasing or ideas off as your own. If you do, you will face referral to the Student Executive Committee. Please see the EC’s definition of plagiarism and other resources on the issue at http://library.wlu.edu/research/ref/cite_plag.asp. If you are confused about attribution, please ask me.

Fabrication:

If you make up a quote, a fact or the existence of a source, you will face referral to the Student Executive Committee.

Collaboration:

I will sometimes allow you to work together. But you must work on your own if I tell you to do so. That means I do not want you to consult the Writing Center, your parents, your friends or other professors. You will learn so much more if you complete the assignments on your own.

Special Needs:

If you are eligible for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, please see me with the appropriate documentation from the Dean of the College.

Class Schedule