We now have an updated syllabus for COMM 317 (media law and ethics) on my faculty Web page at http://www.sci.edu/faculty/ellertsen/facultypage.html. But I've been having issues with Benedictine's FTP server, and I can't get on the school Web site in order to make corrections. So for the time being we're going to use the copy of our syllabus that I posted to The Mackerel Wrapper when I updated it a couple of weeks ago. The Wrapper is our class blog, among other things, and we'll be using it a lot this semester.
So let's get started. Scroll down past the post headed "COMM 317 -- first day, skanks, etc. -- add 1 and my cat's fake Kenyan birth certificate to Aug. 7. The post we want now is slugged "comm 317 syllabus." Catchy, huh?
We'll go over it in class. Syllabuses (please note the correct plural in Associated Press style) are kind of like the safety instructions you get from a flight attendant, "In the unlikely event of an emergency landing ..." and so on as they show you how to inflate your life jacket and where the little lights on the floor are. Boring, but good to know if unlikely events arise.
And unlikely events do arise. Many of you are grizzled J-school veterans by now, so you've already learned that.
COMM 317 is a media law and ethics course. So we'll start with the law piece and move on to ethics. We'll review some of the fundamentals of libel, fair use and intellectual property law. You already know them, so the review won't take long. While we're at it, I will assign some readings on the World Wide Web concerning how legal cases are decided. Lawyers don't think like the rest of us, and I think it's important for the rest of us to be able to think like a lawyer. There are some fundamental differences between law and personal ethics, too, and they're not exactly what you'd think they are. Some of them are subtle, and they tend to get into conflict with each other at inopportune moments.
We'll go over it in class. Syllabuses (please note the correct plural in Associated Press style) are kind of like the safety instructions you get from a flight attendant, "In the unlikely event of an emergency landing ..." and so on as they show you how to inflate your life jacket and where the little lights on the floor are. Boring, but good to know if unlikely events arise.
And unlikely events do arise. Many of you are grizzled J-school veterans by now, so you've already learned that.
COMM 317 is a media law and ethics course. So we'll start with the law piece and move on to ethics. We'll review some of the fundamentals of libel, fair use and intellectual property law. You already know them, so the review won't take long. While we're at it, I will assign some readings on the World Wide Web concerning how legal cases are decided. Lawyers don't think like the rest of us, and I think it's important for the rest of us to be able to think like a lawyer. There are some fundamental differences between law and personal ethics, too, and they're not exactly what you'd think they are. Some of them are subtle, and they tend to get into conflict with each other at inopportune moments.
More to come.
Aren't we lucky? We have a legal spat in the news to help us get thinking like lawyers. So scroll back up to "COMM 317 -- first day, skanks, etc. -- add 1" or link here. Before you do, though, note the assignment below.
For Wednesday go back over the section on media law in the AP Stylebook. And I'll see if I can bring in an appellate court case so we can look at it.
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