LLAW3262 Selected Issues in Media Law

After an introductory section, which will provide a grounding in theory and policy issues to do with freedom and power of the press, the topic will cover a range of selected issues where the law is of particular concern to the media. Examples of issues likely to be covered are: contempt sub judice; broadcasting regulation, including Australian and children's content standards; classification of films, publications and computer games; internet regulation; journalist's ethics; advertising standards. The topic does not cover defamation or intellectual property. There will be an emphasis on active learning and class contribution, in the form of student-led seminars. Students will also complete a group project on an aspect of media law in an overseas jurisdiction.

This topic aims to assist students to:

• Apply certain aspects of Australian law that are of special interest to the media
• Analyse the interplay between legal and media power in the shaping of those aspects of law
• Think critically about levels of media regulation in light of freedom of speech discourses

1. Describe certain aspects of the legal regime governing media activities
2. Use different conceptions of rights and interests that are or could be protected by that legal regime
3. Test claims that freedom of speech or of the press should be a priority of the legal system
4. Hypothesise the combination of factors that have led laws to be the way they are
5. Find and use sources of information about the legal regime governing media activities
6. Distil concepts and principles from primary and secondary legal texts
7. Make an original contribution to scholarship in the field of media law
8. Make an oral presentation