Ch. 15: Journalism

· The notion that the press operates as an unofficial branch of government, monitoring the legislative, judicial, and executive branches for abuses of power.

· a model for journalism and speech that encourages vigorous government criticism and supports the highest degree of freedom for individual speech and news operations.

· - the legal definition of censorship in the United States, which prohibits courts and governments from blocking any publication or speech before it actually occurs.

· The legal right of authors and producers to own and control the use of their published or unpublished writing, music, and lyrics; TV programs and movies; or graphic art designs.

· the end of the copyright period for a work, at which point the public may begin to access it for free.

· in law, spoken language that defames a person’s character.

· in libel law, a reckless disregard for the truth, such as when a reporter or an editor knows that a statement is false and prints or airs it anyway.

· - a legal right allowing journalists to report judicial or legislative proceedings even though the public statements being reported may be libelous.

· - a defense against libel which states that libel applies only to intentional misstatements of factual information rather than opinion, and which therefore protects said opinion.

· expression that is not protected as speech if these three legal tests are all met: (1) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find the material as a whole appeals to prurient interest; (2) the material depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; (3) the material, as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

· - laws protecting the confidentiality of key interview subjects and reporters’ rights not to reveal the sources of controversial information used in news stories.

· an issue related to appropriate broadcast content; the government may punish broadcasters for indecency or profanity after the fact, and over the years a handful of radio stations have had their licenses suspended or denied over indecent programming.

· part of the 1934 Communications Act; it mandates that during elections, broadcast stations must qualified political candidates.

· repealed in 1987, this FCC rule required broadcast stations to both air and engage in controversial-issue programs that affected their communities and, when offering such programming, to provide competing points of view.