TVR 31200-03 Government and Media Syllabus Fall 2009

Course description:
This course provides an in depth look at key constitutional, legal and policy influences on the current regulatory environment for the mass media. Specifically, this course examines the legal, regulatory, and ethical issues involving print and broadcast media, and the internet, including libel, obscenity, invasion of privacy, freedom of the press, and copyright. Government and Media provides an example of how the study of journalism and the mass communication intersect with other academic disciplines, such as political science and the study of law.

Learning Objectives:

Throughout the semester study of media law, students will blend historical rationales for regulation with legal case precedent and social/political/economic influences on media regulation. Students will

• understand, historical political, legal and cultural frameworks that set the stage for contemporary media law;
• analyze the specific limits placed on the mass media as well as the freedom the industry enjoys as a result of its special relationship to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution;
• analyze shifting political influences on policy decisions and accelerating technological innovation/convergence in the media.;
• synthesize material from readings, lectures and outside research into coherent persuasive legal briefs and mock oral arguments before the SCOTUS;
• develop and/or further enhance, formal research, writing and oral presentation skills;
• enhance skills associated with challenging group- driven work;
• build skills in legal research and writing:
• develop an intellectual appreciation for the importance of understanding media law as future media practitioners and/or consumers.

In navigating the complexities, nuances and conflicting interests in the practice of mass media law, students will

• critically evaluate the rationales, assumptions, dynamics and future implications of contemporary media regulation in the digital and online environments.

Course objectives will be assessed through a series of examinations and writtens assignments and oral presentations.

Text: 

• Pember & Calvert, Mass Media Law 2009-10 ed. NY:McGraw Hill (There also is a companion website and CD-ROM for the textbook).
• Additional readings/court opinions may be assigned during the semester and will be found on reserve (at the library), via the Internet, or distributed in class.

• Read the assigned material before attending class - the evidence of which becomes part of your "added value" grade.
• Come to class and be engaged - it is part of your "added value" grade.
• Bring your text or your notes from the reading so you can refer to or discuss specifics from the material assigned.
• Be prepared to answer questions about the material - it is part of your "added value" grade.
• Ask questions. Challenge assumptions.Think outside the box, but always with rigor and evidence - it is part of your "added value" grade.
• Be a responsible and actively involved team member or the oral arguments (key part of your assignment grade).
• Finish assignments in a timely and thorough manner - see course deadline policy.
• Check your Ithaca email address regularly for announcements regarding changes to the course, assignments, or due dates.
• Check the course schedule webpage regularly for changes in the schedule.
• Learn to use Lexis/Nexis.
• Use your laptop responsibly and maturely: Laptops are welcome in the classroom for notetaking or for in class online research.  However, if I notice that you have an email browser open, and instant messaging program running, or a web browser open when it is not specifically part of a class activity, you will lose the privilege of using your laptop in the classroom. 
• Be respectful re cell phones:  Cell phones must be turned off and put away during class. Make sure if you leave it on vibrate, the vibrate mode cannot be heard.

Assignments:

• You will complete numerous assignments both in and outside of class. I will be posting the assignments on the course schedule web page (Link is at the bottom of this page) over the course of the semester. One of your first assignments is to regularly visit the web site as you are responsible for all updated information that appears on the site.
• Assignments will vary in points and be worth 45% of your grade.
• If you are absent for an in-class assignment (and these may occur spontaneously), you may not make them up. More details on assignments will follow.
• Assignments and class lecture/discussion outlines will be available on the web. You may locate them by identifying the appropriate link from the on-line version of the course schedule. These documents will be available either as a web page or in .pdf format. In order to download the .pdfs, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you don't have it already, it is available free of charge; simply click on the icon below and follow the appropriate instructions.

• Learning to meet deadlines also is an important part of the college experience. A commitment to meeting deadlines will serve you well throughout college and in your chosen profession. One of the expectations of this class is that you meet your deadlines.  Here is the specific policy for this class:
  • All assignments are due on their due date at the beginning of class.  Due dates are not good days to be late for class if you want full credit for an assignment. 
  • Penalties for late assignments begin once the assignments have been collected.  The grade is then reduced by 10% for assignments turned in within the next 24 hours (beginning of class on Tuesday until the same time on Wednesday, for example).  The second 24 hours will result in a deduction of 20% off the assigned grade.  After that (a total of 48 hours) the grade is a 0% (much worse than an "F"). 
  • In-class writing asssignments may not be turned in late for credit.
  • Assignments must be turned into me personally, by you, in class, if you wish to receive full credit (emailed assignments or assignments turned in by someone else are penalized 10% even if recieved before class, unless cleared with me ahead of time). 
  • Late assignments must be turned into me personally,   Papers found under my door or in my mailbox are considered received at the time I happen to find them.
  • All students will sign a document stating they understand the deadline policy for this course.

Exams:

• There are four in-class exams, including the final. Except as require by NY State Law and Ithaca College policy, there are no make-up exams given in this class after the exam has been administered to the class without prior approval by me.
• You must notify me within the first two weeks of classes if you wish to reschedule your final exam because you have three exams scheduled and this final is the middle final exam for that day.

Attendance Policy:

• Attendance is required in this class. The attendance grade allows for a 4 class buffer.  This is intended to address any illnesses, family obligations, required sports participation, religious observances, etc.  It saves you the problem of documenting absences.  Thus, feel free to let me know if you won't be in class, as a courtesy, but you take this class understanding that after 4 misses classes, the loss of attendance points starts to eat into your grade. This system also allows for 16 extra credit points towards the final grade if you attend every class.
• There is no ability to make up the oral arguments, so if the dates in the syllabus for which the oral arguments are scheduled are a conflict with class attendance, please see me on the first day of class.  If you miss an oral argument, you lose credit for that portion of the assignment - no exceptions, because it simply cannot be made up.

• Academic or scholastic dishonesty will not be tolerated. This includes:
  • Cheating – Using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic work submitted for credit. Examples:
    • (1) receiving answers or information from another student during an exam,
    • (2) tampering with an exam after it has been corrected, or
    • (3) collaborating with other students on assignments, except in cases where this is encouraged.
  • Plagiarism – Submission of academic work for credit that includes material copied or paraphrased from published or unpublished works without documentation. Examples:
    • (1) submitting a paper or assignment that you did not write,
    • (2) submitting a paper that you wrote for another class, or
    • (3) copying or paraphrasing material from a book or other source without acknowledging the source. If you copy the author’s words exactly, the text should be treated as a direct quotation and cited with the page number. If you paraphrase the author’s words, a citation should be given using footnotes.
  • Fabrication – Deliberate falsification or invention of any information or citation in academic work. Examples:
    • (1) making up facts for an assignment, or
    • (2) making up a citation for a fact.
  • Facilitating academic dishonesty – Knowingly helping or attempting to help another to violate the college’s policy on academic dishonesty. This includes assisting someone in any of the above activities.
• I take violations of academic honesty policies very seriously. Therefore, if a case of academic dishonesty arises, I will appropriate steps as outlined in the student code of conduct.
• I encourage all students to carefully review the College's published policies on academic dishonesty, but below is a quote from college policy:
  • "Academic honesty is a cornerstone of the mission of the College. Unless it is otherwise stipulated, students may submit for evaluation only that work that is their own and that is submitted originally for a specific course. According to traditions of higher education, forms of conduct that will be considered evidence of academic misconduct include but are not limited to the following: conversations between students during an examination; reviewing, without authorization, material during an examination (e.g., personal notes, another student's exam); unauthorized collaboration; submission of a paper also submitted for credit in another course; reference to written material related to the course brought into an examination room during a closed-book, written examination; and submission without proper acknowledgment of work that is based partially or entirely on the ideas or writings of others. Only when a faculty member gives prior approval for such actions can they be acceptable. "
• And here is quoted the college policy on Plagiarism (As amended by the Ithaca College Board of Trustees May 18, 2001).
• Whether intended or not, plagiarism is a serious offense against academic honesty. Under any circumstances, it is deceitful to represent as one's own work, writing or ideas that belong to another person. Students should be aware of how this offense is defined. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of someone else's published or unpublished ideas, whether this use consists of directly quoted material or paraphrased ideas.
• Although various disciplines follow styles of documentation that differ in some details, all forms of documentation make the following demands:
• * That each quotation or paraphrase be acknowledged with a footnote or in-text citation;
  * That direct quotations be enclosed in quotation marks and be absolutely faithful to the wording of the source;
  * That paraphrased ideas be stated in language entirely different from the language of the source;
  * That a sequence of ideas identical to that of a source be attributed to that source;
  * That sources of reprinted charts or graphs be cited in the text;
  * That all the sources the writer has drawn from in paraphrase or direct quotation or a combination of paraphrase and quotation be listed at the end of the paper under "Bibliography," "References," or "Works Cited," whichever heading the particular style of documentation requires. (IN THIS CLASS WE WILL USE FOOTNOTES).
• A student is guilty of plagiarism if the student fails, intentionally or not, to follow any of these standard requirements of documentation.
• In a collaborative project, all students in a group may be held responsible for academic misconduct if they engage in plagiarism or are aware of plagiarism by others in their group and fail to report it. Students who participate in a collaborative project in which plagiarism has occurred will not be held accountable if they were not knowledgeable of the plagiarism.
• What, then, do students not have to document? They need not cite their own ideas, or references to their own experiences, or information that falls in the category of uncontroversial common knowledge (what a person reasonably well-informed about a subject might be expected to know - e.g. the First Amendment was ratified in 1791). They should acknowledge anything else.
• Here are examples of Other Forms of Academic Dishonesty as quoted from Ithaca College Policy:
• Other violations of academic honesty include, but are not limited to, the following behaviors:
• * Handing in to a class a paper written by someone else;
  * Handing in as an original work for a class a paper one has already submitted to another course;
  * Handing in the same paper simultaneously to two courses without the full knowledge and explicit consent of all the faculty members involved;
  * Having someone else rewrite or clean up a rough draft and submitting those revisions as one's own work.
• These offenses violate the atmosphere of trust and mutual respect necessary the process of learning.
• Note: Students who would like help in learning how to paraphrase or document sources properly should feel free to seek assistance at the Writing Center.
• If after reviewing the above, you remain in doubt as to what constitutes a violation of academic honesty, please see me in person.
• Be careful and realize that ignorance of what constitutes a violation of academic honesty or of the repercussions of violating the policy is not an excuse.
• All students will sign an academic honesty document that states
  • 1) they understand the policies outlined above,
  • 2) they have completed the short on-line quiz "What is Plagiarism..." available through Indiana University and,
  • 3) also have read through the material on how to avoid plagiarism from the University of Toronto.
    

Mental Health Statement:

• Diminished mental health, including significant stress, mood changes, excessive worry, or problems with eating and/or sleeping can interfere with optimal academic performance. The source of symptoms might be strictly related to your course work; if so, please speak with me. However, problems with relationships, family worries, loss, or a personal struggle or crisis can also contribute to decreased academic performance. Ithaca College provides a Counseling Center to support the academic success of students. The Counseling Center provides cost-free services to help you manage personal challenges that threaten your well-being. In the event I suspect you need additional support, I will express my concerns and the reasons for them, and remind you of resources (e.g., Counseling Center, Health Center, chaplains, etc.) that might be helpful to you. It is not my intention to know the details of what might be bothering you, but simply to let you know I am concerned and that help, if needed, is available. Getting help is a smart and courageous thing to do -- for yourself and for your loved ones.

Disability Statement:

• In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodation will be provided to students with documented disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Students must register with the Office of Academic Support Services and provide appropriate documentation to the College before any academic adjustment will be provided

• You must respond to and report conditions and actions that may jeopardize your safety, or that of other people and/or equipment. Report to the responsible College employee. During class sessions that person would be your instructor or lab assistant. Outside of class the person might be your instructor, lab supervisor, co-curricular manager, equipment and facilities manager, or one of the engineering support staff. You must be aware that misuse of equipment or use of damaged equipment can create the risk of serious injury, infectious contamination, and expensive damage. You may be liable for damage or injury resulting from such use. Unsupervised use of facilities puts you at risk. Failure to be alert to safety problems, or to report them, may have serious consequences for you or others.

• I want to be clear about what a particular grade means. In an era of rampant grade inflation, I will adhere strictly to the description of grades as described in your course bulletin. Here is what it states:

• Please keep these descriptions in mind. I might add that in the end, I don't give you a grade, I simply record the grade you earned.

• There is no extra credit available in this class.  Plan accordingly.

Semester Schedule (click here)]
Contact:Dr. C
URL- http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/ncornwell/312/312syllabus.html
Revised-Aug. 18, 2009