Cases in Communication Law

Paul Siegel

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2014
• Edition: 4
• eBook ISBN:
  9781442226258
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Law

Of the seventy-three cases in the fourth edition of Paul Siegel's Cases in Communication Law, twenty-eight are new to this edition. Among these are such Supreme Court decisions as Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation v. Hoeper, which gives those who follow the post-911 instruction, "if you see something, say something!" some special protection from libel suits; Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, which explicitly gives maximal First Amendment protection to violent video games, even when sold to minors; U.S. v. Alvarez, which prohibits prosecution for falsely claiming one has been awarded a Medal of Honor; and Snyder v. Phelps, which gave notorious minister Fred Phelps the right to mount demonstrations with rather nasty messages at funerals.
Siegel has used several criteria to select cases for inclusion in this and previous editions. He admits unabashedly that one of those criteria is the cultural significance, familiarity, and even celebrity of the controversies or the litigants. Just to cite a few examples, this edition includes cases involving such litigants as Michael Moore, Penn & Teller, Joan Rivers, and Madonna, as well as TV programs like Family Guy, CSI, Law and Order, and featured movies include Disturbia, American Gangster, American Beauty, and The Hangover, Part II.

Table of contents

• List of Cases
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 First Amendment Principles
• 3 Libel: Common Law Elements
• 4 Libel: Constitutional Considerations
• 5 Invasion of Privacy
• 6 Copyright and Trademark
• 7 Access to Government Information
• 8 Covering the Judiciary
• 9 Protecting News Sources
• 10 Regulation of Advertising
• 11 Sexually Oriented Speech
• 12 Electronic Media
• About the Editor