This new edition of the casebook includes extensive excerpts from 25 major decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States in media law or related to media law. The cases are presented in the order in which they are discussed in the third edition of Media Law and Ethics by Roy L. Moore and Michael D. Murray, but the casebook is designed to be used as a supplemental text in any media law course. Each case includes a brief overview and has been edited to delete detailed citations and highly technical material. However, every effort has been made to preserve the Court's original language, including its recitation of the facts, its reasoning and the holding in the case. Most of the cases also include excerpts from the Court's syllabus, a summary prepared by the Court's Reporter of Decisions. A few of the cases include excerpts from concurring and/or dissenting opinions, where those opinions illustrate the complexity of the case or were influential in later decisions.

The third edition of Media Law and Ethics features a complete updating of all major U.S. Supreme Court cases and lower court decisions through 1998; more discussion throughout the book on media ethics and the role of ethics in media law; and an updated appendix that now features a copy of the U.S. Constitution, new sample copyright and trademark registration forms, and the current versions of major media codes of ethics, including the new code of the Society of Professional Journalists. Extensively updated and expanded chapters provide: *more detailed explanations of the legal system, the judicial process, and the relationship between media ethics and media law; *new cases in this developing area of the law that has attracted renewed attention from the U.S. Supreme Court; *the new Telecommunications Act and the Communications Decency Act; *a discussion of telecommunications and the Internet; *new developments in access to courts, records, and meetings such as recent court decisions and statutory changes; and *more information about trademark and trade secret laws and recent changes in copyright laws, as well as major court decisions on intellectual property. The book has also been updated to include new developments in obscenity and indecency laws, such as the Communications Decency Act, and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reno vs. ACLU. In addition, the instructor's manual includes a listing of electronic sources of information about media law, sample exams, and a sample syllabus.

This comprehensive textbook provides a thoughtful introduction to both the legal and ethical considerations relevant to students pursuing careers in communication and media. The fully revised, sixth edition continues to integrate fundamental legal and ethical principles with cases and examples from both landmark moments and recent history. It expands upon the previous edition's exploration of international and non-U.S. law, introduces a new chapter on digital and social media, and incorporates discussion of new technologies and media throughout its coverage of core topics such as privacy, intellectual property, defamation and commercial speech. Coverage of recent court cases and congressional hearings brings readers up to date on the evolving discussion surrounding Facebook, Twitter and today’s other major online players. This hybrid textbook is ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in media and communication that combine law and ethics. Online resources including chapter PowerPoint slides, study guides and sample teaching materials are available at www.routledge.com/9780367748562

The primary objectives of this casebook are: (1) to outline the fundamental legal decisions that constitute the framework of media law, (2) to develop the skills to apply this framework to contemporary controversies in media law and ethics (3) to give you practical guidance how to stay out of legal trouble in your career in the media The casebook requires the close reading of original legal texts and decisions concerning defamation, privacy, intellectual property and other selected topics.