Some Explanation on the Assessments:

1. Professional Advice (50% of final grade) will be on a topic to be assigned on iLearn and due on 24 March 2024 at 11.55pm.

2. Research Essay (50% of final grade) will be on a topic to be assigned on iLearn and due on 26 May 2024 at 11.55pm.

All assessments are submitted electronically. Turnitin plagiarism detection software is used to check all written assessments.

Students should carefully check that they submit the correct file for an assessment as no re-submissions will be accepted after the due date and time, including instances where students upload an incorrect file in error.

Word limits are strictly applied. Work above the word limit will not be marked.  Footnotes are to be used only for referencing. Referencing must conform to the requirements set out in the current version of Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

With respect to moderation, detailed rubrics will be made available on iLearn.  All fail papers are double-marked.

Late Assessment Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of‚ 0 (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue.

This late penalty will apply to non-timed sensitive assessment (incl essays, reports, posters, portfolios, journals, recordings etc). Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs etc) will only be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special consideration application. Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic.  

Media law - is this something different from entertainment law? Yes and no. In this course, our emphasis will be on streaming, social media and internet communication.  Although increasingly less relevant, law of  'traditional media' (newspapers, radio, and television) continues to apply to the internet. Consequently, we learn much of the law through more traditional media. As these laws have been imposed on the internet, the traditional laws continue to be relevant.  However, the focus of this course will be on more contemporray applications such as social media and whatever is going to be new media over the next 5 years. Just consider, as newspapers fail around the world, computer gaming has grown to the point where gaming now generates more annual revenue than free to air television.  We would be remiss and very out of date if we did not take up social media and all of its worldwide ramifications. To borrow a phrase from Charles Dickens, from the viewpoint of media law, this is the best of times, this is the worst of times.  The best of times because so much is happening, the worst of times because the law is incredibly out of date. It is naive to think that we can predict the world of media five years from now. To avoid being legal dinosaurs, there is a component of media theory in this course so that as lawyers, you will be better equipped to deal with whatever the future will bring. We make good use of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan who relished controversy, taunted academics (though he was one) and was a popular television personality in his own right.

This course contains 12 weekly topics that are described on iLearn page. Power Point slides accompany each lecture. The lectures are only available on ECHO recordings. 

Attendance and participation in the tutorials is essential to successful completion of this course. It is expected that cameras will be turned on during all of the Zoom tutorials.

Readings for this course involve a combination of: (1) The prescribed casebook; (2) Readings on Leganto, and (3) Current materials distributed in class or made available on iLearn. The prescribed casebook is Media Law (3d edition) by David Rolph et al (Oxford 2022).  Hooray - a reasonably up to date text!

Our goal is to learn law in a very contemporary context. Topics of focus are subject to change depending on current events and vary from year to year. Details for 2024 will be provided on the iLearn page. Topics covered might include: 

• The Nature of Media 
• Freedom of Expression
• Defamation Law
• Intellectual Property Issues related to ownership and use of media content
• Law of Confidential Information, Privacy, Data Protection
• Open justice, contempt of court and suppression orders
• Offensive publications
• Censorship
• Whistleblower protections
• Liability for online content
• Issues raise by artificial intelligence
• Issues raised by social media

As per University and departmental policy, students should not send emails to faculty members but should exclusively communicate through the iLearn communication facilities:

• Any questions about the unit content, classes or assessments should be posted in the discussion forum - not in private messaging. Please ensure you have read the Unit Guide and instructions on iLearn carefully before posting questions about textbooks or assessments. The unit convenor will check the forum regularly and will endeavour to respond to questions within 2 working days. 

Tutorials will take place in weeks 1 -12 following the topic of lectures.