Week 1

Introduction

This week we outline and discuss the key topics and issues that constitute this unit and we also map the critical and cultural theories that will inform our analysis of media law. Assessment tasks will be explained and seminar presentation topics will also be selected.

Week 2

Law, Power, Knowledge: Foucauldian Critiques of Law

This week we examine the critical contribution of Michel Foucault, poststructuralist theorist, to the study of law and culture. Foucault raises important questions about law’s relation to power, knowledge, governance, control, punishment and subject constitution.

Readings:

Gerald Turkel, ‘Michel Foucault: Law, Power, and Knowledge,’ Journal of Law and Society, 17.3 (Summer 1990): 170-193.

Nikolas Rose and Mariana Valverde, ‘Governed By Law?’ Social and Legal Studies, 7.4 (1998): 541-551.

Recommended Readings:

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982.

Ben Golder and Peter Fitzpatrick, Foucault’s Law, Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2009.

Hubert L. Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow, Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1982.

Anthony Beck, ‘Foucault and Law: The Collapse of Law’s Empire,’ Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 16.3 (1996): 489-502.

1. Wickham and G Pavlich (eds.), Rethinking Law, Society and Governance: Foucault’s Bequest, Oxford: Hart, 2000.

Week 3

Deconstructing Law

This week we examine the contribution of the poststructuralist philosopher, Jacques Derrida, to the critical study of law. What does a deconstruction of law entail? How is law founded in violence and how does law simultaneously ‘mystically’ occlude its foundation in violence? What is the relation between law and justice?

Readings:

Jacques Derrida, ‘Force of Law: “The Mystical Foundation of Authority,”’ in D. Cornell, M. Rosenfeld and D.G. Carlson (eds.), Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice, New York: Routledge, 1992, pp. 3-67.

Recommended Readings:

Margaret Davies, ‘Derrida and Law: Legitimate Fictions,’ in T. Cohen (ed.), Jacques Derrida and the Humanities: A Critical Reader, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

John P. McCormick, ‘Derrida on Law; Or, Poststructuralism Gets Serious,’ Political Theory, 29.3 (2001): 395-423.

Roberto Buonamano, ‘The Economy of Violence: Derrida on Law and Justice,’ Ratio Juris, 11.2 (1998): 168-79.

Drucilla Cornell, Beyond Accommodation: Deconstruction and the Law, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1999.

Week 4

Law’s Violence

This week we examine the complex, diffuse and multiform violences of law. How is violence already encoded in the word of law? Why is ‘legal interpretation as a practice incomplete without violence’? What are the administrative, textual and institutional networks through which this violence of law is enacted, disseminated and reproduced?

Readings:

Robert Cover, ‘Violence and the Word,’ The Yale Law Journal, 95 (1986): 1601-1629.

Austin Sarat and Thomas R. Kearns, ‘Making Peace with Violence: Robert Cover on Law and Legal Theory,’ in Austin Sarat and Thomas R. Kearns (eds.), Law’s Violence, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992, pp. 211-50.

Recommended Readings:

Denise Ferreira da Silva, ‘No-Bodies: Law, Raciality and Violence,’ Griffith Law Review, 18.2 (2009): 212-36.

Austin Sarat and Jennifer L. Culbert (eds.), States of Violence: War, Capital Punishment and Letting Die, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Austin Sarat (ed.), Law, Violence, and the Possibility of Justice, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2001.

Austin Sarat (ed.), Sovereignty, Emergency, Legality, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, New York: Vintage Book, 1969.

Week 5

Narrative Constructions of Media and Law and the ‘Battle for Narrative’

This week we examine the foundational role that narrative plays in the construction of meaning and reality in the context of both law and media. How do legal and media narratives determine our understanding of the world, facts, and reality? How are questions of authority, legitimacy and normativity encoded and reproduced within legal and media narratives? What is at stake in the ‘battle for narrative’?

Readings:

Stuart Hall, ‘The Narrative Construction of Reality,’ 1983, Dalkey Archive.

Jerome Bruner, ‘The Narrative Construction of Reality,’ Critical Inquiry, 18.1 (1991): 1-21.

Jane B. Baron and Julia Epstein, ‘Is Law Narrative?’ Buffalo Law Review, 45 (1997): 141-187.

Pentagon, ‘Draft Pentagon Report Lays Out Key Lessons From Decade of War,’ 2012, http://insidedefense.com/201206072401055/Inside-Defense-General/report-lays-out-key-lessons-from-decade-of-war-/menu-id-926.html. 

Recommended Readings:

Mike Bal, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.

Peter Brooks and Paul Gewirtz, Law’s Stories: Narrative and Rhetoric in Law, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.

Helen Fulton with Rosemary Huisman, Julian Murphet and Anne Dunn, Narrative and Media, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Robert Cover, ‘The Supreme Court Term, Foreword: Nomos and Narrative,’ Harvard Law Review, 97 (1983): 4-68.

Hayden White, Tropics of Discourse, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986.

Week 6

Electronic Battlefields: Law, War, Media

This week we consolidate our understanding of the issues, topics and theories we have thus far discussed and examined through a grounded analysis of the documentary The War You Don’t See.

Readings:

Chris Hables Gray, ‘Computers At War: Kuwait 1991,’ in Postmodern War, New York and London: Routledge, 1997, pp. 36-69.

James Der Derian, ‘That Obscure Object of Desire: Logistics and Desire in the Gulf War,’ in D. Campbell and M. Dillon (eds.), The Political Subject of Violence, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993, pp. 114-36.

Screening:

The War You Don’t See, dir. John Pilger, Dartmouth Films, 2010.

Recommended Readings:

Chris Hables Gray, Postmodern War, New York and London, 1997.

Dahr Jamail, Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2007.

Jean Baudrillard, The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, Sydney: Power Publications, 2000.

Trevor Paglen, Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World, New York: Dutton, 2009.

Jane Mayer, The Dark Side, New York: Anchor, 2009.

Week 7

Media Leaks, Transparency, Ethics: WikiLeaks, Manning, Snowden

This week we examine the transformation of the global media landscape through the unauthorised leaking of classified government documents through such organisations such as WikiLeaks and through such individuals such as Bradley Manning, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. What are the key ethical, political, cultural and legal issues at stake in these practices of unauthorised disclosure?

Readings:

Alexa O’Brien, ‘Pfc. Bradley Manning’s Statement for the Providence Inquiry,’ 28 February 2013, http://www.alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/bradley_manning/pfc_bradley_manning_providence_hearing_statement.html.

Michael Ratner, ‘Bradley Manning: The Conscience of America,’ Common Dreams, 7 February 2013, http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/07.

Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras, ‘Edward Snowden: the Whistleblower behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations,’ The Guardian, 10 June 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance.

Kimberly Dozier, ‘US Government Can’t Stop the Truth: Ed Snowden,’ SMH, 18  June 2013, http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/us-government-cant-stop-the-truth-ed-snowden-20130618-2oexh.html?skin=text-only.

Yochai Benkler, ‘A Free Irresponsible Press: WikiLeaks and the Battle over the Soul of the Networked Fourth Estate,’ Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, vol. 46 (2011): 311-397.

Recommended Readings:

Barbara Thomas, ‘WikiLeaks and the Question of Responsibility Within a Global Democracy,’ European View, 10 (2011): 17-23.

Geert Lovink and Patrice Riemens, ‘Twelve Theses on WikiLeaks,’ Eurozine, December 2010.

James Risen and Nick Wingfield, ‘Web’s Reach Binds NSA and Silicon Valley Leaders,’ The New York Times, 19 June 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/technology/silicon-valley-strengthening-web.html.

RECESS: 22 September to 6 October 2014

Week 8

Reading Week 6 October to 10 October 2014     NO CLASSES

Week 9

Whiteness, Law and the Media

This week we examine the critical role of whiteness in the shaping of western law and media. What are the attributes of whiteness as a racial category? Why is whiteness largely ‘invisible’? How does whiteness shape and determine what actually counts as law as such in a nation such as Australia? How does whiteness construct dominant media representations of non-white subjects?

Readings:

Ian F. Haney López, ‘White Race Consciousness,’ in White By Law, New York: New York University Press, 1996, pp. 155-195.

Raka Shome, ‘Outing Whiteness,’ Critical Studies in Media and Communication, 17.3 (2000): 366-71.

Michael Meadows, ‘A 10-Point Plan and a Treaty: Images of Indigenous Peoples in the Press in Australia and Canada,’ in Belinda McKay (ed.), Unmasking Whiteness, Nathan: Queensland Studies Centre and Griffith University, 1999, pp. 91-119.

Recommended Readings:

Richard Dyer, White, New York and London: Routledge, 1997.

Mike Hill (ed.), Whiteness: A Critical Reader, New York: New York University Press, 1997.

Ruth Frankenberg, The Social Construction of Whiteness, Minneapolis: Routledge, 1993.

Cheryl Harris, ‘Whiteness as Property,’ Harvard Law Review, 106.8 (1993): 1709-91.

Thomas K. Nakayama and Judith N. Martin (eds.), Whiteness: The Communication of Social Identity, Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1999.

Aileen Moreton-Robinson (ed.), Whitening Race: Essays in Social and Cultural Criticism, Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2004.

George M. Fredrickson, White Supremacy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.

Week 10

Moral Panics and Media Law

This week we examine the phenomenon of ‘moral panics.’ What is a moral panic? How do moral panics influence and shape law and media? What are the cultural, ideological and political effects of moral panics on the communities who are its targets? We then discuss how Australian counter-terrorism laws have impacted, in the context of post-9/11 moral panics, on the media.

Readings:

Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda, ‘Moral Panics: An Introduction,’ in Chas Critcher (ed.), Critical Readings: Moral Panics and the Media, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2011, pp. 50-59.

Joanna Zylinska, ‘Ethics and Moral Panics,’ in The Ethics of Cultural Studies, London: Continuum, 2005, pp. 41-62.

Lawrence McNamara, ‘Closure, Caution and the Question of Chilling: How Have Australian Counter-Terrorism Laws Affected the Media?’ Media and Arts Law, 14.1 (2009): 1-21

Recommended Readings

S. Joseph, ‘Australian Counter-Terrorism Legislation and the International Human Rights Framework,’ University of New South Wales Law Journal, 27 (2004).

Chas Critcher (ed.), Critical Readings: Moral Panics and the Media, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2011.

J. Tham, ‘Casualties of the Domestic “War on Terror”: A Review of Recent Counter-Terrorism Laws,’ Melbourne University Law Journal, 28 (2004).

C. Nash, ‘Freedom of the Press in the New Australian Security State,’ University of New South Wales Law Journal, 28 (2005).

C. Hamilton and S. Maddison (eds.), Silencing Dissent, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2007.

Week 11

Media, Law and the Framing of Terror Suspects

This week we examine the relation of law and media to the post-9/11 phenomenon of ‘terrorism.’ Building on our discussion of moral panics, we specifically examine the interplay of media and law in the travesty of justice perpetrated against Mohamed Haneef, an Indian doctor who worked as a registrar at a Gold Coast hospital.

Readings:

Daya Kishan Thussu, ‘Televising the “War on Terrorism”: The Myths of Morality,’ in Ananda P. Kavoori and Todd Fraley (eds.), Media, Terrorism, and Theory, Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006, pp. 3-17.

Jacqui Ewart, ‘Framing an Alleged Terrorist: How Four Australian News Media Organizations Framed the Dr. Mohamed Haneef Case,’ Journal of Media and Religion, 11.2 (2012): 91-106.

Joseph Pugliese, ‘Preincident Indices of Criminality: Facecrime and Project Hostile Intent,’ Griffith Law Review, 18.2 (2009): 314-30.

Recommended Readings:

A.O. Alali and K.K. Eke, Media Coverage of Terrorism, Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1991.

R. Cohen-Almagor, ‘Media Coverage of Acts of Terrorism: Troubling Episodes and Suggested Guidelines,’ Canadian Journal of Communication, 30 (2006): 383-409.

J. Ewart, Haneef: A Question of Character, Sydney: Halstead Press, 2009.

P. Norris, M. Kern, and M. Just (eds.), Framing Terrorism: The News Media, The Government and the Public, New York: Routledge, 2003.

Joseph Pugliese, “Asymmetries of Terror,” Borderlands, 5.1 (2006): http://www.borderlandsejournal.adelaide.edu.au/vol5no1_2006/pugliese.htm.  ISSN1447-0810.

Joseph Pugliese, “The Locus of the Non: The Racial Fault Line ‘of Middle Eastern Appearance,” Borderlands, 2.3 (2003): http://www.borderlandsejournal.adelaide.edu.au/vol2no3_2003/pugliese.htm.

Week 12

Racial Vilification: White Media Constructions of Aboriginality

This week we examine the legal concepts of racial vilification and hate crimes. We begin with an analysis of racial stereotyping of Aboriginals by public institutions, such as the police, and private individuals, and resulting practices of racist violence. We then focus on the Andrew Bolt media case on ‘authentic’ Aboriginals and conclude with a discussion on freedom of speech and its ethical imperatives.

Readings:

Chris Cunneen, ‘Hysteria and Hate: The Vilification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People,’ in Chris Cunneen, David Fraser and Stephen Tomsen (eds.), Faces of Hate: Hate Crime in Australia, Annandale: Hawkins Press, 1997, pp. 137-161.

Ray Jackson, ‘Our NSW Police Are Just Way Too Deadly!,’ Media Statement, 23 April 2012.

Andrew Bolt, ‘It’s So Hip To Be Black,’ Herald Sun, 15 April 2009.

David Marr, ‘In Black and White, Andrew Bolt Trifled with the Facts,’ Sydney Morning Herald, 29 September 2011.

Karl Quinn, ‘No Thunder from Bolt as Court Finds Breach,’ The Age, 29 September 2011.

Jessica Wright, ‘George Brandis to repeal “Bolt laws” on racial discrimination,’ Sydney Morning Herald, 8 November, 2013: http://www.smh.com.au/action/printArticle?id=4905385.

Jon Pierik, ‘Goodes accepts apology for teen’s slur,’ Sydney Morning Herald, 26 May 2013: http://www.smh.com.au/action/printArticle?id=437209.

David Sygall, ‘Recognise the offence: Mundine,’ Sydney Morning Herald, 2 June 2013: http://www.smh.com.au/action/printArticle?id=4456302.

Screenings:

Copping It at the Cross, footage by The Sunday Telegraph shows the dramatic arrest and assault of Troy Taylor, a young Aboriginal man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUoy4LT0U0M.

Media Watch, ‘Andrew Bolt and The Herald Sun on Trial,’ Episode 09, 4 April 2011.

Recommended Readings:

Aileen Moreton-Robinson (ed.), Whitening Race: Essays in Social and Cultural Criticism, Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2004.

Marcia Langton, ‘Well, I heard it on the radio and I saw it on the television…,’ North Sydney: Australian Film Commission, 1993.

Aileen Moreton-Robinson, ‘The Possessive Logic of Patriarchal White Sovereignty: The High Court and the Yorta Yorta Decision,’ Borderlands, 3.2 (2004): www.borderlandsejournal.adelaide.edu.au/issues/vol3no2.html.

Ray Jackson, ‘From the Frontline 2: It’s a White Man’s Country Yet: Three Deaths in Custody,’ Somatechnics, 1.1. (2001): 59-64.

Aileen Moreton-Robinson (ed.), Sovereign Subjects, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, 2007.

Julie Marcus, Picturing the ‘Primitif’: Images of Race in Daily Life, Canada Bay: LhR Press, 2000.

Week 13

Religious Vilification: Media, Law and Post-9/11 Islamophobia

This week we examine the legal concept of religious vilification in the context of post-9/11 Islamophobia. How has the west constructed Muslims in terms of an ethno-religious category? What has been the impact of Islamophobia both on anti-discrimination legislation and Muslim communities living in the west? How has Islamophobia influenced media representations of Muslims within the Australian context? What are the problematics that inscribe anti-discrimination law in relation to religious vilification?

Readings:

Rachel A. D. Bloul, ‘Anti-Discrimination Laws, Islamphobia, and the Ethnicization of Muslim Identities in Europe and Australia,’ Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 28.1 (2008): 7-25.

Nahid Kabir, ‘Representation of Islam and Muslims in the Australian Media, 2001-2005,’ Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 26.3 (2007): 313-28.

Scott Poynting and Victoria Mason, “Tolerance, Freedom, Justice and Peace”?: Britain, Australia and Anti-Muslim Racism Since 11 September 2001,’ Journal of Intercultural Studies, 27.4 (2006): 365-91.

Margaret Thornton and Trish Luker, ‘The Spectral Ground: Religious Belief Discrimination,’ Macquarie Law Journal, 9 (2009): 71-91.

Recommended Readings:

Alice Aslan, Islamophobia in Australia, Glebe: Agora Press, 2009.

K.H. Karim, ‘Making Sense of the “Islamic Peril”: Journalism as Cultural Practice,’ in B. Zelizer and S. Allen Poole (eds.), Journalism After September 11, London: Routledge, pp. 101-116.

S. Poynting, G. Noble, P. Tabar and J. Collins, Bin Laden in the Suburbs: Criminalising the Arab Other, Sydney: Sydney Institute of Criminology Series, 2004.

P. Manning, ‘Arabic and Muslim People in Sydney’s Daily Newspapers, Before and After September 11,’ Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy, 109 (2002): 50-70.