In order to pass this unit students must attain at least 50 marks garnered from the following:

1. mid-term online exam (worth 30 marks);
2. research assignment (worth 30 marks);
3. final online exam (worth 40 marks).

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for the online mid-term exam and the online final exam.

Lectures

This unit consists of 13 weekly topics, as set out on the iLearn website. Rather than lectures being delivered ‘live’ in a theatre, recordings are available for download from iLearn (click under the ‘Echo 360’ logo). PowerPoint slides should accompany each lecture and are also available from iLearn 

Lectures are intended to give you an overview of the topic, indicate its most important aspects, make the related readings more interesting and accessible and, if necessary, update those readings.

Readings

The lectures should give you a broad overview of the subject, but it is essential to then develop your understanding by completing the related readings. Each week's readings are listed in the Unit Schedule below and in iLearn. Readings are drawn from the prescribed casebook Media Law: cases, materials and commentary (2d ed 2015, Oxford University Press) by David Rolph as well as book chapters and journal articles that are available on iLearn through the library Leganto system.

If you feel that you would like to buy a casebook in addition to the prescribed textbook then you are recommended the following:

• Patrick George et al,  Social Media and the Law ( 2d ed 2017, LexisNexis)

Tutorials

External Students will attend all day sessions on 15 and 16 April.  Attendance and Participation is Mandatory

In tutorials, you will be asked to prepare case discussions in advance and we will often work in groups with group presentations on the whiteboard. You should also  contribute appropriately to discussions. This involves listening respectfully to what others say and responding courteously.

General discussion forum

Students are encouraged to contribute to these discussions, provided the general rules of etiquette are observed. The forums are intended for discussion relating to the issues we are studying.

The On Campus Session - For External Students Only

The on-campus session (OCS) will be held on Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 April 2019.  The OCS is your opportunity to discuss the issues raised in the lectures and readings as well as participate in problem solving sessions.  It is important that you have completed the assigned reading to get full benefit from this program.  Although the OCS is midpoint in the course, we will jump ahead and examine online and social media issues that are scheduled for the final weeks.

All external students are expected to attend both days of the OCS in full.  If you do not attend, you will not face a formal penalty.  But, the unit is taught with the understanding that all external students will attend in full.  If you do not attend, the course will be much more difficult.  This is especially the case because the types of issues we address in the OCS frequently appear in graded assessments.

The OCS only works if you are prepared and participate - these are not rehashes of lectures.  The OCS is where we put theory to work looking at practical situations thta may be either recent cases or hypothetical situations.  The OCS plays a key role in this course.  While the OCS effectively covers the entire course, it is recognised that you cannot complete all of the readings by mid-course.  The OCS schedule and reading list is posted on iLearn.

Bring your most comfortable shoes and a thermos full of coffee - we will be on a wild ride for sure.

General notes:

• Lectures are delivered only via iLearn. There are no ‘live’ lectures in this unit.
• ‘Media Law refers to the prescribed textbook for the unit:
  • David Rolph et al,  Media Law (2d ed, 2015, Oxford University Press), ISBN: 97801195598483
• Unless indicated otherwise, other readings are available from Macquarie University library as a unit reading through Leganto

Introduction

In this course, we will be toggling between media theory and traditional print and broadcast law with the goal of developing an understanding of how the law needs to deal with the new media..  Initially, we focus on the underlying theories of freedom of expression.  This is essential because it tells us why speech should be free and why it may need to have some controls.  All governments provide regulatory frameworks concerning speech.  After acquiring some understanding about freedom of speech, we then delve into the nature of media - what is media?  In 2019, it is essential that we not confine ourselves to traditional print and radio/television.  The new online media, especially social media is becoming increasingly important and the law is not particularly adept at dealing with these new developments.

In the second major topic, we will take up the nature of media.  This should not only help us to understand social media but hopefully will give some insights in the media that will invariably follow.  Our intellectual guide will be Professor Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian professor who transformed our understanding of media itself in the 1960s and 1970s.  While McLuhan is challenging to read (and that is being polite), he is also fun because he acknowledges that he is frequently contradictory and obscure.  We will be updating McLuhan's original work with some more recent materials that show how his insights are more relevant today in the age of social media than they were in the 1960s when he was limited to radio and television.

Following our theoretical excursions into freedom of expression and the nature of media, we move back into traditional law and spend a number of weeks studying defamation law, privacy, and censorship.  Then, with this background, we conclude the course with several weeks devoted to law of the internet and social media.

In this course, we will be using our theoretical framework developed in the first four weeks as an essential tool in analysing current laws and in understanding where the law should be going with respect to the new media.  This course will be based on a problem solving approach.

Weekly Schedule

Week 1

Introduction to the Unit and Freedom of Expression - Why media law is important in a democracy and how online media is changing the face of media.  We begin with our discussion of freedom of expression.

Media Law, Chapters. 1 - 2

Week 2

Freedom of Expression

Harry Melkonian, Freedom of Speech and Society (New York  2012, Cambria Press) Chapter 5

Eric Barendt, Freedom of Speech (2d ed 2005, Oxford University Press) Chapter 3

Week 3

The nature of Media

Eric McLuhan, The Essential McLuhan (basic Books 1996) Chapter 9

Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (Gingko Books 2003) Chapter TBA

Week 4

Media in the Digital Age

Robert Logan, Understanding New Media (2d ed 2016, Peter Lang) Chapter TBA

Carol Madere, Celebrity Media Effects (Lexington Books 2018) Chapter 8

Week 5

Restraints on Freedom of Expression - Defamation Liability

Media Law, Chapter 7

Week 6

Restraints on Freedom of Expression - Defamation Defences

Media Law, Chapter 8

Week 7

Restraints on Freedom of Expression -

Defamation Remedies

Media Law, Chapter 9

Injurious Falsehood

Media Law, Chapter 10

Week 8

Restraints on Freedom of Expression - Privacy

Media Law, Chapters 13 - 14

Week 9

Restraints on Freedom of Expression

Privacy

Media Law, Chapter 15

Offensive Publications

Media Law, Chapter 16

Week 10

Restraints on Freedom of Expression - Censorship and Suppression

Media Law, Chapters 11 - 12

Week 11

Freedom of Information

Media Law, Chapter 17

Law of the Internet

Media Law, Chapter 5

Week 12

Online Content - Law of the Internet

Dan Jerker, B Svantesson, Private International Law and the Internet (3d ed Wolters Kluwer 2016) Chapter 2

Mike Godwin, Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age (Revised ed 2003 MIT Press) Chapter 6

Week 13

Online Content - Law of Social Media

Patrick George, Social Media and the Law (2d ed 2016 Lexis Nexis) Chapter 3

Daxton Stewart, Social Media and the Law (2d ed Routledge 2017) Chapter 1

The following changes are being made from the 2018 offering:

1.  The prescribed casebook has been changed,  In 2019, we are using Media Law (2d ed 2015) by David Rolph.  We are also using various materials relating to free speech theory and the nature of media - particularly focusing on the new media: online and social media are a special emphasis in 2019.  The additional reading materials will be available online through Leganto.  The materials available through the library online resource are essential to this course.

2. In 2019, we will augment traditional media with in-depth studies of new media; most particularly social media.  Further, and most importantly, we will devote considerable attention to free speech theory and the nature and meaning of media to help understand the changing face of media.  This will require some challenging forays into the theories espoused by Canadian Professor Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s and 1970s - which seem to have special meaning with respect to the new media.  The offering will also expand on free speech theory as applied to the new media. Our goal is to enable us to deal with the changing face of media.

3.  Assessments in 2019 will follow a new format.  There will not be any quizzes.  Instead, there will be a mid-term online exam, a research paper, and a final exam that is also delivered online.  All of the exam questions will be in the form of essays and hypothetical situations.