Media & Public Policy

Ø Public policy

s Law

s Regulation

s Inter-governmental agreements

Ø Models of media policy

s Print

Þ ownership of means of production and distribution

Þ editorial control of content

Þ no restrictions/licensing (main exceptions: defamation, obscenity,* sedition)

s Broadcasting

“Radio communication” is defined by the U.S. Congress as “transmission by radio of writing, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds of all kinds…” This includes not only radio but also television broadcasting. (Federal Communications Act of 1934)

Þ ownership of means of production and distribution

Þ editorial control of content

Þ licensing of spectrum and some accompanying access (political candidates; Fairness Doctrine) and editorial responsibilities

Comparison of Print & Broadcasting

Þ Red Lion v. FCC (1969)

Þ Miami Herald v. Tornillo (1974)

The Fairness Doctrine was eliminated by the FCC in 1987, based on the argument that:

Þ it chills speech

Þ there is no longer a valid spectrum scarcity rationale in light of the rise of cable, satellites, VCRs

s Telephone Common Carrier

Þ ownership of distribution system

Þ historically, no content production (except to serve own company)

Þ heavy restrictions, based on public utility model of regulation (monopoly profits, rate regulation)

s Cable Television

Þ U.S. v. Southwestern Cable Co. (U.S., 1968)

FCC jurisdiction over cable is “ancillary” to its jurisdiction over broadcasting.

Ø Intellectual Property

s Types of protection:

Þ Copyright

Þ Patents

Þ Trademarks

s U.S. Constitution: from Article 8:

"The Congress shall have the power . . . to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998)

Makes it a crime to circumvent anti-piracy measures built into most commercial software.

Outlaws the manufacture, sale, or distribution of code-cracking devices used to illegally copy software.

Myths of deregulation

Þ Lessens role of government.

Þ Diminishes economic concentration.

Þ Is widely supported

Ø ^*“Obscenity”

s Is “obscenity” legal?

Obscenity is not protected by the 1^st Amendment because, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, it is "utterly without redeeming social importance." (Roth v. U.S., 1957)

In other words, it is legally banned in all media distributed in the United States.

s What is “obscenity”?

"I know it when I see it." (Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, concurring in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 1964)

The "Miller Test" (from Miller v. California, 1974):

Þ Obscenity is defined by "the average person, applying contemporary community standards."

Þ The materials must depict or describe sexual conduct in a "patently offensive" way (as defined by state law).

Þ The work as a whole must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

All three parts of the test must be met in order to determine whether materials are obscene and therefore unprotected by the Constitution.