Class Syllabus | Class Schedule
On Exam day, you’ll need only a pencil (no pens by request from the computer scoring center) and Scantron sheet. The test will consist of 50 multiple choice, true/false and matching questions addressing topics only since our last exam; the final will not be cumulative. This study guide is exclusively for the reading assigned since the last exam. Best of luck.
Ownership
- Vocabulary
Duopoly
Crossownershi
Utopia/Dystopia
Edify
Homologous
Reify
- Define Pluralism vs. Monism Pluralism s. Monism
- What’s the difference between diversity and pluralism?
- Know what William James said about pluralism.
- How have we attempted to reify pluralism in our (U.S. society)?
- How have we attempted to reify pluralism in U.S. broadcasting?
- What is the dilemma of diversity in broadcasting as we discussed it?
- What did the Sanders Bro.’s Case (1940) address in terms of broadcast ownership, diversity and the public interest?
- Know how the following fit into the picture of pluralism in broadcasting: Auctions; Distress sales; Fairness doctrine; Ascertainment
- Where does pluralism stand now in terms of contemporary broadcasting?
- What is a combo? (Hint: think of this in terms of duopolies and crossownership.)
- What is an LMA?
- What are LPTV and LPFM?
- What are the post-1996 Local and National caps for TV, radio and cable?
Networks
- According to the FCC definition, how many hours of prime time programming must you air per week and what percent of television households nationwide must you reach to qualify as a network?
- What are the dual roles of networks?
- How may they be regulated in the folowing contexts: affiliates O&O’s; antitrust laws
- Understand the history of network development in the U.S. in the following: AT&T; GE/RCA/NBC (NBC Red/Blue/Pacific); CBS; ABC (consider here the Chainbroadcasting Rules); Telemundo; Univision; FOX; WB/UPN; The CW; PAXNET/ION
- Know the critical case regarding networks-NBC v. U.S. (1943)-and the principle outcomes that affected networks related to: 1. owning more than one network; 2. affiliate rights in terms of programming, time sales
- How did PBS begin and how does it operate differently from the Big 4 networks?
- What are cable networks, and how are they regulated?
- What are Network Non-Duplication Rules?
- What is must-carry and retransmission consent?
- What is vertical integration as it relates to cable systems?
- What is reverse compensation in network/affiliate relations?
- How does it differ from how networks historically related in economic terms to affiliates?
- What is the purpose of the Prime Time Access Rule? Its present status as a broadcast regulation?
- What are Fin/Syn Rules? Present status?
- What are Syndex Rules? Present status?
Privacy
- Be able to explain the essential conflict we discussed in matters of privacy.
- What tensions exist between your personal privacy vs. public’s right to know?
- Which of these wins out in a conflict between the two?
- Why did the framers of the U.S. Constitution not see fit to include a constitutional guarantee for privacy?
- What critical U.S. Supreme Court ruling established an expectation to privacy, or certain zones of privacy that are guaranteed?
- In general, be able to discuss how the difference between public/privates spaces plays out in journalistic newsgathering.
- What are some exceptions to blanket protections when shooting on/in a public space?
- How does the notion of implied consent factor into the question of private spaces?
- What’s the difference between publication of private matters and putting someone ina false light?
- How do journalistic endeavors qualify in the context of appropriation?
- Why was Zachinni successful in his case against Scripps Howard Broadcasting Co (1975) when he charged them for violating his right to publicity?
Programming Restrictions
- What is the conflict in broadcasting as we described it in class between speech freedoms and the public interest?
- Why is an exception made for broadcasting that allows the FCC to regulate content unlike other forms of media?
- Know the definition of the following: profanity; obscenity
- Know the background and provisions of the various cases in the evolution of the definition of what constitutes obscenity including: 1. Hicklin Rule; 2. Comstock Laws; 3. Ulysses Decision; 4. Roth Test; 5. Miller v. California
- What are the standards that must be met to declare something obscene?
- What are payola and plugola?
- In what medium do they apply?
- When could each be legal?
- Where (in what statute) is indecency first disallowed in broadcasting?
- Where and why was the indecency ban placed into U.S. criminal code?
- Know the background and provisions of the Pacifica Case, including implications regarding time, place and manner restrictions.
- What the common law ruling (case) was used to “channel” indecent speech to specific times of day?
- What is Safe Harbor?
- What is Scienter?
- What are fleeting profanity and fleeting nudity?
- What cases prompted the FCC to fine for each?
- What is the current status of each?
- What did the Cable Act of 1984 say about the authority to regulate cable content?
- What did the Cable Act of 1992 attempt to impose on cable with regard to indecent content?What was the Communications Indecency Act of 1996?
- What would it have done to cable indecency?
- What did the court say about it in Reno v. ACLU (1997)?
- What are the provisions of the Child Online Protection Act? (1998)
- What is its present status as a law?
- What are the provisions of the Child Internet Protection Act? (2000)
Reporting
- Know that there are both Federal & State FOIA’s, Sunshine Laws, Court Access
- Federal FOIA origins: 1946 – Administrative Procedure Act; 1967 – Freedom of Information Act; 1986 – (current version)
- What is the basic assumption that identifies a need for a FOIA?
- How long does the federal government have to respond to a FOIA request?
- What are the relative costs to journalists and consumers?
- What is the 1996 Electronic FOIA?
- How/what did it change to the 1986 Act?
- Be able to identify the 9 basic exemptions to the Federal FOIA I gave you in class.
- With respect to Confidential Business Information, know the Chrysler Corp. v. Brown case (1979).
- Where/when did Florida’s information access law first appear?
- What state provision currently ensures freedom of information in Florida?
- What is redacting?
- Where/when did Florida’s sunshine law first appear?
- What state provision currently ensures government meeting access in Florida?
- What are some of its key provisions? (e.g. notification, meetings that are/aren’t covered under the statute, penalty for violation, etc.)
- What is the current federal provision governing open meetings?
- How does that law define a “meeting?”
- What does it say about notification?
- What are the two Constitutional Amendments I mentioned in class governing the individual’s right respecting trials?
- What different bodies govern court process, procedures and behavior at both federal and state levels?
- Can cameras be used in federal courts? State courts?
- Know the facts and outcomes of the following: Canon 35 (1935); Estes v. Texas (1965); Chandler v. Florida (1981)
- What is pre-trial publicity and what are the remedies a judge has at his/disposal to deal with it?
- What can a judge do to avert excessive publicity during a trial?
Good Luck!