Course Announcement and First Assignments (posted July 20, 2001)

General Information

Early Assignments

E-Mail Address

Personal Bio Writing Assignment

First Class Reading Assignments

Links to Readings

And see also: Course Announcement and First Assignments.

Coordinates: E-mail: njohnson@inav.net Voice: 319-337-5555 (with 24-hour answering machine, where all messages should be left); Postal: Box 1876, Iowa City IA 52244-1876; Web page: http://www.nicholasjohnson.org; Office: Room 445, 335-9146. Assistant:  Jessie Kriebs, E-mail: jessie-kriebs@uiowa.edu, Office: Room 405, 335-9091.

Your E-Mail: Provide Mr. Johnson or Ms. Kriebs your e-mail address as soon as possible. This is the quickest and surest way to get class information to you. (If you are unable or unwilling to receive e-mail, let either of them know and other arrangements will be made.)

Office Hours: Feel free to come by any time the office door is open. Normally this will be 9:00 to 2:50 every day. If for your convenience you'd rather make an appointment please do so. But it's not necessary.

Class Time and Place:  Class meets 14 Wednesday evenings, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Room 125 BLB, August 29 through December 5, except for November 21 (Thanksgiving recess).

Casebook:  Carter, Franklin and Wright, The First Amendment and the Fifth Estate (5th ed. 1999).

Purpose:  The "information economy" now constitutes over one half of our gross domestic product.  This course is designed to help you identify, and think through, some of the legal and public policy issues of this Information Age.  Law of Electronic Media (LEM) is one of a cluster of intellectual property courses including Copyright, Cyberspace Law Seminar, Entertainment Law, First Amendment seminars, Patents and Trademarks, and Sports Law -- among others.  (None is a prerequisite.) The primary, though not exclusive, focus of CLS is on the law of broadcasting and cable television.

Assignments:  See the posted assignment for August 29, the related discussion questions contained in the syllabus, and the personal bio assignment due August 31.

Deadlines: Although not a part of your academic grade, your professors and colleagues necessarily are evaluating you from day one regarding your professionalism. "Is this student someone I could recommend for a clerkship with a federal judge, or as a new associate in a quality law firm?" It is strongly recommended, if you have not already read it, that you read “So You Want to be a Lawyer: A Play in Four Acts,” available on the Web from http://www.nicholasjohnson.org under “Writing.” Among those professional qualities are the time management skills that enable you to produce quality work product before it is due, rather than at the last minute or even after a deadline has passed.

Exams, Grades:  To provide the instructor and students with feedback and incentives, there may be (with advance notice) brief quizzes.  The final is currently scheduled for Thursday, December 13, 2001, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. (It is, of course, your responsibility to confirm time and place as the day approaches.) The final will be a two hour (total) (a) closed book short answer or multiple-choice exam followed by (b) an open book essay exam.  Ten percent of the course grade will be based on class participation.

Attendance:  You are urged to make the effort to be prepared for, attend, and participate in every class.  The ABA, AALS and College of Law rules require students to be in "regular attendance."  For this course, "regular attendance" will be 75 per cent (11 of the 14 class sessions).  You are encouraged to save the permitted absences for any emergencies at the end of the semester as participants attending less than 11 class sessions (whether excused or unexcused) may be dropped.

Reservation:  An effort will be made to provide advance notice of assignments and exams, respond to reasonable suggestions, and minimize changes.  But the instructor reserves the right to make changes believed to be of benefit to students.

Among the greatest resources of any law school are not only the intellectual quality, but also the diversity of background and experience of its student body.  We are particularly blessed at Iowa in that respect.  The more we can all know about each other, and the resources we bring to the classroom, the more each of us can take from it.  Besides, it's more fun knowing who these folks are with whom you are about to be locked in a room for 14 evenings.

So, please hand in (to Jessie Kriebs, Room 405) by August 31 a brief, one-page essay about yourself that can be shared with other members of the class.  You need not, but may, examine examples in bio booklets from past classes, available from Ms. Kriebs.  We'll put together a comparable one for our class, make copies, and give you one.

Obviously, if there is anything you want to keep to yourself you are a skillful enough writer to do so.  There's nothing you must include.

But while you wait for the muse to strike, be aware that the following kinds of things would be interesting and useful:  (1) something of your family, community and upbringing, (2) early ambitions, goals or professional interests, (3) college majors, intellectual interests, activities, (4) work, travel or other job related experiences, (5) your current obligations and environment outside of law school (e.g., marital and parental status or other family responsibilities, nature and demands of outside employment, hobbies or other activities), (6) areas of specialization in law school, student activities, or legal internships, (7) any experiences working for (or dealing with) print or electronic media, advertising, or political campaigning, (8) future goals, expectations and plans for using your legal education, (9) electronics hobbies (e.g., amateur radio license, computers).

Deadlines. See above. In this case, your failure to get your bio in on time means the whole project must be postponed until you do.

Format Request.  Please use (1) one page maximum, (2) single spaced, (3) using a computer printer or typewriter that creates copy sufficiently dark to make machine copies possible, (3) one inch (or greater) margins all around, (4) a heading that includes your name, date, and “Personal Bio,” (5) any reasonable font.

_______________
* These assignments are, of course, "subject to change" -- including changes proposed by you that (a) reflect your preferences and are (b) rational, and (c) supported by a significant proportion of your colleagues. Because of possible slippage from week to week, if you miss a class it is best to confirm the next week's assignment with a classmate.  For now, this is my current best effort at a reasonable inclusion/exclusion of material and its ordering.

** This memo is available online and in hard copy from Ms. Kriebs (Room 405).

Nicholas Johnson, "So You Want to Be a Lawyer: A Play in Four Acts" (1998) [There's more to becoming a successful professional lawyer than legal knowledge and skills -- as important as they are. This easy read gives you some insight to the instructor's expectations of you.]

Nicholas Johnson, "Law of Electronic Media: Concepts, Perspectives and Goals" (1999) [Law of Electronic Media, like any Information Age inquiry, requires some "thinking outside the box." This piece provides an early clue as to where we're headed and why.]

Nicholas Johnson, "A Day in the Life: The Federal Communications Commission" (1973) [A Yale Law Journal article that appropriates a Beatles' song lyric and then uses the entire Commission agenda from one meeting day to make the argument that everything the F.C.C. does is seriously flawed in one way or another.]

Nicholas Johnson, An Autonomous Media (1994) [An oft-translated and used piece designed to explain the U.S. system of media and its relationship to government, the First Amendment, and an independent judiciary to journalists and legislators in former Soviet republics and elsewhere. A useful, simple overview for students.]

Nicholas Johnson, A Fairness Doctrine Parable, as quoted in Brandywine-Main Line Radio, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, 473 F.2d 16, 41-42 (D.C. Cir. 1972).

Nicholas Johnson, Interview/exchange during Chris Lydon's network radio program, "The Connection." The topic was "Decoding Hollywood Politics and Interests in Campaign 2000," September 12, 2000. [There is a transcript of Nicholas Johnson's remarks, and the program is also available in Real Audio streaming audio. (Click on "Listen Now." Nicholas Johnson's remarks start at 36 minutes 35 seconds into the hour-long program and end at 44 minutes 45 seconds. Real Audio provides a sliding control for selecting start times.) Guests on the show included Peter Bart, Editor-in-Chief Variety; Martin Kaplan, Director, Norman Lear Center at USC; Steven Brill, Brill's Content; Bernard Weinraub, writer for the New York Times; Ken Auletta, New Yorker Media Columnist.]

Nicholas Johnson, Test Pattern for Living (Bantam: 1972). [The entire text of this book is available online. "Test Pattern" is a play on the old TV set test patterns from TV stations. The book puts forth a description of ways in which TV programming and advertising have an often undesirable impact in shaping human behavior.]

Nicholas Johnson, A Fairness Doctrine Parable, as quoted in Brandywine-Main Line Radio, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, 473 F.2d 16, 41-42 (D.C. Cir. 1972).

As you know from the posted assignment sheet, the first Wednesday evening we will be discussing the "privacy" material, chapter 14, pp. 817-866.

In preparing yourself to comprehend and discuss this material, keep the following (illustrative, not exhaustive) questions/issues in mind:

• Finally -- or, perhaps, first -- it is important to be able to feel, as well as to intellectualize, what these cases are about.  In "actors' studio" fashion, try to recall an instance in which you thought your privacy was inappropriately compromised.  What were your feelings at that time? Why is this understanding important to your comprehension of privacy law?

• Prior to/without regard to "media," and without regard to newer technologies (such as the Internet), what are the contexts in which the law has recognized a right of "privacy" and some examples of each?

• What is it precisely/how would you describe the nature of the interest that the law is protecting in these cases (e.g., is the trespass relevant in the privacy trespass cases; and, by contrast, how is "privacy" relevant to the Onassis and kidnapping cases on p. 824)?

• How would you go about the task of figuring out what is a "reasonable expectation of privacy"?  What factors might modify that expectation from one context/person/time to another?  Do you agree with the Dietemann court, p. 830, that we "should not be required to take the risk" of recording? (p. 831)

• Where did "for advertising purposes, or the purposes of trade" come from?  Is it an accident of history or a rational standard?  How does the right protected differ from colloquial "privacy"?

• What are the implications of "privacy law" for the news media?  What considerations do the media bring to the balance?  Are ethical/professional standards enough, or do we need "law"? Are there categories of facts that should not be published under any/most circumstances?  Why?

• What are some of the technologies available today with privacy implications?  Do they create a unique set of new issues/problems, or are they merely extensions/applications of the old ones?