controls on media content Flashcards
1
Q
Three areas of media that are regulated?
A
technology, economics, and content
2
Q
Examples of media tech regulations?
A
frequencies, power, antenna height, signal quality
3
Q
Examples of economic regulations in media?
A
ownership restrictions, production/syndication rules, network contracts
4
Q
Examples of content regulation in media?
A
indecency, obscenity; children’s programming, political advertising
5
Q
What are the types of media regulation?
A
free market “regulation”, gov’t regulation, and self-regulation
6
Q
free market “regulation”
A
“regulation” here means that the problems faced in media outlets will be resolved within the marketplace by supply and demand
7
Q
Role of citizen groups in free market regulation?
A
religious and parent associations as well as fact-checking websites/organizations affect content displayed
8
Q
How else does the public affect regulation and media?
A
letter and social media campaigns, petitions
9
Q
Role of supply and demand on free market “regulation”?
A
advertisers pull support for shows in which messages are displayed or said that those advertisers don’t agree with; example is what happened with Duck Dynasty
10
Q
Basic definition of government regulation of media?
A
laws and regulations are enforced by gov’t agencies, like the FTC and FCC, as well as by Congress
11
Q
basic definition of self-regulation in media?
A
regulation in which the industry itself establishes ethical guidelines + sanctions thru various orgs. in the industry
12
Q
Gitlow v. New York
A
1925 SCOTUS case that defined what “Congress shall make no law” means; claimed it should be understood as “gov’t and its agencies”; that is, at all levels of gov’t
13
Q
What does today’s view of “the press” include?
A
factually truthful advertising; forms of entertainment in film, TV, and radio; traditional forms of print media
14
Q
What is considered high value speech?
A
political speech or debate
15
Q
What is considered intermediate value speech?
A
advertising
16
Q
What is considered low value speech?
A
obscenity, incitement
17
Q
Restrictions on speech or the press are legal as long as those limits…
A
are applicable to everyone, are without political bias, serve a significant governmental interest, and leave ample alternative ways for communication to occur
18
Q
What are the three categories in which gov’t regulates media?
A
regulation BEFORE distribution; regulation AFTER distribution; economic regulations
19
Q
prior restraint
A
government restriction of speech before it is made
20
Q
obscenity
A
related to speech/media that is offensive to accepted standards of decency or modesty
21
Q
indecency
A
sexually oriented material that does NOT meet the Miller v. California definition of obscenity
22
Q
copyright
A
the legal protection of a creator’s right to work
23
Q
Copyright Act of 1976
A
a law that recognizes the rights of an individual creator (in any medium) from the time he or she created a work for the lifetime of that author plus 70 years
24
Q
fair use regulations
A
provisions under which a person or company may use small portions of copyrighted work without asking permission
25
parody
a work that imitates another work for laughs in a way that comments on the original work
26
Miller v. California
1957 SCOTUS case that defined what obscene material is with the "Miller test"
27
Miller test
"The average person applying contemporary community standards would find the work, taken as a whole, to be of purient interest, patently offensive, and lacking serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."
28
According to Miller v. California, who is "the average person"?
a person who is not considered a child; "normal adult, not highly sensitive or callous...or overly educated or uneducated"; not a person of weird or perverted taste
29
"contemporary community standards"
these really depend on the community b/c some can be more tolerant than others
30
"purient interest"
states that a "normal, healthy, or lustful interest in sex" is ok and does not fall under this qualification of the Miller test
31
what does purient mean?
basically perverted; a shameful or morbid interest in sex; if something falls under this, then NOT OK
32
"patently offensive"
anything that shows an excess of sexual detail
33
"taken as a whole"
if a portion of the work is in question but not the entire work, then the work is not legally obscene.
34
How does the FCC define indecent speech?
"material that, in context, depicts or describes sexual or excretory organs or activities in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards FOR THE BROADCAST MEDIUM."
35
"safe harbors"
10 pm to 6 am; hours during which indecent programming may be allowed on broadcast stations
36
FCC v. Pacifica
SCOTUS case in which the court rules that the FCC can punish broadcast stations that aired indecent content during hours of the day when children are likely to be part of the audience; defined "safe harbors"
37
Why does the FCC treat broadcast differently than other media?
broadcast involves a scarce public source, and broadcast is uniquely pervasive
38
What makes the airwaves "scarce"?
there are only a limited number of frequencies that can be used to broadcast
39
Relationship b/w FCC and TV/radio stations?
FCC grants broadcast licenses to those stations; the stations must abide by FCC rules
40
What happens when a copyright expires?
the work that used to be protected by copyright law is now in the public domain
41
What are the 4 factors judges consider in fair use cases?
the purpose and character of your use; the nature of the copyrighted work; the amount and sustainability of portion taken; effect of the use upon the potential market
42
transformative
a work is said to be this way when use of copyrighted material presents the work in a way that adds interpretation to it so that some people might see it in a new light
43
Hustler Magazine v. Falwell
1988 SCOTUS case in the mag's article clearly closely imitated the style of a famous liquor ad running in other magazines at the time; Court said that any reader would thus know Hustler's speech was a deliberate parody
44
public figure
a person who is an elected or appointed official (a politician) or someone who has stepped (willingly or unwillingly) into a public role
45
private person
an individual who may be well known in the community but who has no authority or responsibility for the conduct of gov't affairs and has not thrust himself or herself into the middle of an important public role
46
Two main areas of post-distribution regulation?
defamation and invasion of privacy
47
defamation
a highly disreputable or false statement about a living person or an organization that causes injury to the reputation that a substantial group of people hold for that person or entity
48
two types of defamation?
libel + slander
49
libel
written communication that is considered harmful to a person's reputation
50
slander
spoken communication that is considered harmful to a person's reputation
51
libel per se
written communication that is considered obvious libel
52
libel per quod
words, expressions, and statements that, at face value, seems to be innocent and not injurious but that may be considered libelous in their actual context
53
actual malice
reckless disregard for truth or knowledge of falsity
54
simple malice
hatred or ill will toward another person
55
simple negligence
lack of reasonable care
56
privacy
the right to be protected from unwanted intrusions or disclosures
57
false light
invading a person's privacy by implying something untrue about him or her
58
appropriation
an invasion of privacy that takes place via the unauthorized use of a person's name or likeness in an advertisement, poster, public relations promotion, or other commercial context
59
intrusion
an invasion of privacy that takes place when a person or organization intentionally invades a person's solitude, private space, or affairs
60
public disclosure
an invasion of privacy that occurs when truthful information concerning the private life of a person (which would be highly offensive to a reasonable person and is not of legitimate public concern) is revealed by a media source
61
Commentary videos and fair use
if the video is transformative enough and its purpose is distinct enough from the original work, then the work is likely to be considered "fair use" and not in violation of copyright laws
62
"Roasting" + defamation
if the roasted is invited, then it is difficult to prove defamation since the subject of the joke wanted it; if the roasting resulted in changes, then easier to prove defamation
63
New York Times v. Sullivan
1964 SCOTUS case
64
What is "malice"?
knowing falsehood or having serious doubts about the truth of a given statement before publication/broadcast
65
Defense in a defamation case
the statement must be false; malice must be intended; the case must be brought within the statutes of limitation (1-3 years); must have no proof of consent to speech
66
What does invasion of privacy involve?
the disclosure of private facts; intrusion of seclusion/solitude; publicity that places individuals in a false light; appropriation of name or likeness for commercial purposes or advantage
67
For an incident to be deemed invasion of privacy, what must be true?
the claims must be highly offensive, not newsworthy/matter of public significance, and must be truly private
68
Digital Millenium Copyright Act
aka DMCA; law passed in 1998 that implements the digital copyright protections as stated in the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
69
Section 512
protects platforms from cases of copyright infringement if derived from the generated content of the users; "notification" and "take down" provisions
70
"notification" and "take down" provisions?
platforms must notify the given user of copyright infringement and if found in violation, must take down the offending content
71
Section 230 of the 1996 Communications + Decency Act
grants website "platforms" immunity against all non-copyright legal claims
72
economic regulations
rules set by the government about how firms are allowed to compete with one another; basically what constitutes as "fair play" when it comes to doing business in the media industry
73
monopoly
control of the market by a single firm
74
oligopoly
control of the market by a select few firms
75
antitrust policies
policies put in place to maintain competition in the U.S. economy, carried out through the passing of laws, thru enforcement of the laws by the Department of Justice + state attorneys general, and thru federal court decisions that determine how far the gov't ought to go in encouraging competition + forcing companies to break themselves into a number of smaller companies
76
By definition, what is the FTC?
Federal Trade Commission; a federal agency whose mission is to ensure that the nation's markets function competitively
77
What is included in what the FTC covers?
coverage includes any mass media (print or electronic), as long as the issue involved is related to the smooth functioning of the media marketplace and consumer protection in that sphere
78
By definition, what is the FCC?
Federal Communications Commission; a federal agency mandated by Congress to govern interstate and international communication by TV, radio, wire, satellite, and cable
79
If advertising is found to be misleading, what are three remedies that the FTC can demand?
stop the advertising; require disclosures of more facts; initiate corrective advertising
80
How has media regulation phased in the direction of deregulation?
with the flurry of M&A deals within the media industry; implementing fin-syn rules
81
What are fin-syn rules?
aka financial interest and syndication rules; rules restricting the ability of the big three broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS) to acquire ownership and distribution rights
82
1996 Telecommunications Act
emphasized deregulation of the media industries; eliminated long-standing restriction of allowing one company to own 2 TV stations in the same market
83
localism
values sharing of power among many
84
efficiency
values concentration of power in hands of those who can make decisions quickly
85
self-regulation regimes
codes + agreements among companies in an industry to ensure that employees carry out their work in what industry officials agree is an ethical manner
86
advocacy organizations
collections of people who work to change the nature of certain kinds of mass media materials
87
editorial standards
standards established by media organizations as a form of self-regulation
88
policy books
guidelines for fairness, accuracy, and appropriateness of station content and the like adopted by media organizations in the interest of self-regulation
89
operating policies
policies, most often used by print media orgs., that spell out guidelines for everyday operations, such as conflicts of interest, acceptable advertising content, boundaries of deceptive info-gathering practices, payment to sources for news stories, etc.
90
editorial policies
policies, most often used by print media orgs., that identify company positions on specific issues, such as which presidential candidate the paper supports and whether the paper is in support of certain governmental policies
91
ombudperson
an individual who is hired by a media organization to deal with readers, viewers, or listeners who have a complaint to report or an issue to discuss
92
journalism reviews
publications that report on and analyze examples of ethical and unethical journalism
93
code of ethics
a formal list of guidelines and standards designed to establish standards of professionalism within an industry
94
ethics
a system of principles about what is right that guides a person's actions
95
values
those things that reflect our presuppositions about social life and human nature
96
ideals
notions of excellence or goals that are thought to bring about greater harmony to ourselves and others
97
principles
those guidelines we derive from values and ideal that are precursors to codified rules
98
what does localism entail?
control of important institutions should be spread out, with considerable power at the local level b/c it's closest to the individuals and best serves society; each person is a rational being with an equal say
99
Relationship b/w localism and mass media?
localism believes media voices should be kept local to best serve public; regulations based on scarcity of frequencies, localism, public interest and promotion of diversity
100
what does efficiency entail?
it pushes towards concentration, consolidation, and centralization; increased barriers to entry, which leads to small companies going out of business or being bought out by conglomerates
101
horizontal merger
merger in which a media company buys another company of the same type
102
vertical merger
merger in which a media company buys its suppliers and/or distributors to integrate production and distribution in-house
103
conglomerate merger
combination of media companies and/or non-media businesses
104
U.S. v. Paramount
1948 SCOTUS case regarding vertical integration that forced the major Hollywood film studios to divest movie theaters and changed the economic systems of the movie business at the time
