TEST 3 - MUST KNOW INFO Flashcards
3 types of media regulation?
free market “regulation”; gov’t regulation; self-regulation
What is free market “regulation”?
the forces of supply and demand, as well as “grass-root movement”-type groups, help resolve problems within the marketplace of mass media
What is government regulation?
regulation via government agencies, Congress enforcing laws and regs.
What is self-regulation?
regulation done by the media industry itself, via establishing ethical guidelines and sanctions
Types of citizen groups that play a role in free market?
religious associations; parent associations; fact-checking websites/organizations
What are 2 examples of supply and demand working to ‘regulate’ media?
- advertisers pulling support for shows whose message they disagree with; in cases like Duck Dynasty, that show eventually gets cancelled
- over-saturation of a particular genre; vampire movies back in the early 2010s, and nowadays, not seen as much
What are the 5 freedoms granted by the First Amendment?
- freedom to exercise religion
- freedom of speech
- freedom of the press
- right to peaceably assemble
- right to petition for redress of grievances
What did “no law” mean, up until 1925?
meant that the federal branches of the gov’t could not make laws abridging press freedoms
Gitlow v. New York
1925 SCOTUS case in which the court ruled that the phrase “Congress shall make no law” shall be interpreted as the gov’t and its agencies can’t make laws abridging press freedoms (agencies = state levels)
What is included in today’s view of “the press”?
factually truthful advertising; entertainment forms, including film, TV, and radio; traditional forms of print media
Importance of classes of speech?
courts have outlined that some types of speech (higher value speech) deserve more protection than other types of speech, like those involving obscenity and incitement
Examples of high value speech?
political speech or debate; political exuberance allows candidates and politicians to lie in speeches w/o punishment
Examples of intermediate value speech?
advertising
Examples of low value speech?
obscenity, incitement
4 criteria that allows SCOTUS to approve gov’t restrictions on speech/press?
- laws that are applicable to everyone
- laws that are w/o political bias
- laws that serve a significant gov’t interest
- laws that leave ample alternative ways for comm. to take place
prior restraint
government restriction of speech before it is made; aka “censorship”; preventing someone IN ADVANCE from saying/showing/’publishing’ something
What did SCOTUS Justice Potter Stewart say regarding obscene material?
“But I know it when I see it…”
Miller v. California
1973 SCOTUS case that defined what constituted as obscene material with the “Miller test”
Miller test states that material is obscene if what?
“The average person applying contemporary community standards would find the work, taken as a whole, to be of prurient interest, patently offensive, and lacking serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value…”
Miller v. California: Who is “the average person”?
someone who is not a child; an adult who is neither highly sensitive nor with a really thick skin; neither overly educated no uneducated; a person who does NOT have strange or perverted tastes
“contemporary community standards”
depends on the case! these can change because of time and location; some communities are more tolerant than others
Venue shopping example?
if I decide to put on a controversial musical, my first run of the show will most likely not be in rural, ultra-conservative Utah b/c doesn’t fit that community’s standards; so I will have to shop around, see which place is more tolerant of the musical’s content
“prurient interest”
having a morbid, shameful, or perverted interest in sex is NOT OK and would be considered obscene
“patently offensive”
excessive in regards to sexual detail to the point where the act itself is the topic of the work
“social value”
if the content has none of this, that means it lacks serious literary, political, scientific, or artistic value
“taken as a whole”
one scene doesn’t make a work obscene; must be the entire work
indecency
sexually oriented material that does NOT meet Miller v. California definition of obscenity
The issue of indecency matters where?
ONLY model one aka broadcasting! NOT an issue for cable, pay TV, print!
What was George Carlin’s logic in his “Seven Dirty Words” broadcast?
those 7 words are bad words that CAN NOT have a double meaning! they are bad words that mean one thing only!
Indecency rulings for the Internet?
regulating indecency on the Internet has failed in courts
FCC v. Pacifica Foundation
1978 SCOTUS case that ruled the FCC’s powers in punishing indecent material and introduced the idea of “safe harbors”
According to FCC v. Pacifica, what can the FCC do?
they can punish broadcast stations that air indecent content during times of the day when children are most likely to be in the audience, impose fines
safe harbors?
10 PM to 6 AM
copyright
the legal protection of a creator’s right to a work
Copyright Act of 1976
act stating a work is protected from the time of creation up to 70 years after the creator’s death; different protection timelines for corporations
“public domain”
a work is in this realm once a copyright expires
Copyright restrictions prior to 1976?
1909 act let films fall in public domain if no copyright notice in the credits
fair use regulations
provisions under which a person or company may use small portions of copyrighted work without asking permission
4 factors considered in fair use cases?
- purpose + character of your use
- nature of copyrighted work
- amount of the portion taken
- effect of your use upon potential market
Examples of fair use cases to know?
1984 Betamax case; Stephanie Lenz v. Universal Music Corporation
1984 Betamax case
SCOTUS case that says it’s ok for consumers to record copyrighted material for their own personal use of watching it later in their own home; what allows DVRs to exist
parody
a work that imitates another work for laughs in a way that comments on the original work; a literary/musical work in which style or work is CLOSELY IMITATED for comedic effect
Hustler Magazine v. Falwell
1988 SCOTUS case that helped define the extent to which parody is legal
Why did the Supreme Court rule in favor of Hustler?
the item may have been ‘malicious’, but Court said any reader would know the speech was a deliberate parody of the Brooke Shields perfume ad, and therefore was not true. Also, the damage wasn’t enough b/c Falwell was a public figure.
defamation
highly disreputable or false statement about a person or organization that injuries the reputation held for that person or entity
What are the two types of defamation?
slander and libel
slander
spoken communication considered harmful to a person’s reputation
libel
written communication that damages a person’s reputation
libel per se
written communication that is considered obvious libel; explicit in nature
libel per quod
words, expressions, and statements that, at face value, seem to be innocent and not injurious but that may be considered libelous in their actual context; more implicit
public figure
a person who is an elected or appointed official OR has stepped into a public role, both willingly or unwillingly
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 themselves into the middle of an important public role
New York Times v. Sullivan
1964 SCOTUS case that helped outline the defense for cases of defamation with the introduction of “actual malice”
What is “malice”?
knowing falsehood or serious doubts about the truth of the statement before publication or broadcast
When is it necessary for courts to prove “actual malice”?
in a defamation suit that involves a news organization
negligence
failure to verify facts adequately; lack of reasonable care
Reporters + negligence vs. malice?
a reporter can be negligent, but not necessarily malicious.
What 4 things are necessary to a defamation defense?
- what was said must be a lie
- malicious intent
- statues of limitation must be met
- no proof of consent to what was published
Types of invasion of privacy?
- disclosure of private facts
- intrusion on solitude
- placing individuals in false light
- appropriation of name or likeness for commercial reasons
public disclosure
an invasion of privacy that occurs when truthful information concerning the private life of a person is revealed by a media source
false light
invading a person’s privacy by implying something untrue about him or her
appropriation
an invasion of privacy that takes place via the unauthorized use of a person’s name or likeness in an ad, poster, PR promotion, or other commercial context
intrusion
an invasion of privacy that takes place when a person or organization intentionally invades a person’s solitude, private space, or affairs
3 criteria invasion of privacy claims must fit under?
- must be highly offensive
- not newsworthy / not of public significance
- truly private information
Hilda Bridges case?
a photo of her covering herself up was published in a newspaper (she had been kidnapped by her estranged husband), and she sued for invasion of privacy and LOST b/c it was newsworthy
Oliver Sipple case?
had stopped assassination attempt on Gerald Ford, so he became a hero; when his sexual orientation was leaked by the press and had led to his family disowning him, he sued for invasion of privacy but LOST b/c he was a public figure for saving the president
What does the FCC NOT regulate?
- business practices of the licensee (w/ exceptions)
- actively monitoring stations at all times
- prevent broadcast of a given point of view
What are some exceptions to FCC NOT regulating business practices?
- political advertising
- commercial limits on children’s programming
- non-commercial education stations
FTC
government agency responsible for dealing w/ false and deceptive advertising
What is deceptive advertising?
advertising that is “likely to mislead a reasonable consumer with a material statement or omission”
What does the FTC mean by “material statements”?
the material must affect the actual purchasing decision of the consumer
Puffery
aka bragging; tolerated by the FTC b/c just assumed to be subjective and not entirely true
If the FTC finds advertising to be misleading, what remedies can they demand?
stopping the ad, requiring disclosures of more facts, or initiating corrective ads
At a macro level, what has the relationship been b/w mass media and regulations?
b/c there were only 3 main cable networks starting in the 50s and 60s, the gov’t imposed heavy regulations so no one player would step out of line; as the decades went on, deregulatory trends came about as consumers had more options
1996 Telecommunications Act
an act that was part of the huge deregulation movement in the late 20th century that reduced regulations on media concentration and cross-ownership of outlets
What has influenced the regulation-deregulation trends?
developing technology
Prior to the 1980s, what was the max number of stations an FCC licensee could own?
7 AM, 7 FM, and 7 TV stations
From the 1980s to ‘96, what was the max number of stations an FCC licensee could own?
12 AM, 12 FM, 12 TV stations
From ‘96 to present day, what was the max number of stations an FCC licensee could own?
less than 39.5% of viewers
localism
a philosophy in mass media that values the sharing of power among many
efficiency
a philosophy in mass media that values concentration of power in hands of those who can make decisions well and quickly
What is a great example of implementing localism?
AM radio stations; the power is at the local level due to the limited reach of AM frequencies, and allows for the control of important institutions to be spread out over regions
What is a great example of implementing efficiency?
McDonald’s and the $1 burger
Horizontal merger
a merger b/w media companies of the same type
vertical merger
when a media company merges with its suppliers and/or distributors to integrate production and distribution
conglomerate merger
combination of media companies and/or non-media businesses
US v. Paramount
1948 SCOTU ruling that broke up a perfectly vertically-integrated film industry in order to allow more competition; overturned in August 2020
What is the evidence for harm of large media corporations?
reduced level of competition and reduced number of voices
Reduced level of competition
only 5 major movie studios today; yet concentration of ownership hasn’t eliminated comp.
Reduced number of voices
as concentration increases, individual’s access to media goes down; media industries lose out on diversity of voices
self-regulation regimes
codes and agreements among companies in an industry to ensure that employees carry out their work in what industry officials agree is an ethical manner
Examples of self-regulation regimes?
standards and practices departments; conflict of interest disclosures; industry ratings systems
What types of external pressures do media industries face when self-regulating?
pressure from public; pressure from advocacy organizations; pressure from advertisers
advocacy organizations
collections of people who work to change the nature of certain kinds of mass media materials
ethics
a system of principles about what is right that guides a person’s actions
Various forms of ethical duties include?
duty to self, duty to audience, duty to the employer, duty to the profession, duty to promise holders, duty to society
3 levels involved in forming ethical standards in mass media?
- personal level
- professional level
- societal level
the internet
a global system of interconnected private, public, academic, business, and gov’t computer networks that use a standard set of commands to link billions of users worldwide
packets
segments of messages that contain digital instructions that allow them to reassemble properly at the same time at the destination
hyperlinks
highlighted words or pictures on the internet that, when clicked, will connect the user to a particular file, event a to a specific relevant part of a document
hypertext markup language
a computer language system that allowed people to access a system of interlinked documents thru the internet
What is HTML used for?
to define the structure, content, and layout of a page by using tags
When was the earliest version of a search engine invented?
1931
When was the first APRANET message sent?
1969; b/w UCLA and Stanford
When was the first email program created?
1971
When did Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak found Apple?
1976
user-generated content
creative products, such as videos and music, generated by people who visit websites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube
internet service provider (ISP)
a company that sells access to the internet
Wi-Fi
a radio technology that engineers designed in the late ’90s to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity
net neutrality
the desire by websites and advocates to ensure that ISPs do not charge sites for transmission and do not discriminate against content providers
search engine
websites that allow users to find sites relevant to topics of interest to them
web crawlers/spiders
programs used by search engines that search the internet to retrieve and catalog content of websites
algorithm
a complex set of mathematically based rules that search engines use to come up with sites that relate to your search terms
natural (organic) search results
websites that come up based on a search engine’s algorithm without any influence from advertisers
social search
a search that is carried out to find what people in a person’s social circle say about an item
personally identifiable informatino
the name, postal address, or any other information that allows tracking down the specific person who owns a device
opt-in approach
the view that marketers should not be permitted to collect info about a person unless the person explicitly indicates that it is all right for them to do so
opt-out approach
the view that marketers should be permitted to collect personal information from consumers as long as they inform people of what they are doing and give them the opportunity to refuse
