Mass Comm Law Midterm

True threat

Speech directed toward one or more specific individuals with the intent of causing listeners to fear for their safety

Incorporation doctrine

The Fourteenth Amendment concept that most of the Bill of Rights applies equally to the states

USA Patriot Act

The Uniting and Strengthen America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. The act gave law enforcement agencies greater authority to combat terrorism.

Right of publicity

The appropriation tort protecting a celebrity's right to have his or her name, picture, likeness, voice or and identity used for commercial or trade purposes only with permission.

Commercialization

The appropriation tort used to protect people who want privacy.

Commercialization/Appropriation defenses

The appropriation tort used to protect people who want privacy.

What is not among the criteria for the successful application of the neutral reportage libel defense?

The charges are true

The best defense against an intrusion lawsuit is?

The defendant had the plaintiff's consent

Newsworthiness

The degree to which a news story is important enough to be covered in the mass media.

Chilling effect

The discouragement of a constitutional right, especially free speech, by any government practice that creates uncertainty about the proper exercise of that right.

What is not one of the requirements of the fair report/privilege?

The news report must be concerning a matter of public controversy

Administrative law

The orders, rules and regulations promulgated by executive branch administrative agencies to carry out their delegated duties.

Discovery

The pretrial process of gathering evidence and facts. The word also may refer to the specific items of evidence that are uncovered.

Summary judgment

The quick resolution of a legal dispute in which a judge similarly decides certain points and issues a judgement dismissing the case

Burden of proof

The requirement for a party to a case to demonstrate one or more claims by the presentation of evidence. In libel law, for example, the plaintiff has the burden of proof.

Public Domain

The sphere that includes materials not protected by copyright law and therefore available for use without the creator's permission; also factual information like names and stats of professional athletes.

Civil law

The system of law concerned with private relations between members of a community rather than criminal, military, or religious affairs

Private Facts

The tort under which media are sued for publishing highly embarrassing public information that is not newsworthy or lawfully obtained from a public record.

Common law

Unwritten, judge-made law consisting of rules and principles developed through custom and precedent.

Appropriation

Using a person's name, picture, likeness, voice or identity for commercial or trade purposes without permission.

Consent

Valid defense as long as there is a signed contract

Which libel defense is specifically meant to protect reviews of products and services that are presented for public consumption?

Varies from state to state

Which of the following could lead to a successful intrusion lawsuit?

Walking across someone's lawn to a window and taking a picture through a small opening in the drapes; hacking into someone's computer

In determining if a libel defendant acted with actual malice, courts will consider what?

Was publication urgent, how credible were the sources, was the plaintiff interviewed?

When does the netural reportage defense apply?

When a story is newsworthy and related to a public controversy, when an accusation is made by a responsible person or group, when the story is accurate, contains other views, and is reported in a neutral way

Fighting words

Words not protected by the First Amendment because they cause immediate harm or illegal acts

Statutory law

Written law formally enacted by city, county, state and federal legislative bodies.

Hate speech

category of speech that includes name-calling and pointed criticism that demeans others on the basis of race, color, gender, ethnicity, religion, natural origin, disability, intellect or the like.

Time/place/manner laws

A First Amendment concept that laws regulating the conditions of speech are more acceptable than those regulating content; also, the laws that regulate these conditions

Subpoena

A command for someone to testify in court

Fair comment and criticism

A common law privilege that protects critics from lawsuits brought by individuals in the public eye.

Absolute privlege

A complete exemption from liability for the speaking or publishing defamatory words of and concerning another because the statement was within the performance of duty such as in judicial or political contexts

Appellate court

A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial level or other lower court

Trial court

A court of original jurisdiction where evidence and testimony are first introduced, received, and considered. Findings of fact and law are made in the trial court, and the findings of law may be appealed to a higher court that has the power of review.

Injunction

A court order prohibiting a person or organization from doing some specified act.

Defamation

A false communication that harms another's reputation and subjects him or her to ridicule and scorn; incorporates both libel and slander.

Compelling interest

A government interest of the highest order, an interest the government is required to protect

Public record

A government record, particularly one that is publicly available.

Categorical balancing

A judge's or court's practice of deciding cases by weighing different broad categories, such as political speech, against other categories of interest, such as privacy, to create rules that may be applied in later cases with similar facts

Fault

A libel plaintiff's case that has several elements, all of which must be proved in court to win. The material in question must be (1) a statement of a fact (2) that is published, (3) that is of and concerning the plaintiff, (4) is defamatory, (5) that is false, (6) that causes damage (or harm), and (7) that is the result of fault by the defendant.

Libel-proof plaintiff

A plaintiff whose reputation is deemed to be so damaged already that additional false statements of and concerning him or her cannot cause further harm.

False light

A privacy tort that involves making a person seem in the public eye to be someone he or she is not. Several states do not allow false light suits.

Tort

A private or civil wrong for which a court can provide remedy in the form of damage

Fair report privlege

A privilege claimed by journalists who report events on the basis of official records.

Single-publication rule

A rule that limits libel victims to only one cause of action even with multiple publications of the libel, common in the mass media and on websites.

Intermediate scrutiny

A standard applied by the courts to review laws that implicate core constitutional values; also called heightened review

Criminal law

A system of law concerned with the punishment of those who commit crimes

Strict scrutiny

A test for determining the constitutionality of laws aimed at speech content, under which the government must show it is using the least restrictive means available to directly advance a compelling interest

Prior restraint

Action taken by the government to prohibit publication of a specific document or text before it is distributed to the public; a policy that requires government approval before publication

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that public officials and public figures bringing suits for intentional infliction of emotional distress must prove what?

Actual malice

What is not a libel defense?

Actual malice

New York Times Co. vs. Sullivan

After police commissioner L.B. Sullivan sued The New York Times for libel, the Supreme Court ruled Sullivan could not recover damages unless he proved The New York Times published an ad about public officials knowing it was false. To prove libel, it must be proven the newspaper acted with actual malice.

Which phrase is most closely synonymous with "celebrity"?

All-purpose public figure

Innocent construction

Allegedly libelous words that are capable of being interpreted, or construed, to have an innocent meaning are not libelous, so long as that interpretation is a reasonable one.

First Amendment

Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, prohibiting Congress from interfering with freedom of religion, speech, assembly, or petition

Conditional or qualified privlege

An exemption from liability for repeating defamatory words of and concerning another because the original statement was made within the performance of duty such as in judicial or political contexts

Opinion

An inference or conclusion drawn by a witness from facts some of which are known to him and others assumed, or drawn from facts which, though lending probability to the inference, do not evolve it by a process of absolutely necessary reasoning.

Slander

Associated with spoken words that damage reputation.

Libel

Associated with written words that damage reputation; likely causes more harm than slander because it lasts longer.

Public officials

Based on court rulings, a public figure is an individual who serves in public office, campaigns for public office, or participates in policy development.

Trade libel

Criticism of products rather than people or businesses

Which element of the libel plaintiff's case is most directly associated with damaged reputation?

Defamation

Proximate cause

Determining whether it is reasonable to conclude the defendant's actions led to the plaintiff's injury.

Viewpoint-based discrimination

Government censorship or punishment of expression based on the ideas or attitudes expressed. Courts will apply a strict scrutiny test to determine whether the government acted constitutionally.

Public forum (traditional)

Government property held for use by the public, usually for purposes of exercising rights of speech and assembly

Designated public forum

Government spaces or buildings that are available for public use (within limits)

Nonpublic forum

Government-held property that is not available for public speech and assembly purposes.

Supreme Court

the highest federal court in the US, consisting of nine justices and taking judicial precedence over all other courts in the nation

Neutral reportage

In libel law, a defense accepted in some jurisdictions that says that when an accusation is made by a responsible and prominent organization, reporting that accusation is protected by the First Amendment even when it turns out the accusation is false and libelous.

Private figures

In libel law, a plaintiff who cannot be categorized as either a public figure or a public official. Generally, in order to recover damages, a private figure is required to prove not actual malice but merely negligence on the part of the defendant

Public figures

In libel law, a plaintiff who is in the public spotlight, usually voluntarily, and must prove the defendant acted with actual malice in order to win damages.

Actual malice

In libel law, a statement made knowing it is false or with reckless disregard for truth; knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth.

To win an intentional infliction of emotional distress suit, a plaintiff may what?

May show the defendant acted in a reckless way that could cause emotional distress

What best describes the response of the nation's courts to the neutral reportage libel defense?

Most courts have not adopted it

Fault

Negligence or sloppy reporting is using an untrustworthy news source, failure to seek additional information from the person that is the subject of the story, failure to allow the person to respond, failure to check dubious facts, or failure to read pertinent documents.

According to the single-publication rule, subsequent sales or issues of publications are what?

Not considered to be new publications, and therefore, are not susceptible to libel claims

Executive actions

Orders from a government executive, such as the president, a governor or a mayor, that have the force of law

Writ of Certiorari

Petition for review by the Supreme Court of the United States; certiorari means "to be informed of"

Fair report privilege

Priviledge claimed by journalists that

The idea that material cannot be libelous when it is unbelievable relates to which libel defense?

Rhetorical hyperbole

In defending a lawsuit based on statements of opinion, a defendant may win the case by arguing that the statements are

Rhetorical hyperbole, protected by the First Amendment, fair comment and criticism

Incitement test

Says that advocacy of illegal action is protected by the 1st amendment unless imminent lawless action is intended and likely to occur

Constitutional law(s)

Set of laws that establish the nature, functions and limits of government.

According to the libel-proof plaintiff doctrine, what?

Some people have reputations so bad that even false and defamatory claims cannot harm their reputations any further

Ad hoc balancing

Making decisions according to the specific facts of the case under review rather than more general principles.

Publication

Making material public to only one person other than the plaintiff and defendant in a libel suit.

Negligence

Generally, the failure to exercise reasonable or ordinary care. In libel law, negligence is usually the minimum level of fault a plaintiff must prove in order to receive damages.

The notion that the mere threat of any kind of lawsuit decreases the aggressiveness of the news media and their willingness to pursue and publish/broadcast hard-hitting stories is most commonly referred to as what?

Chilling effect

Seditious libel

Communication meant to incite people to change the government; criticism of the government

Seditious libel

Communication meant to incite people to change the government; criticism of the government.

A false light plaintiff must prove the story did what?

Made him or her appear to be someone he or she is not

Clear and present danger

Doctrine establishing that restrictions on First Amendment rights will be upheld if they are unnecessary to prevent an extremely serious and imminent harm

Elements that could help show actual malice include what?

Failure to check facts, quickly publishing a story when the news is not "hot", and fabricating interviews

Which federal government agency protects consumer privacy and enforces federal privacy laws?

Federal Trade Commission

Underinclusive

First Amendment doctrine that disfavors narrow laws that target a subset of a recognized category for discriminatory treatment.

Most of the recent Supreme Court cases involving privacy are directly tied to which Constitutional amendment?

Fourth

Intrusion

Intruding upon the seclusion or solitude of another, an information gathering claim, doesn't require publication

Law of Equity

Law created by judges to apply general principles of ethics and fairness, rather than specific legal rules, to determine the proper remedy for legal harm

Content-based laws

Laws enacted because of the message, the subject matter or the ideas expressed in the regulated speech

Content neutral laws

Laws enacted to advance a government purpose unrelated to the content of speech; laws that incidentally and unintentionally affect speech as they advance other important government interests.