Course

Media Law: General Principles - LAWS3221

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Undergraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

Enrolment Requirements:

Prerequisite: Completion of 78 UOC in LAWS courses.

Excluded: JURD7421

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

This course focuses on the principal legal areas affecting media content. An underlying theme of the course will be the relationship between free speech and the legal restrictions imposed upon the media. It is a companion course to LAWS3222, Communications Law. You will find also that the course builds on your knowledge of a variety of legal topics already studied in your program, such as, for example, torts, criminal law, and constitutional law, but requires you to rethink these areas from the perspective of how they impact upon media as they carry out their roles of reporting and commenting. The course will cover the core areas of media law and its general principles, but will also consider new frontiers in media law and contemporary case studies.

Main Topics
  • freedom of speech and the media, including consideration of offensive speech and sedition
  • media ownership
  • open justice, reporting the courts and contempt of court (including the protection of sources)
  • defamation law
  • privacy and breach of confidence
  • new media regulation
More information can be found on the Course Outline Website.
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