UNSW Handbook - Back to Home

Direct Find

Use this search only if you have an exact code for a Program, Stream, or Course, e.g. 3400, ACCTA13502, ACCT1501 or ACCT*.

Course

Contempt and the Media - JURD7741

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Kensington Campus

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 4

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: 36 UOC of JURD courses for students enrolled prior to 2013. For students enrolled after 2013, pre-requisite: 72 UOC of JURD courses.

Excluded: JURD7342, LAWS3034, LAWS3042, LAWS8141

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 is concerned with laws that impose significant legal restrictions upon what the media, or other communicators to large-scale audiences, may publish under Australian law. The focus is on traditional mass media, though due attention is made to the emergence of new technologies of electronic communication. The course begins with some consideration of the meaning or meanings of freedom of expression and the extent to which it is protected in general terms under Australian constitutional law. The focus then turns to specific laws having a significant daily impact on the contents of publications. Many of the topics have a long, if not necessarily distinguished, history in English and Australian law. But some of the restrictions being studied are of very recent origin: for example, it was only in 1989 that specific restrictions on publications inciting racial hatred were introduced into New South Wales.


Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

Overall, the aim of the course is to acquaint you with:
  • The general principles and some of the legal intricacies in each of the topics
  • The thematic links between them
  • Some aspects of their operation in practice
  • Some historical, comparative and policy aspects

Main Topics

  • Free speech versus judicial authority
  • Free speech versus fair trial
  • Reporting court proceedings

Assessment

Research essay OR take-home exam 3,000 - 4,500 words 90%
Class participation  Preparation and engagement in class 10%
 

Course Texts

Prescribed
None

Recommended
  • D Butler and S Rodrick, Australian Media Law (LBC, 1999)
  • M Armstrong, D Lindsay & R Watterson, Media Law in Australia, (3rd ed, 1995) L/KN340/A9/2 - this is useful introductory reading.

Resources

The Law School Materials and Cases will constitute the principal reading. They will be distributed in classes, together with one-page guides indicating the most important readings.
Graduation Group

Study Levels

Undergraduate Study Postgraudate Study Postgraduate Research Study Non-Award Study

UNSW Quick Links

Apply Online Fees and Financial Assitance Academic Calendar