Professor Bill F. Chamberlin

MMC 6666 / Seminar in Research in Mass Communications Law / 4 credits

Law 6936 / Advanced Media Law Research / 3 credits

Fall Semester 2005

You need different criteria for grading assignment 5 than you used for the others. Look at your description of the assigment,

MMC 6666 / Seminar in Research in Mass Communications Law / 4 credits

Law 6936 / Advanced Media Law Research / 3 credits

Fall Semester 2004

Instructor: Prof. Bill F. Chamberlin

Office: 2060 Weimer

Office Hours: Mondays 10-11:30, 1-1:45, 4-4:45

Wednesdays 1-1:45, after 4-4:45

I am often available Thursdays and Fridays, particularly in the afternoon and particularly by appointment. Usually Tuesday is the only day that it is often hard for you to find me, frequently because I am preparing for you on Wednesday.

Telephone: 352-273-1095

Email: bchamberlin@jou.ufl.edu. Students will find that this is usually the quickest and most reliable way to find me. The jou.ufl.edu (office) email address is safer to use, particularly on Mondays and Wednesdays, than an address I often use to send things to you. I will not see bchamberlin2@cox.net after 9 any night (and sometimes earlier) and on Mondays and Wednesdays.

CATALOG DESCRIPTION. In-depth investigation of legal research techniques for the mass communications scholar. Student research required. Prerequisite: Graduate level mass media law course, legal research methods course, or permission of instructor.

COURSE GOALS. 1) To learn the legal research and writing techniques necessary to produce theses, dissertations, and publishable articles; 2) to learn the literature of one mass media law topic; 3) to learn about media law legal research resources; and 4) to produce a research project

The class and therefore the syllabus are not as simple as they might be because this one class is actually two courses for different credit, and at least three different kinds of students are involved. The diversity makes for a great class, and the class organization tries to serve the needs of all.

FOCUS. We will concentrate on an academic perspective of legal research, which will be explained in class. Professionals cannot only use legal research to practice law, but also to report the courts, to survive in an academic environment, and to add to our knowledge of law. Research involves more than just finding information. An important part of research is the development of the research idea, picking the right research methods, knowing what is acceptable to a particular audience (including but not limited to publication editors), and gearing your end product to your audience. From the beginning of this class, we are going to strive toward making our work professionally acceptable, including preparing papers for conferences, conventions, and publications. Students should keep post-Thanksgiving paper conference deadlines in mind (dates will be announced in class and posted in 2060 Weimer). However, the class grades are not based on publishing ability.

This is not a legal research class in the sense of the first semester of legal research in the law school. We will focus on legal research tools most appropriate to our topic and those not discussed thoroughly in most law school courses. We also will spend time learning our subject matter and discussing how to put together a research project. The information we learn can be applied to writing for academic journals, law journals, or legal briefs.

The course tries to avoid unnecessary redundancy for those who have already had a legal research course in the College of Law. On the other hand, there may be students in the class who have had no previous opportunity to gain basic legal research skills. Students who have had no previous legal research opportunities should talk to the instructor about picking up basic tips, including in the legal proseminar. However, MMC 6666 is the primary legal research course in the graduate communications curriculum, and therefore the place students need to make sure they get the legal research skills they need for researching and writing legal research-based theses. Therefore, MMC 6666 provides different assignment tracks for students with different needs.

FORMAT. Most of this class will be a directed discussion. The quality of class discussion depends on everyone coming to class regularly, on time (with the exception of travel time to and from the law school that cannot always be controlled), and prepared. Therefore, students will be expected to have read materials assigned before the class discussions and will be graded on their participation. Many student papers, including the final class project, will be discussed in class. There will be no examinations.

READINGS. Everyone will be expected to have, and use, A Uniform System of Citation, the seventeenth edition, put out by the Ivy League law schools.

One other text will be required, at least for the students who have never had a legal research course in the law schools: Christina L. Kunz, Deborah A. Schmedemann, Matthew P. Downs, Ann L. Bateson, The Process of Legal Research, Fifth Edition (paperback available).

This syllabus lists most, but not all, of the assigned reading for the semester. A coursepack is available at Custom Copy and/or Wilbert’s. Otherwise, readings will be available as announced in class at the Neuharth Library of the College of Journalism and Communications, my office, the main university library, and the Holland Information Center. A reserve list will be passed out the first week of class.

ASSIGNMENTS. Each student’s background will determine the appropriate assignments. Everything in standard black type in the syllabus applies to all students. Blue type indicates assignments required only of the LAW 6936 students. Orange type signifies assignments required of MA/JD and Ph.D. students who have had a legal research course in the law school. Those who have not had a basic legal research course at the law school, and who are not registered this semester in the legal proseminar, should use the purple track on the syllabus. Those who have not had a basic legal research course at the law school, but who are taking the legal proseminar, should use the green track. When one line has a mix of colors, all of the colors indicated should do the assignment.

Having taken MMC 5206, MMC 6202, RTV 5702, and/or PR Law does automatically qualify for having adequate prior legal research background to quality for the orange assignment. If you think you do not need the basic legal research background indicated in purple in the syllabus, please see the instructor within the first week of the course.

GRADING. The course grade will be based on three components, weighted differently for the different color tracks:

6936 Students (3-credit students):

30 percent--Class discussion (Do you participate? Are you prepared to participate when called upon in class? What kind of contributions do you make to the class? Are you intellectually involved even if you tend to be quiet? Do you have more than three absences without seeking special accommodation with the instructor? Are you often late to class without clearing your delay with the instructor?) The three-credit students can miss four or perhaps five more classes without being penalized that other students.

35 percent—Reading analyses and other research-related assignments, including abstract and cover letter

35 percent—Major research project (including project idea-5%, project proposal-10%,

class discussion-10%, final version-75%)

MA/JD and PhD students with a prior legal research course:

30 percent--Class discussion (see details in blue grade discussion above).

35 percent—Reading analyses and other research-related assignments, project literature review, abstract, and a cover letter (lit review worth double the reading assignments and the cover letter one quarter)

35 percent—Major research project (including project idea-5%, project proposal-10%,

first version-20%, oral presentation-15%, final version-50%)

Students without a prior legal research course, but who are in legal proseminar:

30 percent--Class discussion (see details in blue grade discussion above).

35 percent—Reading analyses and other research-related assignments, project literature review, case brief, abstract, and a cover letter (lit review worth double the reading assignments and the cover letter one quarter)

35 percent—major research project (including project idea-5%, project proposal-10%,

first version-20%, oral presentation-15%, final version-50%)

Students without a prior legal research course, and who are not in the legal proseminar:

30 percent--Class discussion (see details in blue grade discussion above).

40 percent—reading analyses and other basic legal research assignments, cover letter(attendance at law library and Lexis seminar-5 percent; cover letter-5 percent; case brief and related purple assignment, and five critiques worth 10 percent a piece; legal research assignment 25 percent)

30 percent—major research project (including project idea-5%, project proposal-10%,

class discussion-10%, literature review-25 percent, final paper-50 percent)

Any student research paper, to receive a B, must be graduate level work. This includes following the instructions for the assignment, providing a good organization, basing the paper on adequate and accurate research, providing a complete analysis of the topic at hand, documenting all statements of evidence in the paper, and making sure the spelling is accurate, the grammar is sound, and the narrative is easy for the reader to follow. An A paper must go beyond the above and provide an effective analysis of the topic. In order to receive an A, a paper should provide extraordinary context, vision, and originality. A paper with effective analysis and extraordinary insights—but with grammar, organizational or other fundamental errors--can obtain a grade better than it would have otherwise. The expectation in the class is that a master’s student who has had any media law class or some graduate coursework can succeed with due diligence and effort. A second or third year law student need have no prior media law background.

Specific grading factors for individual assignments will be announced in class. If you need to miss a class, it is your responsibility to get all details involving an assignment from the instructor or from a colleague in class. September and October class assignments are reduced one full grade for every class day late. You will see that not keeping up with class makes it very difficult for you to have a positive learning environment. The first version of term papers will be turned on the day they are due, regardless of the condition they are in. Individual due dates will be discussed in class and will not be change once they are established.

Project proposals must include the research question, an explanation of all key words in the research question, the purpose of the project, the justification, the focus of the project, the parameters of the project, the research methodology, the target audience of the research, a preliminary outline, and an initial bibliography. The research method must provide data that will answer the research question.

ELECTRONIC PAPER DELIVERY

I accept paper delivery through e-mail as long as an individual student before the first assignment delivers to me a ream of paper or shares with another student in delivering to me a ream of paper. For students who share, additional paper may be needed later. I am willing to accept e-mailed papers as long as I do not absorb the paper costs for everyone and as long as perhaps a little of my toner costs are offset by a little more paper than is needed.

LEXIS

If you do not have a Lexis account because you are a Ph.D. student not currently taking law courses, or an MAMC student, please contact the instructor immediately. You will need to use Lexis or Westlaw in this class to perform adequately without

being at a severe comparative disadvantage with your classmates.

COLLEGE OF LAW WRITING REQUIREMENT

Because I am an affiliate professor of the College of Law, I can sign the legal writing certificate. This course, because of its writing requirements, qualifies as meeting the requirement. In order to receive a legal writing certificate, please fill out a

certificate and hand it in with your paper, or indicate on your paper that you need a legal writing certificate.

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS

Students requesting special class accommodations should see the instructor but in all likelihood they will have to register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.

SEMESTER PLAN

Much of the semester we will be pursuing three different agendas at the same time.

I. Overview and critique the literature of your topic including scholarly books, academic journals, trade journals, law review articles, practice guides, legal loose-leaf services, treatises, and textbooks.

Focus: Who is the author? What is his/her purpose? What is his/her method? What is his/her point of view? What is the range of material discussed? What is the depth of the discussion? What are the requirements of the publications? Who is the intended audience? Does the author do what he/she says he/she will do? Is the method being used the most appropriate for the purpose of the research project? Is the method used appropriately? How recently has the research been published?

Assignments: Reading analysis assignments; accumulation of class bibliographic materials; and literature review for individual major class projects.

II. Legal research techniques--finding and interpreting case materials, statutory materials, and administrative law materials; using computer research techniques, and using social science in legal research.

Focus: This class is primarily taught from the point of view of an academic who needs to publish legal research; this is somewhat different than the legal research and writing lawyers do. We will discuss the difference. What we learn can be used for both.

Assignments: Practice assignments and accumulation of research tool tips for the different color tracks.

III. A fair amount of the semester will be devoted to the development of individual research projects. Early in the semester, we will review the literature to obtain background information and determine appropriate research projects, and then each of you will select individual research topics. Later we will define the projects, focus them, explain the theoretical frameworks, discuss the research methodologies, analyze the resources necessary for the projects, and provide operational definitions. We will discuss each individual project in class.

Assignments: Graduate students will be expected to produce a research proposal and subsequently either a graduate-level research project or a chapter of a thesis or dissertation. Students in LAW 6936 have the option of preparing a legal brief or a case note or comment. Students in MMC 6667 who are not preparing the first chapters of theses or dissertations should aim projects toward convention papers and/or publication. Some students, as part of their class requirements, will be expected to provide a second version of their class projects.

A topic for a legal research paper must be related to media law and cleared by the instructor. Some topic ideas will be provided. You can work at either the state or the federal level.

The length of the project will depend on your topic and the target publication. The only length requirement is that papers be at least 20 pages of manuscript (250 words a page) unless you receive specific permission from the instructor to do otherwise. You are expected to do whatever you do thoroughly. Legal footnotes are required, of course. A bibliography is not. Papers must be typed (or computer products) and double-spaced. Footnotes should be at the bottom of each page unless your word-processing program makes that difficult or impossible, or unless you are formatting to match your targeted publication.

UNIVERSITY HONOR CODE

“We, the members of the University of Florida community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honesty and integrity.”

Plagiarism or cheating of any kind will not be tolerated in this class. In fact, we will discuss in class the risks of plagiarism to professional careers in research and writing. Does anyone remember what happened to Joe Biden, Stan Ingber, or Doris Kearns Goodwin? Your research paper should be prepared by you for this class. Duplicate work for another class is not acceptable. Work on a topic that you have done work on before can be acceptable with the approval of the instructor.

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES, READINGS, AND ASSIGNMENTS

The schedule below is subject to change; you are responsible for knowing adjustments mentioned in class. The number of students in the class will affect the schedule for November and December because much of the time is allocated to discussion of student projects. Adjustments may be made as the instructor determines the pace of the class.

For an explanation of the color coding below, see ASSIGNMENTS above.

Law students need to note, and prepare for, the fact that LAW 6936/MMC 6666 meets during the law school final exam period. Law students will be expected to attend class throughout the semester consistent with grading discussion above in blue.

Aug. 24 (W) Course Introduction; room scheduling for next session and for the semester; how to approach a legal research project; semester schedule for legal research project; how to read scholarly literature.

   Announcement of Assignment #1: Book Interpretation

   Announcement of Assignment #2: Academic Journals in Communications

Aug. 29 (M)   Fundamentals of critical reading for academic research; reading for preparation of lit review; introduction to legal research from academic perspective; research ideas

   Reading: Locke, Silverman, and Spirduso, Reading and

   Understanding Research, 1998, pp. 24-25, 56-57, 93-101

   (related to first assignment)

   Class syllabus (thoroughly).

   Announcement of Assignment #3: Sources Available



Aug. 31 (W)   Communications law materials

   Reading: Kunz, chs. 1-2.

     Marshall and Rossman, Designing Qualitative Research,

     chapter 1 up to vignette (beginning p. 17 in coursepak)

   Requirement for Purple (if needed): electronic data basetraining (in

       coordination with media law proseminar; see instructor) and

       assignment

Sept. 1 (Th) No class

   DUE (1 p.m. in Weimer 2060 or email by Fri 8 a.m.) -- Assignment #1:

       Book Interpretation

Sept. 3 (M)   Labor Day (no class)

Sept. 7 (W)    (Both Law 6936 and MMC 6666 will meet on Wednesday at the

   normal time rather than special schedule of the College of Law

   because of Labor Day)

   Book treatment of media law; the nature of academic research in law.

   Reading: Marshall and Rossman, 3 rd edit., ch. 2 to bottom p. 32,

       bottom of p. 38 to p. 40 (coursepak).

Announcement of Assignment #4: Law Reviews

   Announcement ofAssignment #5: Theses and Dissertations

   Requirement for Purple (if you haven’t done it before): law library visit (in coordination with media law proseminar; see instructor)

Sept. 12 (M) Continued discussion of the nature of legal research

   Due: Assignment #2, Academic Journals in Communications



Sept. 14 (W)   Discussing research ideas and the market

   Reading: Kunz, ch. 3, 9

   The Iowa Guide, available on the Internet) (All students should

   skim, looking primarily for the publications that might be

   interested in their topic)

   Due: Assignment #3, Sources Available

   Due: Research Questions

   Requirement for week for Purple: work with proseminar on

        Legal Research Package

Sept. 19 (M)   The resources available and academic journals

   Reading: Kunz, chs. 4-9

Sept. 21 (W)   The research process

Reading: Marshall and Rossman, 3rd edition, pp. 32-38

Due: Assignment #4, Law reviews and other professional journals



Sept. 26 (M)   The role of research proposals

   Reading: Kunz, chs. 10-11

Ashcroft v. ACLU, 122 S. Ct. 1700 (2002)

     Case briefhandout

Sept. 28 (W) Assessing law reviews and journals; introduction to reading and

     finding court opinions

Due: Research Proposals for Orange and Blue

Oct. 3 (M) More on court opinions and using computerized research

Due: Purple Research assignment #1 (case brief)

Oct. 5 (W) Discussing court opinions, lit reviews, assignments

Reading: Kunz, chs. 12 and 13

Karl Llewellyn, “Remarks on the Theory of Appellate Decision and

the Rules or Canons About How Statutes are to be construed,”

3 Vanderbilt L. Rev. 395 (1950) (enjoy this!) (coursepak)

Due: Research Proposals for Purpleand Green

Oct. 10 (M) The nuts and bolts of legislative research

Read: William N. Eskridge, Jr., “The New Textualism,” 37 UCLA L.

Rev. 621 (1989) (see on line; not in coursepak)

Oct. 12 (W)Discuss legislative research

Due:Project Literature Review for Orange



Oct. 17 (M) Discuss legislative research and project proposals

Due: Project Literature Review for Green

Oct. 19(W) Building a research paper: what can we learn from someone else?

Reading: “Broadcast, Cable, and Digital Must Carry: The Other Digital

   Divide” in course pack

Due: Proseminar legal research assignments #2 and #3—Statutory and

   Constitutional

Oct. 24(M) Discuss preparation for student projects, including

Readings: Writing Rules, Tips for Proper English, Triple-Threat

   Grammarian, Owed to a Spell Checker, coursepak

Kunz, chs. 14-17

Due: Proposed dates for assignment #5, Thesesand Dissertations

Oct. 26(W) Discuss administrative research and rules of procedure

Oct. 31(M) Discuss the real world of plagiarism and cover letters

Readings: Plagiarism materials (Ingber and “Historians Shift Policy on

Plagiarism”).

Sample cover letters in coursepak

Due: Proseminar Legal assignments #4 and #5—Administrative Law

     and Court Rules

Nov. 2(W) Interviews and the Internet

Due: Project Literature Review for Purple

Nov. 7(M) Discuss research papers

Reading: Research papers for the day

Nov. 9(W) Class paper discussions

Reading: Papers to be discussed for the day

Nov. 14(M) Class paper discussions

Due: Two class projects, including abstracts

Reading: Papers to be discussed for the day

Nov. 16 (W) Class paper discussions

Due: Class papers, including abstracts

Due: Last of purple assignment package

Reading: Papers to be discussed for the day

Nov. 21 (M) Class paper discussions

Due: Class projects, including abstracts

Reading: Papers to be discussed today

Nov. 23 (W) Class paper discussions

Due: Class projects

Due: Blue Book work for Purple, including proseminar discussion

Reading: Papers to be discussed today

Nov. 28 (M) Class paper discussions

Reading: Class projects

Due: Expanded project proposal for purple

Nov. 30 (W) Discuss social science research about legal topics

Reading: Guido H. Stempel III, “A Guttman Scale Analysis of the

Burger Court’s Press Decisions,” Journalism Quarterly (in

Coursepak, at 191)

   Laurence B. Alexander, Linda M. Perry, and Bill F. Chamberlin,

"Branzburg v. Hayes revisited: A survey of journalists who

have become subpoena targets," Newspaper Research

Journal, Vol. 15, Spring 1994, No. 1, p. 83 (in coursepak).

   Linda M. Perry, “Public Opinion: An Influence in Supreme Court

   Libel Decisions” (published manuscript in coursepak)

Due: Cover letters

Dec. 5 (W) Evaluating projects combing legal and social science research

Reading: John B. Adams, “State Open Meetings Law: An Overview,”

     Columbia, Mo. Freedom of Information Foundation, 1974) (in coursepak).

   Sharon Hartin Iorio, “ How State Open Meetings Law Now Compare

       With Those of 1974,” Journalism Quarterly (in coursepak).

   Project Description, http://www.capaccess.org.

Due: Second version, semester projects for orange

Dec. 7 (M) Discuss the role of scholarly research in communications law

Reading: Handout of legal scholarship academic heritage

EARLY ASSIGNMENTS

FIRST ASSIGNMENT – DUE SEPT. 1 in class.

Write a double-spaced analysis comparing two books. The analysis should be at least three pages but you might use a few more. You may not have to read the entire book. Only skim and read enough to complete the requirement.

Two purposes for the assignment: 1) to begin to examine the research and writing approaches of different authors and 2) to begin background reading in the general media law topic you want to explore for your major semester research project.

Select two kinds of books. Those of you who do not know the general research area for your project, or who need an overview of the law in order to see what you might be interested in, should select one textbook in media law. One of them, Middleton, Lee, and Chamberlin, The Law of Public Communication, is on reserve in the Weimer reading room. Other texts you can use are that latest versions of Communication and the Law, edited by W. Wat Hopkins or Mass Media Law by Don Pember; Jan Samoriski, Issues in Cyberspace: Richard C. Leone and Greg Anrig, Jr., edits., The War on Our Freedoms, Communication, Technology, Law and Society on the Internet Frontier, Allyn and Bacon (2002); Stuart Minor Benjamin, Douglas, Gary Lichtman & Howard A. Shelanski, Telecommunications Law and Policy, Carolina Academic Press (2001); Modern Communication Law, by Harvey Zuckman, Charles H. Kennedy, Robert L. Corn-Revere and Robert M Frieden (the latter two designed for law school use unlike the other two) are on reserve. Many similar books are available in the libraries. For the textbooks, concentrate on the author’s introductory materials and the chapters on topics you may want to explore for your project. Look for the latest edition of the textbook you can find. Most should have a 2003 or 2004 version.

If you do a textbook, the other book should be any book on your topic that you clear with the instructor. Look for a general book on your topic that will help you understand your subject and lead you to other resources. You may well want to look at a practice

guide. You can ask the instructor for ideas. Those of you who do not need a textbook still need to pick two different kinds of books for the assignment (for example, a practice guide and a trade book or one written for a general audience and one for a sophisticated audience).

If you have no idea what you want to do for your semester project, you may want to talk to the instructor before you choose your books.

In your analysis, compare the two books. Look for differences in the authors’ purpose, research method, organization and perspective (Who are the authors and who are they writing to? What topics do they cover? What are their writing styles, including what kind of language do they use? Do they report cases? Do they explain issues? Do the books focus on history or current law? How current are the books? Are the books more of a prescription for media professionals, an overview for students, or a more theoretical discussion? Do they use examples? What are the biases evident in the books? What are the distinctions in the content of the textual matter itself and the supportive information such as footnotes, bibliographies, and appendices? Also see “Focus” under the Semester Plan above. You may be asked to provide an oral report in class and you certainly will be expected to contribute to the class discussion. Tell me how you know—explain.

You can use books you already have read if they are approved by the instructor as appropriate for the assignment.

Class will involve about five critical reading assignments. As soon as you receive at least one A and one A- you will have the option of reporting your work in class rather than on paper.

SECOND ASSIGNMENT – DUE SEPT. 12 in class

This assignment is almost the same as the one above except that you should compare:

Sigman L. Splichal and Bill F. Chamberlin, “The Fight for Access to Government Records Round Two: Enter the Computer,” Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 71, No. 3, 550-560 (Autumn 1994).

Michael Hoefges, “Taking it Back in Cyberspace: State Retraction Statutes and Defamation Claims Against Online Newspapers,” in Newspaper Research Journal, 1998.

Martin Halstuk, “Blurred Vision: How Supreme Court FOIA Opinions on Privacy Have Missed the Target of Legislative Intent,” Communication Law and Policy, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Winter 1999) (should be on Lexis and Lexis Universe).

The journals are three of the most significant academic journals for legal scholars in communications programs.

You should follow the instructions for assignment one. In addition, note the nature of the research design in each article. Observe the general differences in the journals, even perhaps glancing through the other articles in the volume you see. Take note of how you might write differently for the three journals. In addition, you should discuss the differences in the kind of articles related to media law in each journal.