Make the Most of Your Winter Break

jobsWhether you are seeking a summer internship or post-graduate employment, the winter break provides a great opportunity for you to further your job search.  If you are interested in media law, the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy’s Job Center is the place to start. 

It’s easy to use. You can browse by job type or category, or use our advanced search feature to search by location, keyword, or practice area.  Also, try browsing by job type or category for a more expansive look at what jobs are available.  Just like that, opportunities for internships, fellowships, and academic teaching positions (in Journalism and Law) are at your fingertips.

It offers a wide variety of job opportunities.  There are job opportunities from almost every field even remotely under the media law and policy umbrella, including IP, Copyright, Photo Journalism, Broadcast, FTC listings, Cyberlaw, Trademark.  Here are just 3 of the 14 internship opportunities available in different bureaus and offices within the FCC that were recently posted on our Job Center:

  • Office of Legislative Affairs Internship: The OLA is the FCC’s liaison to Congress. OLA provides lawmakers with information regarding FCC regulatory decisions, answers to policy questions, and assistance with constituent concerns. The Office also prepares FCC witnesses for Congressional hearings, and helps create FCC responses to legislative proposals and Congressional inquiries. Candidates should have a strong academic record, an interest in communications law, and a desire to explore public service. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
  • Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis Internship: OSP advises the Chairman, Commissioners, Bureaus, and Offices on the agency’s plans and policies. OSP also provides research, advice, and analysis of advanced, novel, and non-traditional communications issues. Applicants should have good written and oral communications skills, some relevant academic training, and a strong interest in communications or media policy. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. (Ideally, applications should be submitted 1-5 months prior to desired start date.)
  • Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Internship:  The Wireless Bureau is responsible for facilitating the rapid and widespread deployment of wireless broadband services, ensuring an effective and interoperable communications environment supporting homeland security and public safety first responders, fostering a forward-looking and cohesive focus concerning spectrum policy and competition, and promoting efficient and transparent access to spectrum including the transition to innovative uses. Most candidates are law students, but WTB may consider other disciplines related to its mission. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. (For maximum consideration, apply for a summer internship position by March 31, 2016.)

(Click here to read about a UNC student’s summer experience at the FCC.) 

Most importantly, we bring our network to you.  The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy has built up a large (and growing) network of media law and policy minded folks over the years, and they are often looking for people just like you. From the multidisciplinary project Privacy Tools For Sharing Research Data at Harvard (for undergraduates, law students, graduate students, postdocs, and visiting scholars) to a tenure-track faculty position in media law at the University of Minnesota our network of contacts are constantly making us aware of openings and opportunities in the field of media law and policy. Our Job Center database brings that network to you.  For free.  Just like that.

Remember our Job Center is available year-round. We encourage you to take advantage of this great resource. Have a happy and productive winter break, from the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy! 

Chanda Marlowe is a 3L at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

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Required Drone Registration Coming

Required Drone Registration

Drone owners will be required to register their aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) soon. The FAA’s drone registration task force is expected to finalize its recommendations for drone registration guidelines by Friday, November 20, 2015.

The FAA announced the creation of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Registration Task Force on October 29, and said its goal was to establish recommended guidelines for drone registration. During the meetings, members discussed “how an operator might prove a UAS is registered, how the aircraft would be marked, and how to use the registration process to encourage or require UAS operators to become educated on basic safety rules,” according to a news update on the FAA’s website.

The task force’s last meeting occurred on November 5 and they will finalize their recommendations for FAA Administrator Michael Huerta to review by November 20.

Drone safety rules are increasingly disregarded and officials have trouble tracking down rule-breakers under the current system. Pilots have reported more than 650 sightings of drones from the start of the year to August 9, despite it being illegal and dangerous to fly drones by planes or helicopters.

For more on this subject, check out these articles:

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UNC J-School Professor Authors Book on Hot News in the Age of Big Data

9781593325008-Perfect.inddDr. Victoria “Tori” Smith Ekstrand, the director of communications for the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, has recently published a book, Hot News in the Age of Big Data: A Legal History of the Hot News Doctrine and Implications for the Digital Age (LFB Scholarly).  

Ekstrand is an expert on the hot news doctrine, a part of unfair competition law that protects the facts of news for a short period. Her book examines the doctrine’s nearly 100-year history and its continued ability to preserve the economic value of news and information for its creators. Though declared dead by some, Ekstrand argues, the doctrine is very much alive as common law and has significant implications for the new age of big data.

Dr. Ekstrand is an assistant professor in the School of Media and Journalism at UNC and a former executive for The Associated Press in New York City.

Congratulations, Tori!

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Meet Maria Mullis, the Winner of Our #uncfree Instagram Contest

uncfree

“Freedom of speech for my inner rebel. Freedom of press for my inner journalist.” — Maria Mullis, UNC ’17

UNC student Maria Mullis is the winner of the 2015 #uncfree Instagram Contest. The contest was part of Carolina’s seventh-annual First Amendment Day celebration, which is designed to both celebrate the First Amendment and explore its role in the lives of Carolina students. Anyone who filled out an “I believe in the First Amendment because…” mini poster, took a picture with/of the poster, and posted it to Instagram with the hashtag #uncfree on First Amendment Day was eligible to win. 

Maria posted, “I believe in the First Amendment because… Freedom of speech for my inner rebel. Freedom of press for my inner journalist.”  Her winning photo and caption earned her a First Amendment Day t-shirt, a $20 Starbucks gift card, and a chance for her quote to be featured on next year’s First Amendment Day t-shirt.  

Maria is a junior from Norwood, N.C., double majoring in public relations and political science. She has always been interested in politics, and coming to UNC has developed her interest in public relations. For her, the two majors mesh well and combine both her interests and ideal career options. After UNC, Mullis would like to attend law school. She is interested in the prospect of doing a dual-degree program. Mullis is still deciding which area of law she is interested in, but is considering media law, entertainment law, and constitutional law.

First Amendment Day is organized by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy. The center is a collaboration between the School of Media and Journalism and the School of Law. Generous funding for the day’s events is provided by Time Warner Cable.

Congratulations, Maria! 

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First Amendment Day Events

FirstAmendmentDay

Carolina’s seventh-annual First Amendment Day celebration will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. You can view the full schedule of events here. 

Organized by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, this year’s festivities will include a banned-book reading by Chancellor Carol Folt; a First Amendment trivia contest; and a keynote address by Danielle Keats Citron, a legal scholar who has written extensively about hate crimes in cyberspace — especially those targeting women. There also will be a panel discussion at which UNC student journalists will discuss their problems covering UNC athletics. Steve Kirschner, the senior associate athletic director for communications at UNC, will be on the panel to respond. At a second panel discussion, students and others will discuss the symbols of the South that have created a firestorm of opinion about their meaning and their impact on students. The panelists will explore the law regarding these controversial Southern symbols and the activism surrounding symbols of the South.

Generous funding for the day’s events is provided by Time Warner Cable.

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