UNC Media Law Students, Faculty Present Research in San Francisco

By on August 3, 2015 in Journalism

aejmcThe UNC Center for Media Law and Policy’s director of communications and three graduate students are presenting research papers in the Law and Policy Division at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) national convention in San Francisco this week.  One of those students also had a media law paper accepted in the Cultural and Critical Studies Division.

The media law center’s director of communications is Tori Ekstrand, an assistant professor in the UNC School of Media and Journalism. Her paper won second prize among faculty papers.

Congratulations, everyone!

The papers went through a process of blind review, with students and faculty competing in the same category.  These are the authors’ names, paper titles, and abstracts:

Victoria S. Ekstrand, “A First Amendment Right to Know for the Disabled: Internet Accessibility under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)”

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2015. Enacted by Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, the ADA was designed to ensure that people with disabilities are given “independence, freedom of choice, control of their lives, the opportunity to blend fully and equally into the rich mosaic of the American mainstream.” Title III of the ADA defines what kinds of public and private spaces must provide access and accommodations to the disabled. Missing from that list, because of the ADA’s timing, is the Internet, effectively shutting the disabled out of the rich marketplace of ideas online. This paper examines both the case law surrounding this omission and the foot-dragging of the executive and legislative branches in extending Title III to the Internet. It argues that extending Title III to the Internet may be bolstered by First Amendment right-to-know principles.

P. Brooks Fuller, “The Angry Pamphleteer: The Political Speech-True Threats Distinction under Watts v. United States and its Impact on Twitter” (Brooks is a Ph.D. student in the School of Media and Journalism.)

Since the 1969 Supreme Court case Watts v. United States, courts have consistently held that the government may punish threatening speech so long as it amounts to “true threats” rather than protected political hyperbole. Since Watts, lower courts have enjoyed tremendous flexibility to craft the distinction between political speech and true threats. This paper explores that distinction in the context of violent political expression on Twitter. This paper analyzes how courts have interpreted Watts and finds that lower courts have applied three distinct tests for political speech, which this paper calls 1) criteria-based analysis, 2) pure First Amendment balancing, and 3) line-crossing analysis. This paper concludes that of these three tests, criteria-based analysis is particularly restrictive of speech, particularly when the speech at issue takes place in non-traditional political speech channels such as Twitter. Speakers now use Twitter with increasing frequency to post impulsively and vent to or about public officials, a practice that lies at the core of First Amendment protection. This paper demonstrates that flexible First Amendment balancing and line-crossing analyses, particularly in the context of violent political expression on Twitter, more aptly address these realities.

P. Brooks Fuller, “Pornography, Feminist Questions, and New Conceptualizations of ‘Serious Value’ in Sexually Explicit Media” (in the Cultural and Critical Studies Division) 

During the 1980s, anti-pornography advocates waged a litigious, regulatory war against perceived social ills caused by pornography. A cultural dialogue persisted, questioning the social value of pornography. Proposed criminal regulations of pornography ultimately stalled in American Booksellers v. Hudnut (1985). This paper analyzes post-Hudnut cases under legal and qualitative methodological frameworks and finds that although courts generally assume pornography’s direct media effects, several recent cases reflect pro-pornography feminist conceptualizations of social value.

Kyla P. Garrett, “Penetrating the Public Health Debates in the Adult Film Industry: An In-Depth Case Analysis of the Health-Based Arguments in Vivid Entertainment, LLC v. Fielding” (Kyla is a master’s graduate of the UNC School of Media and Journalism and will enter its Ph.D. program this fall.)

In an effort to curb the spreading of sexually transmitted infections from the adult film industry to the surrounding community, the citizens of Los Angeles County, California, where 80 percent of all pornographic films are produced, passed the Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act in November of 2012. Also known as Measure B, the ordinance requires the use of condoms during the production of all vaginal and anal sex scenes in hardcore porn. Industry leader Vivid Entertainment, LLC, responded by filing suit against Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Health in January of 2013 to obtain an injunction against the ordinance, claiming that the measure unconstitutionally infringes on the industry’s and its actors’ First Amendment rights to freedom of expression.  Much of the debate surrounding Vivid Entertainment, LLC v. Fielding concerns the constitutionality of the ordinance, but little discussion reviews the underlying health claims presented in the case and the ordinance itself. This is an important case to explore as it is a case of first impression and could set a key precedent regarding health policy and First Amendment protected expression. The case is also likely to set precedent for future regulations specific to the adult film industry. Therefore, this paper first identifies the health-based arguments presented in Vivid Entertainment, LLC v. Fielding and then, utilizing a public health and health communication lens, analyzes the validity of these arguments to ultimately consider the constitutionality of Measure B.

Nicholas Gross, “Native Advertising: Blurring Commercial and Non-Commercial Speech Online” (Nick is a Ph.D. student in the School of Media and Journalism.)

Mixing advertisement with art, entertainment, news, and/or other content on Internet publications, native advertising straddles the boundary between commercial and noncommercial speech. As a species of digital hybrid speech, native advertising is examined through the lens of case law that has faced the task of separating commercial from noncommercial speech. Because native advertising blurs the commercial/noncommercial speech divide, the Federal Trade Commission must approach policy formation for this new digital practice with an understanding of the commercial/noncommercial speech dichotomy.

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Media Law Student Works at NC COA and the Volvo Group

By on July 29, 2015 in Journalism

MeThis is the third in a series of posts by UNC media law students reporting on their summer internships.

I spent the first half of my summer working at the North Carolina Court of Appeals as a judicial intern for the Honorable Judge Wanda Bryant.  This job was a perfect fit for me as a former high school English teacher.  A typical day included researching points of law and writing memos for the judge.  I was fortunate to receive extensive feedback from Judge Bryant and her clerks. 

When I wasn’t preparing memos, I attended oral arguments.  I was particularly excited to observe a panel of three judges take on a privacy law issue.  The case involved a man who accessed his wife’s iPhone without her permission by placing her thumb on the iPhone’s Touch ID sensor while she was sleeping.  He then used that information to obtain evidence of her affair.  The panel had to decide whether that evidence was legally obtained and admissible.  Afterwards, in chambers, it was fascinating to hear the judges’ perspectives on how the law should deal with emerging technologies, especially because this topic has been at the forefront of many of the media law courses I have taken at UNC.

After the court’s session ended, I began working as an internal communications intern at the Volvo Group of Companies in North America in Greensboro, N.C.  There’s a lot of research and writing in this position as well, but the content is different.  I assist a small but diverse team of extremely talented and creative individuals in their efforts to enhance employees’ business understanding, build employee engagement, and promote the company’s core values. 

There’s never a dull moment here.  Internal communications projects include filming and producing news segments that keep Volvo employees up-to-date about what’s going on in the company, managing events like the Volvo Ocean Race, and maintaining positive community relations.   Media law is often discussed.   The communication team members have to be careful not to violate copyright or privacy laws as they push boundaries in their field by creating interactive content that informs and inspires employees. 

It’s been an amazing summer!  Through these internships, I have gained a deeper understanding of the law and how it shapes corporate communications. 

Chanda Marlowe is a third-year student in UNC’s dual-degree program (a master’s in communication and a J.D.). 

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Center Staffer Celebrates 25th Anniversary of the ADA with Article in Slate

By on July 22, 2015 in Journalism

Slate_in_ccTori Ekstrand, the communications director for the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act by publishing an article about web accessibility in Slate today.  In her article, she argues that, contrary to what FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly recently said, Internet access is a necessity.  It is necessary for access to employment, government services, health care and education.  You can read the article here.

Tori is an assistant professor in the UNC School of Media and Journalism.

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UNC Student Publishes in North Carolina Law Review

By on July 20, 2015 in Journalism

ND NCLRUNC media law student Natasha Duarte has had an article published in the North Carolina Law Review.  The article is “The Home Out of Context:  The Post-Riley Fourth Amendment and Law Enforcement Collection of Smart Meter Data,” 93 N.C. L. Rev. 1140 (2015).

The article says, in part, “Smart meters know when you’re sleeping. They know when you’re awake. They might even know whether you’re in the shower or watching TV. Utility companies are steadily installing these smart meters on consumers’ homes. Unlike traditional energy meters, which show a household’s aggregated electricity use each month, smart meters collect fine-grained, minute-by-minute data about electricity use and transmit it back to the utility at regular intervals. This data, when collected over time and analyzed, can reveal the activities and behavioral patterns of a household. Utility records have long been of interest in law enforcement investigations, and the detailed information contained in smart meter data can provide police with infinitely more insight into people’s homes.”  The article explores how the Fourth Amendment applies to law enforcement searches for such information and how that might change as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Riley v. California.

Natasha, who is on the staff of the North Carolina Law Review, is in her fourth year of UNC’s dual-degree program (a master’s in mass communication and a J.D.). 

Congratulations, Natasha!

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Media Law Student Working for FIRE in Philadelphia

By on July 13, 2015 in Journalism

Lindsie-2This is the second of a series of posts by UNC media law students reporting on their summer internships: 

I’m nearing the end of my summer working as a legal intern at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a non-profit watchdog protecting freedom of expression and other civil liberties on college campuses. As a First Amendment nerd and education policy junkie, I have loved every minute of my job.

There has been no shortage of work to be done at FIRE. Within my first few weeks, I was teaming up with FIRE’s other legal intern and Student Press Law Center staffers to draft an amici brief in support of a college student who had been expelled from school for tweeting insults about his ex-girlfriend. Right now, I’m researching relevant law and developing arguments that can be applied when a college indirectly retaliates against a student publication by disciplining its adviser. Other assignments have had me doing long-term research about due process and writing about First Amendment retaliation cases for the FIRE blog.

This week, I witnessed UNC-Chapel Hill becoming one of fewer than 25 colleges nationwide that FIRE rates as “green light” for its speech codes. This means that Carolina is among the best of the best in demonstrating a commitment to protecting students’ right to free speech (and it also means we’re beating Duke, which is still stuck at a yellow light). After having been a “yellow light” school since 2008, Carolina earned its new rating by revising multiple speech codes, including a vague policy banning speech that “disparages” another. Carolina had been a “red light” school prior to 2008.

I get giddy when law and social criticism meet, so I appreciate that FIRE doesn’t approach censorship solely as a legal concept. Instead, FIRE sees it as a societal issue with broad consequences. When I’m not researching legal questions, I’m engaging in conversations about pluralism, civic engagement, and media literacy – all of which are harmed when student expression is stifled.

FIRE’s office is in the heart of Philadelphia, across the street from Independence Hall and only two blocks from the Liberty Bell. Since I am lucky enough to live just four blocks from the office in a small, historic townhouse, I have had ample opportunity to explore and be entrenched in the history of the city.

This internship has been a fantastic way to learn more about First Amendment and education law while putting my skills and passion to work on real-life cases.

Lindsie Trego

Second-year student in UNC-CH’s dual degree program, earning a master’s in mass communication and a J.D.

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