Tag Archives | Events

2024 Hargrove Colloquium: Media Law in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

By on April 13, 2024 in Copyright, Defamation, Internet, Journalism

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On April 16, 2024, the Center for Media Law and Policy will be hosting the 2024 Hargrove Colloquium.  The topic for this year’s colloquium is Media Law in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Come hear from David McCraw, deputy general counsel at The New York Times Co. and author of the book Truth in Our Times: Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts, as well as Ruth Okediji from Harvard Law School, who served as a member of the National Academies’ Board on Science, Technology and Policy Committee on the Impact of Copyright Policy on Innovation in the Digital Era.

Our distinguished panel of experts will examine efforts at the federal and state level to prevent potential abuse of AI and will delve into the impact of generative AI on critical areas of media law, offering insights and sparking thought-provoking discussion. Key areas of focus will include:

  • Copyright Law: Who owns the creative output generated by AI? What is the impact on copyright holders when their work is used in training AI systems? How will existing copyright frameworks adapt to accommodate generative AI?
  • Defamation and Tort Law: Who, if anyone, can be held liable for harmful or defamatory content that AI generates? What are the legal implications for users and platforms employing AI-powered algorithms to curate and publish information?
  • Political Communication: How is AI being used in political campaigns and advertising? What are the potential risks and safeguards around AI-powered misinformation and voter manipulation?
  • Journalism: How is AI transforming the news industry? What are the legal and ethical considerations surrounding AI-generated news? How can journalists leverage AI while upholding journalistic integrity?

The Colloquium will take place at 7:00 PM at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center at the University of North Carolina and is free and open to the public. Visitor parking is available in the Rams Head Parking Deck.

You can read more about the colloquium on our event page.

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UNC Community is Invited to First Amendment Day 2022!

By on September 1, 2022 in Center for Media Law and Policy

First Amendment Day is back on campus September 21st! After two years of hosting the event in virtual format, the Center for Media Law and Policy is excited to invite the Carolina community to engage in person with renowned scholars, journalists, and litigators.

 

 

The faculty co-chairs of the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy—David Ardia, Reef C. Ivey II Excellence Fund Term Professor of Law at UNC School of Law, and Amanda Reid, Associate Professor at UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media—have assembled a diverse group of speakers to discuss contemporary First Amendment issues like social media regulation, weaponization of First Amendment rhetoric, and speech in public schools (from cheerleaders to football coaches!). Other special events will include a banned book reading and a virtual First Amendment trivia contest with fun prizes and the return of the fan-favorite trivia category: First Amendment haikus.

The day will kick off at 10:30 a.m. in Carroll Hall with a student debate about timely ethical issues related to freedoms protected by the First Amendment. Then, the community is invited to the law school to hear legal scholars from UNC and the University of Helsinki discuss U.S. and European approaches to regulating social media platforms. Next, practicing journalists and lawyers will share guidance on how to stay within the bounds of the First Amendment (and out of court) when posting content online. Interdisciplinary speakers from the UNC Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life will then discuss the weaponization of the First Amendment rhetoric and how movements use the rhetoric of free speech as strategic social, political, and cultural tools. The day will culminate with a keynote address from University of Florida Professor Clay Calvert, the man who literally wrote the book on media law: Mass Media Law, 22nd Edition (with UNC Hussman graduates Dan Kozlowski ’06 (Ph.D.) and Derigan Silver ’09 (Ph.D.). Calvert will give a  thought-provoking speech titled “Free Speech and Public School Students — Lessons From a Cursing Cheerleader and South Park.”

After the day’s formal events conclude, Hussman Ph.D. student Evan Ringel will host a virtual First Amendment trivia event (Zoom link here or access at https://tinyurl.com/firstatrivia22) allowing community members to put their knowledge to the test through a series of First Amendment-related questions. Gift certificates from Chapel Hill bookstores Epilogue Books and Flyleaf Books are offered as prizes.

First Amendment Day has been a UNC tradition since 2009, and it is always observed during National Banned Books Week. The day is designed to celebrate the First Amendment and explore its role in the lives of UNC students—from social media use to political involvement. First Amendment day gives UNC community members the opportunity to discuss the public university’s special role as a marketplace of ideas and the need to be tolerant when others exercise their rights.

First Amendment Day is organized by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy and is one of the highlights of the year for the UNC community. See the full schedule of events at firstamendmentday.unc.edu, and follow the festivities on Twitter via #UNCFree. 

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Media Law and IP Sessions at the UNC Festival of Legal Learning

By on February 1, 2022 in Center for Media Law and Policy

One of the biggest annual events at the UNC School of Law is the Festival of Legal Learning. This year’s multi-day convocation of legal geekery comprises 28 different continuing legal education (CLE) sessions over four days. For the past few years, the Center for Media Law and Policy has helped with the selection and coordination of sessions that cover Media Law and Intellectual Property subjects.

This year’s festival, which takes place on February 1-4, 2022 will be entirely remote, so you can kick back at home and partake in one of the best CLE programs in the country.  Although the festival is much smaller this year, there are at least 5 sessions that touch on media law and IP topics, ranging from trademark law to a retrospective look at U.S. Supreme Court’s 2021 Term. And the list of speakers is a who’s who of the top media and IP lawyers in the state. You can see a list of these folks and descriptions of their sessions on the law school’s event page.

Here are just a few of the sessions available at the festival this year:

Tuesday, Feb. 1

  • 1:15 PM  –  2:15 PM: Trademark Lessons from the Last Breakfast with Aunt Jemima 

Wednesday, Feb. 2

  • 1:15PM  –  2:15 PM: Federal Privacy Law Developments Highlights Since 2020
  • 2:30 PM  –  3:30 PM: Student-Athlete NIL Market is Open: What Do Attorneys Need to Know?
  • 3:45 PM  –  4:45 PM: U.S. Supreme Court’s 2021 Term

Thursday, Feb. 3

  • 1:15 PM  –  2:15 PM: The State of the News Media

Friday, Feb. 4

  • 3:45 PM  –  4:45 PM: A View from the Bench: Reflections of a New Federal District Court Judge (with Judge Richard Myers)

You will not want to miss the session on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2021 Term, which includes Adam Liptak from the New York Times; Mary-Rose Papandrea, Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at the UNC School of Law; Andy Hessick, Judge John J. Parker Distinguished Professor of Law at the UNC School of Law; Osamudia James, Professor of Law at the UNC School of Law; and Alli Larsen, Professor of Law and Director, Institute of the Bill of Rights Law at William & Mary Law School.

To register for the Festival, please visit their registration page.

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Media Law and IP Sessions at the UNC Festival of Legal Learning

By on February 1, 2021 in Center for Media Law and Policy

One of the biggest annual events at the UNC School of Law is the Festival of Legal Learning. This year’s multi-day convocation of legal geekery comprises 30 different continuing legal education (CLE) sessions over four days. For the past few years, the Center for Media Law and Policy has helped with the selection and coordination of sessions that cover Media Law and Intellectual Property subjects.

This year’s festival, which takes place on February 2-5, will be entirely remote, so you can kick back at home and partake in one of the best CLE programs in the country.  Although the festival is much smaller this year, there are at least 10 sessions that touch on media law and IP topics, ranging from the law of protests to cybercrime. And the list of speakers is a who’s who of the top media and IP lawyers in the state. You can see a list of these folks and descriptions of their sessions on the law school’s event page.

Here are just a few of the sessions available at the festival this year:

Tuesday, Feb. 2

  • 12:00 PM  –  1:00 PM + Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act: What Does It Do, Who Wants to Change It, and How Does It Affect You? 
  • 3:45 PM  –  4:45 PM + Plenary: The Law of Protests and the Right to Assembly

Wednesday, Feb. 3

  • 2:30 PM  –  3:30 PM + The Complicated Legal Realm of the NCAA and Student-Athlete Name, Image, and Likeness Rights
  • 3:45 PM  –  4:45 PM + Plenary: 2020 Post-Election Analysis

Thursday, Feb. 4

  • 12:00 PM  –  1:00 PM + The State of the News Media
  • 12:00 PM  –  1:00 PM + Introduction to Open Source and the Year in Review
  • 2:30 PM  –  3:30 PM + Recent Developments in Cybercrime Law

Friday, Feb. 5

  • 12:15 PM  –  1:15 PM + Constitutional Hardball: What We Learned from the Trump Presidency
  • 2:45 PM  –  3:45 PM + Privacy Implications of COVID Response Technologies
  • 4:00 PM  –  5:00 PM + Plenary: U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 Term

You will not want to miss the final plenary session on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 Term, which includes Adam Liptak from the New York Times; Mary-Rose Papandrea, Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the UNC School of Law; Andy Hessick, Judge John J. Parker Distinguished Professor of Law at the UNC School of Law; Alli Larsen, Professor of Law and Director, Institute of the Bill of Rights Law at William & Mary Law School; Richard A. Simpson from Wiley Rein, LLP; and Rick Su, Professor of Law at the UNC School of Law.

To register for the Festival, please visit their registration page.

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Tackling Race, Journalism and Viral Images in “Confederates”

By on February 5, 2020 in Center for Media Law and Policy, Journalism

“I think that people in this country – the people of good will, anyway – are aching for a real conversation about these very questions and I think maybe we can help them, you and I.”

So says Will, the main character and young black journalist of Suzanne Bradbeer’s award-winning play, CONFEDERATES, to his friend and source, Maddie, after she shares with him a controversial photo of her with a Confederate flag. In this gripping one-act play, Will tries to persuade Maddie, the white daughter of a presidential candidate, that he can be trusted to tell the story of her soon-to-be viral photo, released in an act of revenge by Maddie’s former boyfriend.

On Friday, Jan. 31, the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, the UNC Department of Dramatic Art and PlayMakers hosted a reading of CONFEDERATES for about 50 guests in the Freedom Forum Conference Center, including students, faculty, friends of PlayMakers, and the playwright, Suzanne Bradbeer. The play was followed by a panel discussion about the themes in the play with Bradbeer, News & Observer political reporter Will Doran and senior journalism major Elliott Millner.

For the Center, the play was an amazing moment to explore a whole host of ethical and potential legal challenges faced by today’s journalists: how to handle sources we know; how to work in a field that faces tremendous financial pressures; how we talk or don’t talk about race in our work; how “cancel culture” derails conversations about our partisan times; and how the release of controversial images online can wreck lives, encourage death threats, and spark lawsuits.

The conversations were immeasurably bolstered by the performances of Vivienne Benesch, PlayMakers’ artistic director (Stephanie); Brandon Herman St. Clair Haynes from UNC’s Professional Actors Training Program (Will); and Tori Jewell from UNC’s Professional Actors Training Program (Maddie). The reading was produced by Alejandro Rodriguez, PlayMakers’ associate artistic director, and directed by New Jersey actor and director Laura Ekstrand.

The panel discussion that followed addressed how the Internet continues to change the way we work as journalists. The panelists tackled the challenges of writing about race and racial tensions in this moment, as well as the delicate “grey area” of dealing with sources we know.

The evening was a reminder of the power of theater to encourage conversations that are often difficult to have and bring big issues to the personal level, where we can feel them as well as think about them.

(Photos by Lois Boynton)

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