Archive | First Amendment

Media law dissertation best in nation

By Cathy Packer on May 25, 2012 in First Amendment

A recent Ph.D. graduate of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication has won the 2012 Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award for the best dissertation in the field of mass communication.

The winner is Dr. Dean Smith, an affiliated scholar of the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy. The dissertation award is given by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and will be presented during the association’s national convention in August.

The title of Smith’s dissertation is “Legislating the First Amendment: Statutory Shield Laws as Non-Judicial Precedents.” The work will be published as a book next year by LBF Scholarly Publishing.

Smith’s dissertation adviser was Dr. Cathy Packer, co-director of the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy.

In the fall, Smith will join the faculty at N.C. State University as a teaching visiting professor of journalism in the English Department. He also will teach as an adjunct professor at High Point University.

Student Blogging for Law Conference

By Cathy Packer on October 8, 2011 in First Amendment

UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication Ph.D. student Liz Woolery will participate in The Cleveland City Club’s 2011 Conference on Free Speech Oct. 11, 2011. The one-day conference brings together scholars, media practitioners and lawyers to discuss free speech issues facing the fields of politics and journalism. In advance of the event, Liz is blogging about free speech news and issues on the Club’s blog.

FCC v. Fox Television Stations and a Call for Protecting Emotive Speech

By John Remensperger on February 19, 2010 in FCC, First Amendment

Wat Hopkins, Park Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, presented his research at the Mary Junck Research Colloquium. Dr. Hopkins discussed the Supreme Court’s recent treatment of non-traditional language and the appropriate level of protection for the emotive, as well as the cognitive, element of speech. The presentation focused on the justices’ attempt in FCC v. Fox Television Stations to define the f-word and then determine whether, when used as a fleeting expletive rather than repeatedly, the word is indecent for broadcast purposes. Dr. Hopkins, a professor of communication at Virginia Tech, has published three books and a number of articles on free speech topics. The presentation was co-sponsored by the UNC Center for Media Law & Policy.

Sex, Libraries, and Videotapes–How Judicial Review Affects Libraries’ Practices and the First Amendment

By John Remensperger on September 10, 2009 in First Amendment

Anne Klinefelter, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Law Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was a featured speaker in the Mary Junck Research Colloquium series in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She discussed how the varying levels of judicial scrutiny affect library behavior and how this behavior affects commonly attributed goals of the First Amendment.

Cyberspeech Symposium

By John Remensperger on February 20, 2009 in First Amendment, Internet

Paul Jones, UNC clinical associate professor and director of ibiblio, was the keynote speaker for The First Amendment Law Review’s annual symposium at the School of Law. Co-sponsored by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, the 2009 symposium focused on Cyberspeech and featured prominent scholars and experts from around the country.