First Amendment Limits on State Laws Targeting Election Misinformation (9/19/2022) - At long last, the article Evan Ringel and I wrote on First Amendment Limits on State Laws Targeting Election Misinformation has finally been published in the First Amendment Law Review. The piece expands on a whitepaper we wrote in 2021 that cataloged state efforts to regulate election-related speech (available on SSRN). I’ve pasted the abstract below, but […]
Beyond the Marketplace of Ideas: Bridging Theory and Doctrine to Promote Self-Governance (8/18/2022) - I am thrilled to announce that my article on First Amendment theory, “Beyond the Marketplace of Ideas: Bridging Theory and Doctrine to Promote Self-Governance,” recently came out in the Harvard Law & Policy Review. Here is the abstract: No theory dominates both public and judicial understanding of the First Amendment quite like the “marketplace of […]
A UNC Student’s Summer Experience at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (4/26/2022) - Each summer, the Center for Media Law and Policy provides financial support through its summer grants program to UNC law and graduate students taking unpaid or low-paying jobs in the fields of media law or media policy. The comments below are from Isabela Palmieri, a dual degree JD/MA student at the UNC School of Law and UNC […]
State Regulation of Election-Related Speech in the U.S.: An Overview and Comparative Analysis (8/5/2021) - I’m excited to announce that the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, in partnership with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP), just published a research report titled State Regulation of Election-Related Speech in the U.S.: An Overview and Comparative Analysis. The report presents a comprehensive analysis of state efforts to regulate the content […]
Pedro X. Molina Speaking on The Art of Resistance (10/8/2019) - In the midst of turbulent political times in the United States, it’s easy to forget that pressures on press freedom are everywhere these days. Tonight’s talk by Pedro X. Molina, which was co-sponsored by our Center, was a stark reminder of that. In 2017 Pedro X. Molina was a prolific participant in the #FreeNseRamon campaign demanding freedom […]
Immerse Yourself in IP and Media Law at the UNC Festival of Legal Learning (2/6/2019) - One of the biggest annual events at the UNC School of Law is the Festival of Legal Learning. This two-day convocation of legal geekery comprises 113 different continuing legal education (CLE) sessions and 152 speakers. For the past few years, the Center for Media Law and Policy has helped with the selection and coordination of […]
Redeeming Privacy Law, “Bad Incentives” of Social Media Companies, and the Stored Communications Act: Emerging Scholarship in Media Law (11/25/2018) - This blog post is part of a continuing series examining some of the latest academic scholarship in media law and related fields! Stay tuned for future updates. In “Body Cameras and the Path to Redeeming Privacy Law,” 96 N.C. L. Rev. 695 (2018), Woodrow Hartzog at Northeastern University School of Law argues that the intense […]
First Amendment Law Review Symposium: “Sex and the First Amendment” (11/12/2018) - In a lecture delivered in 2008, University of Chicago professor Geoffrey Stone confessed to the audience that he had been working on a book tentatively titled “Sexing the Constitution,” a project of “reckless ambition.” Almost ten years later, the book has hit the stands, renamed Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion, and Law from America’s […] Political Lies, Internet Free Speech, and Compelled Decryption: Emerging Scholarship in Media Law (10/31/2018) - This blog post is part of a continuing series examining some of the latest academic scholarship in media law-adjacent fields! Stay tuned for biweekly updates. In “Legislating Against Lying in Campaigns and Elections,” 73 Okla. L. Rev. 141 (2018), Professor Joshua Sellers at Arizona State University School of Law examines the “harmful” practice of lying […] Government Whistleblowers, Online Freedom of Expression, and Twitter as a Public Forum: Emerging Scholarship in Media Law (10/8/2018) - This blog post is part of a continuing series examining some of the latest academic scholarship in media law-adjacent fields! Stay tuned for biweekly updates. In “Whistleblowing Speech and the First Amendment,” 93 Ind. L.J. 267 (2018), Professor Ronald Krotoszynski Jr. at the University of Alabama School of Law offers an intriguing argument that federal […]
First Amendment Day 2018 (9/20/2018) - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will celebrate its tenth-annual First Amendment Day on Tuesday, Sept. 25. This campus-wide, daylong event is designed to both celebrate the First Amendment and explore its role in the lives of Carolina students. Students and other members of the university community will read from banned books and […] Facial Recognition, Student Free Speech, and Suing the President: Emerging Scholarship in Media Law and Policy (9/18 Update) (9/19/2018) - This blog post is the very first in a new weekly series examining some of the latest academic scholarship in media law-adjacent fields! Stay tuned for weekly updates. In “Suing the President for First Amendment Violations,” 71 Okla. L. Rev. 321 (2018), Professor Sonja West at the University of Georgia School of Law explores whether […]
A UNC Student’s Summer Experience at the Student Press Law Center (10/14/2017) - From Lindsie Trego, a fourth-year dual degree student at UNC pursuing a JD and an MA in Mass Communication, who interned at the Student Press Law Center: I had the amazing opportunity to work as a law clerk at the Student Press Law Center this last summer. I first visited the SPLC office back in […]Center Co-Director’s First Amendment Day Remarks Published in the News and Observer (9/29/2017) - One of the highlights of First Amendment Day this year was the morning keynote address by Center for Media Law and Policy Co-Director Cathy Packer. Dr. Packer set the tone for the day, reminding us all of the importance of free expression and how vital it is that we continue to protect it. Today, The […]
UNC First Amendment Day is Tuesday! (9/20/2017) - It’s almost time for what we at the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy think is the best day of the year! On Tuesday, Sept. 26, UNC will celebrate its ninth-annual First Amendment Day! This day of events is one of the highlights of the year at the Center, and we are thrilled to […]
UNC Media Law Students Graduating and Launching Careers (8/3/2017) - Two UNC media law students are graduating this spring and summer and moving on to great jobs in their fields. Both of them defended important research projects to earn their degrees. Brooks Fuller earned a Ph.D. from the UNC School of Media and Journalism in May and will begin work as an assistant professor in […]
Video Available for “Freedom of the Press and the Trump Administration” (4/2/2017) - The video from the Center’s discussion of “Freedom of the Press and the Trump Administration” is now available on Vimeo. The March 21 event was headlined by George Freeman, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center and former assistant general counsel of the New York Times Co., who discussed the challenges to press freedom that are likely to […]
Center to Hire Media Law and Policy Fellow (11/1/2016) - I’m excited to announce that the Center will be hiring a Media Law and Policy Fellow! The fellow will play a critical role in supporting a major research initiative at the Center focused on examining various legal and policy issues related to improving government transparency, including the impact government transparency can have on privacy, cybersecurity, equality, and other […]
Dual-Degree Student Spent Summer on the First Amendment Frontier (9/6/2016) - I spent my summer interning in the legal department at the ACLU of Washington State in Seattle, one of the largest ACLU affiliate offices in the country. At the ACLU-WA, I worked on a variety of projects related to First Amendment and other civil liberties issues. On the First Amendment frontier, my last assignment at […]
Media Law Ph.D. Student Spent Summer at the ALA (8/30/2016) - Posted on behalf of Nick Gross, third-year Ph.D. student: This summer I worked as a Google Policy Fellow at the American Library Association’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) in Washington, D.C. The Google Policy Fellowship gives undergraduate, graduate, and law students the opportunity to spend the summer working for public interest groups engaged in Internet […]
Scholarship Winners 2016 (7/27/2016) - The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy has awarded $6,000 in scholarships to three law students working in unpaid or underpaid internships in the field of media law and policy this summer. These are the scholarship winners and where they are working: Varsha Mangal is a legal intern in the Office of General Counsel […]
UNC Media Law Students to Present Research in Minneapolis (6/3/2016) - Four UNC School of Media and Journalism graduate students will present media law research papers at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) national convention in Minneapolis Aug. 4-7. One of those students – Lindsie Trego – won a prize for writing the third best student paper in the Law and Policy […]Recent media law grad publishes in legal journal (4/18/2016) - UNC media law graduate Kevin Delaney has had a shortened version of his master’s thesis published in Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal. The article is “Aereo, the Public Performance Right, and the Future of Broadcasting.” The article looks at Aereo, a company that offered an inexpensive way for consumers to watch broadcast television via the […]
Media Law Faculty Participate in Friday Center Constitution & Culture Series (4/11/2016) - Two UNC media law faculty members will speak about free speech on college campuses as part of a Friday Center series titled, “What’s the Big Idea? Constitution in Crisis: The Law & Culture of the United States Constitution.” The event will take place at 7 p.m. on April 28 at the Friday Center in Chapel […]
Media law student selected to attend “Free Speech on Campus” conference (3/23/2016) - UNC media law student Chanda Marlowe has been selected to attend a one-day conference on “Free Speech on Campus” in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2016. Forty students were selected. The conference, sponsored by the Newseum Institute and the Knight Foundation, will provide an opportunity for students to discuss the challenges to free expression on […]
UNC media law student publishes in Communication Law and Policy (1/31/2016) - UNC media law student Brooks Fuller recently had an article published in Communication Law and Policy. The article is “The Angry Pamphleteer: True Threats, Political Speech, and Applying Watts v. United States in the Age of Twitter.” In light of the rise of “caustic” political speech on new media, the article examines modes of analysis that […]
Required Drone Registration Coming (11/16/2015) - 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 […] First Amendment Day Events (9/20/2015) - 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 […]
Media Law Center Welcomes Prof. Papandrea and a new Ph.D. Student (8/24/2015) - A senior scholar and a new Ph.D. student have joined UNC’s community of media law scholars. The Center for Media Law and Policy is happy to welcome Professor Mary-Rose Papandrea and Ph.D. student Shao Chengyuan. Mary-Rose Papandrea came to the UNC School of Law this summer from Boston College Law School. Her teaching and research […]United States Supreme Court decides Facebook true threats case (6/1/2015) - The Supreme Court has issued its long-awaited opinion in Elonis v. United States, the Facebook threats case. In a narrow opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court overturned the conviction of Anthony Elonis, who allegedly threatened his ex-wife and federal law enforcement agents through rap lyrics he posted to his Facebook page under personal […]
Student Thesis Examines Aereo Case (5/4/2015) - This semester I completed my master’s thesis, which was titled “Aereo, the Public Performance Right, and the Future of Broadcasting.” As the title suggests, in the thesis I evaluated the Supreme Court’s recent decision in American Broadcasting Cos. v. Aereo, Inc., and reflected on how the decision stood to impact the future of copyright law […]
FAA Releases Proposed Drone Regulations; North Carolina Proposes Exemption for Government Agencies (4/5/2015) - On Feb. 15, 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released proposed regulations for the use of drones. The proposal requires UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System(s)) pilots to be at least 17 years old, to take an initial aeronautical knowledge test followed by a new test every 24 months, and to pass a TSA screening. The FAA […]
Job opportunities in media law at your fingertips (2/16/2015) - It’s never too early – or too late – to start looking for the internship, fellowship, or job that is right for you. However, the process of sifting through hundreds of postings looking for what you want can be daunting. That is why the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy created its Job Center. […]
Privacy and Court Records: Online Access and the Loss of Practical Obscurity (1/30/2015) - I’m excited to announce that Professor Anne Klinefelter and I received an award from the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and Microsoft Corp. to study the extent of private and other sensitive information in court records. The $43,000 award will go to the Center for Media Law and Policy and the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library at the UNC […]
True Threats and Free Speech (1/22/2015) - The extent to which the First Amendment protects threatening messages on Facebook and elsewhere will be the subject of a panel discussion at the UNC School of Law at noon on Monday, Jan. 26. Co-sponsored by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, the discussion will focus on Elonis v. United States, a case […]
Not Waiting for the FAA, North Carolina and 9 Other States Enacted Drone Laws in 2014 (12/18/2014) - As discussed in last month’s post, the FAA’s most recent notable effort to regulate Unmanned Aircraft Systems and/or Vehicles (UAS/UAV) is the opening of six test sites, where the FAA will oversee UAS exploratory research and safety developments through February 2017. While regulation of UAS at the federal level has received significant attention, state and […]
State of the Drone: FAA Test Sites Take Off (11/3/2014) - In August 2014, a small but noteworthy milestone in the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulation of drones – or “unmanned aerial systems” (UAS), in the agency’s parlance – occurred. On August 13, the FAA announced that the final of six test sites for UAS research had opened. With operations at the FAA’s six test sites underway […]
UNC Celebrated Its Sixth Annual First Amendment Day Event (9/28/2014) - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill celebrated its sixth annual First Amendment Day on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014. This campus-wide, daylong event celebrated the First Amendment and explored its role in the lives of Carolina students. University community members read from banned books, a cappella groups sung controversial music, and many people participated […]
First Amendment Day Retold by Social Media (9/24/2014) - Journalism students followed the hashtag #UNCfree to learn what people were saying on social media about First Amendment Day. After compiling the content, they connected the images, tweets and videos into a news story to summarize their experiences of First Amendment Day events. Check out some of their multimedia stories edited with Storify.Student to Publish in Hastings Comm/Ent Law Journal (8/25/2014) - P. Brooks Fuller, a second-year Ph.D. student and Roy H. Park Fellow in the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, has had an article accepted for publication in the Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal (Comm/Ent). The article, “Evaluating Intent in True Threats Cases: The Importance of Context in Analyzing Threatening Internet Messages,” will […]
Center Co-Director Authors New Media Law Casebook (8/18/2014) - David Ardia, co-director of the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, is a co-author of a new edition of Media and the Law, a casebook published by LexisNexis. Congratulations, David! The book is authored by David Kohler, Lee Levine, Ardia, Dale Cohen and Mary-Rose Papandrea. Ardia, an assistant professor in the UNC School of […]
Call for Papers – First Amendment Networks: Issues in Net Neutrality (8/12/2014) - On October 24, 2014, we will be partnering with the First Amendment Law Review to help host their annual symposium, which will be focused on network neutrality and the First Amendment. We’ll post more information about the symposium in the next few weeks, but if you are a scholar who writes in this area, you […]
United States Supreme Court to hear Facebook true threats case (8/5/2014) - For the first time since the now-famous Virginia v. Black (2003) cross-burning case, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a “true threats” case. Commentators expect the Court to clarify confusion that has arisen among the federal circuit courts regarding whether the First Amendment requires courts to consider the speaker’s subjective intent when […]
FAA Releases Notice Concerning Model Airplane Rule (6/26/2014) - Backyard flying is more complex than Snoopy battling the Red Baron, and you might be surprised at how much debate goes into just what is and what isn’t a model airplane. The FAA released a “Notice of Interpretation” in an effort to clarify the model airplane exception of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, […] New Media Law PhDs (6/11/2014) - The UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication will welcome three new media law students to its Ph.D. program this fall. All of them have expressed interest in working in the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy. Welcome, law dawgs! These are the students and a brief description of each student’s background and research interests: Nicholas […]
FAA Approves First Commercial Drone Flight Over US Land (6/11/2014) - In the words of famed, fictitious race car driver Ricky Bobby: “if you ain’t first, your last.” Future commercial drone users might prefer to come in second, but first place belongs to BP, as they received the first ever FAA clearance to fly a drone over domestic land for commercial purposes. While ConocoPhillips was approved for […]
Students Presenting at AEJMC Conference in August 2014 (6/4/2014) - Three Carolina students have had media law research papers accepted by the Law and Policy Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) for presentation at the group’s annual conference in Montreal in August. Congratulations! These are the authors, theory paper titles, and their paper abstracts: Kevin Delaney, a student in […]
Drone Journalism Resource Page (6/4/2014) - It’s not a bird, it’s not a plane, and unfortunately it’s not Superman either. So what is this small white device with propellers? It’s a drone, and in the next few years, drones just like this one might be whizzing over your head doing everything from taking pictures to delivering a late night pizza. News […]
J-School PhD Student awarded Google Policy Fellowship (5/28/2014) - UNC Center for Media Law and Policy staffer Liz Woolery has been awarded a Google Policy Fellowship to work at the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute in Washington, D.C., this summer. Congratulations, Liz! Liz was one of 20 chosen to work at 20 U.S. public interest and technology policy organizations. She is a Ph.D. […]
The Democratic Surround: New Media Technologies as Tools of Personal and Social Liberation (3/21/2014) - On March 27th, Fred Turner, associate professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford University, will visit the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy to talk about his new book, The Democratic Surround. At the broadest level, in The Democratic Surround and the previously published From Counterculture to Cyberculture Fred Turner’s project is to explain how we have come to […]
Obama’s New Plan for the Future of Open Government (2/14/2014) - On this week’s episode of WNYC’s “RadioLab” podcast, the hosts interviewed Jeff Larson, data editor at ProPublica. He described his experience in June 2013 filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the United States National Security Agency (NSA) to find out if the agency had collected any metadata about his cell phone usage. […]
Congratulations to UNC Students: Publications and Conference Papers (2/13/2014) - What’s more fun that sharing good news about our great media law students? Absolutely nothing! So here it goes. . . . UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication Ph.D. student Karen McIntrye has had an article accepted for publication in the Newspaper Research Journal. The title of her paper is “Drone Journalism: Exploring the […]
Drones, Drones, Everywhere a Drone: Is North Carolina Ready for Unmanned Aircraft Systems? (2/10/2014) - It seems everyone has been talking about drones lately. Journalists, emergency management officials, police officers, privacy advocates, and even farmers have all shared their two cents about these “flying robots.” Now the North Carolina General Assembly has joined the discussion. Late last month, a legislative committee convened to discuss the future of unmanned aircraft systems/vehicles […]
A UNC Student’s Summer Experience at the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, a Project of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society (1/14/2014) - Let me start by saying that I really like information. Numbers, lists, facts, data, trivia. I like them all. I’m an information junkie. I also happen to love the First Amendment. Given this, it’s not surprising that I was so excited to spend this past summer interning with the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse at the Berkman […]
Free Speech Assumptions and the Case of Netflix (12/13/2013) - There are two (among many) huge assumptions we make when we speak of a right to free speech or free expression. The first assumption is that such speech can actually be formed. The second is that such speech will be heard. For the disabled, neither assumption is a given. The disabled who can speak are […]
New York AG wants Airbnb to turn over user information (11/13/2013) - Short-term rental website Airbnb provides an alternative to hotels and makes it easier for people to sublet their homes while they’re out of town, but its New York users could be in legal trouble. The state of New York has subpoenaed Airbnb in an attempt to prove that some users renting out rooms on the […]
@NatSecWonk: Free Speech and the Twitter Account that Sank a National Security Adviser (10/31/2013) - When a White House insider takes to Twitter, he loses his job – but not his First Amendment rights. For two years, Jofi Joseph, the director of nuclear nonproliferation issues on the White House National Security Council staff, tweeted snarky remarks about politicians, reporters and colleagues using the anonymous Twitter handle @NatSecWonk. Last Tuesday evening, The Daily Beast […] Symposium will contemplate 50 years of press freedom (10/11/2013) - Almost 50 years ago, Justice William J. Brennan Jr., writing for the Supreme Court, expressed “a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.” Tomorrow, the UNC First […]
A UNC Student’s Summer Experience at the Berkman Center’s Digital Media Law Project (10/7/2013) - This summer, I was fortunate enough to intern for the Digital Media Law Project (DMLP) at the Berkman Center in Cambridge, MA. Our office facility — fondly referred to as the “big yellow house” — was home to a large number of Berkman Center projects, of which the DMLP was one. The Berkman Center is […]
This First Amendment Day, fight for the free flow of information (9/23/2013) - UNC will hold its fifth annual First Amendment Day Sept. 24, a celebration of our rights to speak, publish, worship, assemble and protest without government intervention. It’s easy to celebrate free expression. It’s sometimes harder to notice when that freedom is being eroded by the government. In the year since First Amendment Day 2012, we’ve […]
Looking for a Job in Media Law? (9/18/2013) - Looking for a job can be time consuming and frustrating. Often the best opportunities are found through networking and word of mouth. But what if you are a student or recent grad? Or are trying to change fields or areas of practice and you don’t have a network? Breaking into a new field, or even trying […]
Amicus brief argues NSA surveillance violates freedom of the press (9/11/2013) - The Reporter’s Committee for the Freedom of the Press filed an amicus brief in ACLU v. Clapper arguing that government collection of call records violates the First Amendment freedom of the press by impeding reporters’ ability to maintain confidential sources. The brief supports the ACLU’s motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the NSA from […]
Twitter Round-Up Week of: September 2 (9/7/2013) - As part of a new weekly feature on our blog, I’ll post the highlights from the Center’s and my Twitter feeds. Here is what had my attention on Twitter this week: [View the story “Weekly Twitter Roundup” on Storify]
Ads on Wheels: More First Amendment Problems in the Triangle (9/4/2013) - Nearly a year after an advertisement on Chapel Hill city buses sparked controversy, the City of Raleigh is experiencing its own public outcry over transit advertising. The Humane Society of the United States has filed suit against the Raleigh Transit Authority over the agency’s rejection of an advertisement featuring pigs in confined gestation crates used on factory farms. The […] Call for Papers: New York Times v. Sullivan, A Fifty Year Retrospective (8/20/2013) - On October 12, 2013, we will be partnering with the First Amendment Law Review to help host their annual symposium, which will be focused on the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan. We’ll post more information about the symposium in the next few weeks, but if you […]
EFF Weeks 8-9: How the NSA’s mass data collection violates the First Amendment (7/25/2013) - EFF filed a lawsuit last Tuesday against the National Security Agency for its mass collection of Verizon customers’ phone records. First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. National Security Agency was filed on behalf of a diverse group of 19 organizations and focuses on an important First Amendment right: the right of association. Protecting associational […]
EFF weeks 6-7: States attempt to censor adult advertising online (7/9/2013) - Ever since “adult” advertising moved from the back page of The Village Voice to the Internet, some government officials have been trying to censor it. A recent attempt by the New Jersey legislature was blocked by a federal judge on June 28. Chief Judge Dennis Cavanaugh of the U.S. District Court for the District of […]
EFF Week 3: The First and Fourth Amendments — down, but hopefully not out (6/9/2013) - It was a busy week at EFF. The phones have been ringing almost non-stop with journalists, supporters, and concerned people. The news outlets wanted interviews with attorneys. The supporters wanted to commiserate. The concerned people wanted answers — how can the government do this, and what does it mean? Of course, the fact that the […]
Greetings from San Francisco: A UNC Student’s Summer Internship at EFF (5/29/2013) - I’m very excited that one of our students is spending her summer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, funded in part by the Center’s Public Interest Grant Program. Natasha Duarte has graciously volunteered to blog about her summer experience at EFF. Here is her first missive: On May 24, I witnessed a small victory in the fight against […]
Students Presenting at AEJMC Conference in August (5/20/2013) - Nearly 25 percent of the media law and policy research papers accepted for presentation at the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) were written by UNC students. Five students had six papers accepted for presentation in the Law and Policy Division at the AEJMC convention to be held […]
Carolina Law CLE Session: Media Law in the Digital Age (5/2/2013) - Next Wednesday, May 8, I’ll be presenting a continuing legal education (CLE) session in Wilmington, NC at the New Hanover County Executive Development Center. The topic will be “Media Law in the Digital Age: Internet Defamation and other Digital Torts.” Here is the description from the law school’s website: With the advent of the Internet, everyone […]
UNC Students Presenting Research at AEJMC Southeast Colloquium (2/28/2013) - UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication graduate students will present 13 research papers at the AEJMC Southeast Colloquium in Tampa this week. Ph.D. student Liz Woolery, who works in our media law center, will present two papers, one of which won third place in the Law and Policy Division. Both of Liz’s papers are […]
Next Stop: Transit Advertising and the First Amendment (11/14/2012) - About a month ago I went out of my way to take a photo of an advertisement in one of the Chapel Hill town buses. Normally I glance at these interior ad placards and give them little thought. This time was different. I had been searching for this advertisement for weeks and finally found it. […]
Hazelwood: Some Remaining Questions (11/12/2012) - As our great keynote speaker, panelists, and audience members discussed the 25-year history of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier last week, it became clear that there still is scholarly work that needs to be done in this important area of law. Here are a few of the interesting questions raised at the conference: What are the connections […]
Hazelwood’s Sheep (11/9/2012) - University of Arizona’s David Cuillier told us yesterday that “we’re raising a generation of sheep” in the wake of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, the U.S. Supreme Court case that curtailed the First Amendment rights of students. The Media Law & Policy Center has been holding an eye-opening two-day conference on the 25th anniversary of the decision […] Clearing the Haze Over Hazelwood: Student Speech Rights in the Digital Age (11/7/2012) - Tomorrow, with our friends at the Student Press Law Center, First Amendment Law Review and North Carolina Scholastic Media Association, the center will kick off a two-day conference focused on student speech rights and their role in youth civic engagement. The event, which is entitled “One Generation Under Hazelwood: A 25-Year Retrospective,” will examine the impact of Hazelwood School District […]
Best New Internet Law Books? (10/31/2012) - Each fall I informally survey my media law colleagues and former Ph.D. students in search of great, new books to assign for my Internet law class. The class is a mix of UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication undergraduates who already have completed a basic media law class and graduate students. I’m looking for […]
Kill Switches, Smart Mobs, and Freedom of Speech (10/24/2012) - As part of the Mary Junck Research Colloquium series, Elon University School of Law Professor Enrique Armijo will give a talk at UNC entitled “Recent Developments in Digital Communications Law and Policy:
Kill Switches, Smart Mobs, and Freedom of Speech.” He will share his current research on the ways in which government control over communications infrastructure can […]
First Amendment Day (10/1/2012) - UNC will celebrate its fourth-annual First Amendment Day on Tuesday, Oct. 2. The celebration is organized by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy with generous funding from Time Warner Cable. Activities range from a reading of banned books, including Chancellor Holden Thorp reading from The Catcher in the Rye, to a First Amendment […]
Twitter and Free Speech (9/3/2012) - Today’s New York Times has a very flattering (but well deserved) profile of Alexander Macgillivray, Twitter’s “chief lawyer.” It notes Twitter’s efforts to protect Free Speech and remarks that the company thinks this will give it an edge over its rivals. That’s one of the reasons I use Twitter — and stay away from Facebook, […]Media law dissertation best in nation (5/25/2012) - 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 […]
Student Blogging for Law Conference (10/8/2011) - 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 […]
FCC v. Fox Television Stations and a Call for Protecting Emotive Speech (2/19/2010) - 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 […]
Sex, Libraries, and Videotapes–How Judicial Review Affects Libraries’ Practices and the First Amendment (9/10/2009) - 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 […]
Cyberspeech Symposium (2/20/2009) - 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.
Committing Journalism: Contempt for Reporters in Post 9/11 America (9/24/2008) - Toni Locy, former USA Today reporter who won the 2008 National Press Club Freedom of the Press Award for protecting her confidential sources for stories written about the 2001 anthrax attacks, gave a public lecture at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication about the federal court proceedings to compel her to reveal her sources […]
Money, Politics and the First Amendment: A Debate on Special Interest Advertising in Elections (9/16/2008) - The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy welcomed two of the nation’s pre-eminent electoral law experts – law professor Bradley A. Smith, former chair of the Federal Election Commission, and attorney Lawrence M. Nobel, who served as FEC general counsel from 1987-2000 – to debate campaign finance reform and government attempts to regulate political […]
No Events
2025
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
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01/28/2025 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm |
TikTok v. Garland Case Brief
Classroom 5046, UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill NC |
2024
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
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11/15/2024 8:45 am - 4:00 pm |
First Amendment Law Review Symposium: The Quintessential Marketplace of Ideas? Current Free Speech Issues on University Campuses
George Watts Hill Alumni Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill NC |
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09/25/2024 5:15 pm - 6:30 pm |
Keynote: Clashes on Campus - Student Protest & the First Amendment
Freedom Forum Conference Center on the Third Floor of Carroll Hall, Chapel Hill NC |
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09/25/2024 4:30 pm - 5:00 pm |
First Amendment Trivia Contest
Freedom Forum Conference Center on the Third Floor of Carroll Hall, Chapel Hill NC |
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09/25/2024 3:00 pm - 4:15 pm |
CITAP Panel: Election 2024
Freedom Forum Conference Center on the Third Floor of Carroll Hall, Chapel Hill NC |
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09/25/2024 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm |
Contextualizing Student Speech & Assembly at UNC
Freedom Forum Conference Center on the Third Floor of Carroll Hall, Chapel Hill NC |
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09/25/2024 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm |
AI & 1A: How the Press is Harnessing New Technology
Webinar: https://go.unc.edu/AIJournalism, Chapel Hill North Carolina |
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09/25/2024 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm |
Book Bans and the Marketplace of Ideas
Room 5048, UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill NC |
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09/25/2024 11:00 am - 2:00 pm |
UNC Voter Registration Drive
The Pit, Chapel Hill NC |
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09/25/2024 11:00 am - 12:00 pm |
Banned Books Reading
Front steps of Manning Hall, Chapel Hill |
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09/25/2024 10:30 am - 11:30 am |
Intercollegiate Ethics Debate: Speaking Out Against Not Speaking Out
Freedom Forum Conference Center on the Third Floor of Carroll Hall, Chapel Hill NC |
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09/25/2024 8:00 am - 9:30 am |
Breakfast with Bubba on First Amendment Day
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Chapel Hill NC |
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03/05/2024 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm |
Defamation Law and the First Amendment: What Can We Learn From Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network?
Classroom 5046, UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill NC |
2023
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
|
11/17/2023 9:00 am - 4:00 pm |
First Amendment Law Review Symposium: Social Media and the First Amendment - The Regulation of Content Moderation Practices
UNC School of Law, Room 5042, Chapel Hill NC |
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10/04/2023 8:00 pm - 9:15 pm |
First Amendment Day Trivia Contest (Virtual) |
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10/04/2023 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm |
Keynote Debate: Regulating Big Tech and the First Amendment
Frank Porter Graham Student Union, The Auditorium, Chapel Hill NC |
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10/04/2023 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm |
Health Warning Labels and the First Amendment: How Did We Get Here and What's Next?
Webinar: https://go.unc.edu/warning, Chapel Hill NC |
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10/04/2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm |
Disability Inclusion and the Marketplace of Ideas
Room 5046, UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill NC |
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10/04/2023 11:00 am - 12:00 pm |
Ethics and the First Amendment in Conflict? A Student Debate
Freedom Forum Conference Center on the Third Floor of Carroll Hall, Chapel Hill NC |
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10/04/2023 10:00 am - 11:00 am |
Banned Books Reading
Front steps of Manning Hall, Chapel Hill |