Tag Archives | Events

The FCC, Media Ownership and the Tar Heel State

By on February 18, 2013 in FCC, Journalism

This Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m., the Center will be joining with Common Cause to hold a public discussion of the Federal Communication Commission’s media ownership rules and their impact on the media’s ability to meet the information needs of North Carolina communities. The FCC is currently reviewing its rules and is considering scrapping the radio/TV cross-ownership rules, loosening the newspaper/TV cross-ownership rules, and leaving in place the radio and TV local market ownership caps.  These changes could have a profound influence on the media environment in North Carolina.

Former FCC Chair Michael Copps will introduce the topic and a panel of media and academic experts will discuss how the current FCC rules and proposed rule changes affect local accountability journalism.  The panel will be moderated by Teresa Artis, former Vice President & General Counsel, Capitol Broadcasting Company, and will include the following speakers:

  • Penny Abernathy, Knight Professor of Digital Media Economics, UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication
  • Michael Copps, former FCC Chair (and UNC Ph.D ’68)
  • Jim Goodmon, President & CEO, Capitol Broadcasting Company
  • Jane Mago, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, National Association of Broadcasters
  • Bob Phillips, Executive Director, Common Cause North Carolina
  • Orage Quarles III, President and Publisher, The News & Observer

The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place in UNC’s Wilson Library.  If you can’t make it in person, you can watch the discussion streamed live here or follow along (and ask questions) via Twitter with the hashtag #FCCUNC.  Please visit our event page for more information.

0

Symposium Announcement: Defining a Search in the 21st Century

By on January 24, 2013 in Privacy

I’m a little late in getting the word out on this, but tomorrow (January 25) the Center is partnering with the North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology to host a symposium entitled “U.S. v. Jones: Defining a Search in the 21st Century.”  U.S. v. Jones, decided by the United States Supreme Court on January 23, 2012, involved an effort by police to track the whereabouts of a suspect by installing, without a warrant, a GPS device on his car and continuously monitoring the vehicle for 28 days. The Court held that the attachment of the GPS device constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment and therefore (might have) required a warrant.

The case raises all kinds of interesting questions about the limits on the government’s investigatory powers in a time of rapidly changing technology.  The symposium will be held at the Friday Center, which will provide plenty of free parking.  You can read more about the symposium on our events page.

0

Interdisciplinary Faculty Lunch: Privacy and Human Subject Research

By on January 12, 2013 in Privacy

Next Friday, January 18, the Center is hosting the first of our spring interdisciplinary faculty lunches on the topic of “Privacy and Human Subject Research” from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. in the Cowell Boardroom (Room 5003) at the UNC School of Law.

The lunch, which is open to all UNC faculty, will focus on how advances in technology have changed the ways human subject research, both biomedical and behavioral, is conducted and the many privacy issues that accompany such research. The discussion will be led by Professors John Conley and Andrew Chin. Our previous lunches, which rotate around the UNC campus, have brought together approximately 30-40 faculty and graduate students from across the University of North Carolina.  For more information — and background on the topic — please see our event page.

Please RSVP to Liz Woolery by January 15, as space will be limited.  The Center will provide lunches and drinks.

2

Hazelwood: Some Remaining Questions

By on November 12, 2012 in First Amendment, Internet

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 between school culture, student free expression, and civic engagement?

Are public school journalism programs being cut due to overall budget cuts?

What are the academic backgrounds of school media advisers, and do they matter?  Is a media adviser with a background in the humanities more likely to support student free expression than an adviser with a background in math or science? One audience member asked whether social studies teachers, who should care about civic engagement, should work with student journalists. Another person observed that teachers too often don’t work outside their subject-specific silos.

How are charter schools regulating the expressive activities of their students?  One of our panelists observed that charter schools are public schools that want to operate like private schools.  She said there are many examples of censorship by charter schools and of charter schools with no student media at all.  California has enacted a statute to prevent charter schools from denying their students’ constitutional rights.

What has been the impact of the nation’s political polarization on student free expression?

What, if anything, is left of Tinker?

What is online student speech, and what is offline student speech?  (Or, more eloquently, where is the schoolhouse gate?) How do and should courts differentiate between the two?

Keynote speaker Erwin Chemerinsky said the Supreme Court treats schools as authoritarian institutions – like prisons.  To what extent is the Court correct?  What does that mean for student free expression?

If you have other questions to share, please post a comment.  Thanks for the great conference, everyone!

0

Film Screening of Miss Representation

By on November 8, 2012 in Journalism

This coming Monday, November 12, the Center is partnering with the UNC Conference on Race, Class, Gender & Ethnicity, Women in Law, Domestic Violence Action Project, Child Action, Law Students for Reproductive Justice, and the Lambda Law Students Association to present a screening of Miss Representation.  The film, written, directed and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.  The showing is part of a week-long documentary film festival, showcasing award-winning films about contemporary legal issues that implicate women’s rights.

Check out our events page for more information on the screening.

0