Course Content
This course examines the legal and administrative regulation of the media and the rights framework within which media practice occurs. It focuses on three areas or ‘blocks’: the regulation of published content to protect private interests; the regulation of published content in defence of public interests, and the control of pre-publication newsgathering practices. The course uses English law and regulation (as informed by European human rights law) as the default teaching vehicle, but at all stages interrogates and compares equivalent laws in North American, European, and other comparable jurisdictions.
Course overview
The course, first, introduces two underpinning themes: the media landscape and the main social, technological and regulatory influences shaping its development, and the protection of freedom of expression and freedom of the press in national and international law. It then proceeds to review potential restrictions on these values that are aimed at promoting or preserving the specific private and/or public interests. This analysis is undertaken in three blocks of study:
– the regulation of content to protect private interests. This involves a focus on the personal interests in privacy, confidentiality and reputation, and includes consideration of the torts of defamation and misuse of private information.
– the regulation of content in the public interest. This involves a focus on prejudice to legal proceedings through media publicity, the publishing of offensive content, publication of sensitive material affecting national security, and concerns with political impartiality. It includes consideration of the law of contempt, blasphemy and related public order offences, official secrets and terrorism legislation, and broadcasting bans on certain forms of speech.
– the regulation of newsgathering practices. This involves consideration of the use of harassing, deceptive and surreptitious methods by journalists (for example, door-stepping, phone-hacking and undercover reporting), the protection of journalists’ sources, and access to state-held information (freedom of information and open justice).
Course outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
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Critically evaluate ongoing developments in law relating to media publication and newsgathering.
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Display an understanding of how these developments relate to one another.
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Examine areas of doctrinal and political debate surrounding rules and theories.
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Compare and contrast the development of relevant laws and regulation in the UK with equivalent rules in other major jurisdictions
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Draw on the analysis and evaluation contained in primary and secondary sources.
World-class LSE teaching
LSE Law has excelled once again in the UK’s nationwide assessment of research quality, impact and environment. The Research Excellence Framework results published in December 2014 show that LSE Law is the UK’s number one law school for legal research.
The 2015 QS World University faculty rankings for Law also place the LSE in the world’s top ten for the subject, making it London’s best Law School.
On this three week intensive programme, you will engage with and learn from full-time lecturers from the LSE’s law faculty. LL208 course lecturer Dr Andrew Scott teaches on a number of our undergraduate and graduate law modules, including Public Law and Media Law.
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Texts*
The course will rely on three main texts and an array of other readings, all of which are made available to students electronically through the LSE library:
– Hare and Weinstein (eds), Extreme Speech and Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2009).
– Millar and Scott, Newsgathering: Law, Regulation and the Public Interest (Oxford University Press, 2016).
– Parkes and Mullis (eds), Gatley on Libel and Slander (12th rev edn, London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2015).
*A more detailed reading list will be supplied prior to the start of the programme
**Course content, faculty and dates may be subject to change without prior notice