Illinois Authors

Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, N.Y. : ©2006.

The papers and articles collected in this volume examine the relationship between government, business conglomerates, and the mass media and discuss the effect of this relationship on the flow of information. Separate sections are devoted to: the "right to know"; the effect of media barons on the flow of news; the "right of access"; the sometimes conflicting guarantees of the First and the Sixth Amendments; invasion of privacy; libel; obscenity; the impact of such Federal agencies as the Post Office, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission; and copyright laws. At the end of each section relevant books, articles, and court decisions are noted. In the concluding section of the book, the editors summarize their position by stating that the changing nature of the communications process demands that the law must not only protect the media's right of access to information, but must also forbid the arbitrary denial of space in which to present divergent opinions.

Updated with major Supreme Court decisions through 1990, this newly-revised edition provides a carefully-edited collection of major cases and important articles from leading law journals about obscenity, censorship, libel, rights of privacy, trial by television, and other First Amendment problems. During the 1960s and continuing through today, Supreme Court Justices have been willing to speak out on a series of questions that have had wide-ranging impacts on the mass media. This legal activism on issues such as prior restraint, government regulation, public access to the media, and motion picture censorship, has increased the importance of media law, making this book essential reading for students of mass communications and for professionals in the field. -- Publisher's description

Longman Publishers USA, White Plains, N.Y. : ©1996.