COM 305 Communications: Problems of Law and Ethics in Media

3 Credit(s)

This course will deal with the moral and legal problems encountered by mass media since the invention of the printing press. Attention will be given to landmark events and to the historical, political and technological developments which gave rise to them. Emphasis will be placed on: the concept of legal precedent; those assumptions about the nature of man on which moral judgments are made; the evolution of libertarian thought from the First Amendment to the present. The course will rely heavily on case studies. Three lecture hours per week. Prerequisites: COM 201, COM 202.