2023 - Fall

First Amendment Law

Course Number: JOUR-GA 0011.001

Day & Time: Thu | 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Location: 20 Cooper Square, Room 654

Instructor: Stephen Adler

This course examines the application of ethical and legal principles to journalistic decision making, in print, broadcast and on-line. Unlike other professionals, journalists must make their ethical decisions rapidly, often without clear guidelines, and on their own, and the results of their decisions are open to public view. Also unlike other professionals, violations of ethical precepts are not punished by professional discipline or revocation of a license. This makes it vital that journalists weigh the value of how and what they choose to report against the potential harm to subjects, sources and society as a whole. The objective of this course is to provide guidance, through consideration of hypothetical and actual situations and analysis of case decisions, in developing a framework to help you make ethical and legal professional choices and to suggest some criteria against which those decisions may be measured.