Mass Communication Law and Policy Research and the Values of Free Expression

Abstract

Mass communication law and policy research, including on values and theory of freedom of expression, has played an important role in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly for decades. Mass communication law research in Quarterly reached a high point with a special issue on the First Amendment in 1992 and numerous articles in the decade that followed. A relationship is explored between First Amendment theory and structural archetypes of constitutional argument. Future research could focus on international law and contemporary challenges involving technology, surveillance and changes in democratic citizenship.

A Century of JMCQ Legal Issues in Media: Scholarly Commitment to Free Press, Free Speech, and More

“…As Edward Carter (2017) wrote, “historical free-speech values can inform contemporary understanding.” In this vein, several JMCQ libel articles have helped inform understandings in the field by epitomizing the scholarly ambition of remembering the past and imagining the future (G. E. Stevens, 1979; J.…”

“…Nonetheless, for the past 30 years, few international, foreign, or comparative studies of defamation law have appeared in JMCQ . And a 2017 JMCQ article on mass communication law and policy noted the need to once again turn attention to international, foreign, and comparative studies: “One fruitful area for exploring free-speech values involves foreign, international and comparative law” (Carter, 2017, p. 653).…”

Journalism, Public, Policy: An Institutional View of the Press’s Legal Discourse at the End of the 19th Century

“…Scholars have proposed pathways for understanding these processes within historical and institutional contexts, which provide insight into how ideals like objectivity, the gatekeeping role, or the watchdog role have emerged and evolved within the journalistic field and in relation to other social fields around the turn of the 20th century (Ryfe, 2017;Schudson, 2001;Vos, 2017). However, while the law plays a crucial role in this process of role-defining and delimiting, the normative realm of First Amendment theory-concepts like the marketplace of ideas or the checking value of a watchdog press-has done relatively little to explain the precise role journalistic institutions play in key processes like litigation and policy making (see Carter, 2017;Pasadeos, Bunker, & Kim, 2006).…”

“Stick to Sports”? First Amendment Values and Limitations to Student-Athlete Expression

“…In the absence of Supreme Court guidance, the identification of First Amendment values from student-athlete speech doctrine is critical in informing the development of communication law and student speech policy within First Amendment jurisprudence. As Edward Carter (2017) pointed out, mass communication law research that analyzes First Amendment values has the potential to make a valuable contribution to the development of theory and the law. This work strengthens mass communication law scholarship by surveying legal doctrine to advance scholarly discussion of First Amendment values in the student speech context; it also offers courts, administrators, and mass communication scholars some ideas toward an analytical approach to collegiate-athlete speech that is informed by core First Amendment values, the purpose of higher education, and the extracurricular nature of college athletics.…”