Media Law: A Practical Guide (Third Edition)

This book provides a clear and concise explanation of media law principles. It focuses on the practical aspects of legal issues for journalists and other communicators. This third edition contains important updates to the law, including recent developments in libel, fair use, student speech, regulation and copyrightability of AI, access to social media accounts, sampling in music, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, ag-gag laws, embedding, cyberstalking, FCC and FTC enforcement actions, and the legal aspects of protests. It also contains a new section on the ethics of language choice.

Media Law is divided into five sections: background information about the legal system; lawsuit claims; how to gather information; the ways government can regulate speech; and practical issues related to media law. This book is perfect for courses in communications or media law or a combination course in journalism law and ethics, as it covers both the legal and ethical aspects of communication.

Ashley Messenger is Deputy General Counsel at NPR, specializing in First Amendment and media law. She previously worked for U.S. News & World Report, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and NuCity Publications, Inc. She has taught First Amendment Law at the University of Michigan Law school, as well as Media Law courses for the communications departments at American University, the George Washington University, and George Mason University. Early in her career, she was a commercial radio talk show host and writer, and she received a Silver Gavel Award from the State Bar of New Mexico.