Media Law

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

This subject has a quota of 60 students. Please refer to the Melbourne Law JD website for further information about subject quotas.

144 hours

Successful completion of all the below subjects:

Students who have completed any of the below subjects are not permitted to take LAWS50096 Media Law:

The Melbourne Law School welcomes applications from students with disabilities. It is University and Law School policy to take all reasonable steps to enable the participation of students with disabilities, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the School's programs.

The inherent academic requirements for the study in the Melbourne Law School are:

• The ability to attend classes and actively engage in the analysis of complex materials and debate;
• The ability to read, analyse and comprehend complex written legal materials and complex interdisciplinary materials;
• The ability to clearly and independently communicate in writing a knowledge and application of legal principles and interdisciplinary materials and critically evaluate these;
• The ability to clearly and independently communicate orally a knowledge and application of legal principles and interdisciplinary materials and critically evaluate these;
• The ability to work independently and as a part of a group;
• The ability to present orally and in writing legal analysis to a professional standard.

Students must possess behavioural and social attributes that enable them to participate in a complex learning environment. Students are required to take responsibility for their own participation and learning. They also contribute to the learning of other students in collaborative learning environments, demonstrating interpersonal skills and an understanding of the needs of other students. Assessment may include the outcomes of tasks completed in collaboration with other students.

Students who feel their disability will inhibit them from meeting these inherent academic requirements are encouraged to contact Student Equity and Disability Support.

This subject examines the core legal constraints imposed on the media in their publishing activities. The first part of the course requires students to analyse and evaluate broad principles relating to freedom of speech and public interest and their application to the media. It also examines the greater role that the legal protection of human rights, especially in the international context, has played in the development of media law. The second part of the course explores the constraints that are imposed on the media in their reporting of court proceedings, including contempt of court and the issuing of suppression orders by the courts. The third part of the course comprises a comparative, in-depth examination of the law of defamation across Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. It also draws on case studies from other jurisdictions, such as Canada and South Africa. The final part of the course looks at privacy and the media. It considers the current state of privacy protection in Australia, and requires students to undertake a critical, comparative analysis of the position in Australia and recent developments in the United Kingdom and the United States.

A student who has successfully completed this subject will:

• Have a detailed and sophisticated understanding of the general principles governing freedom of speech, the public interest and the media;
• Have a detailed, technical and specialised understanding of the constraints imposed on the media in the reporting of court proceedings;
• Have developed expert knowledge of the practical operation of the law of contempt of court in Australia;
• Have a detailed, technical and specialised understanding of defamation law in Australia and comparatively;
• Have developed expert knowledge of the practical operation of defamation law in Australia and comparatively;
• Have a detailed, technical and specialised understanding of privacy law in Australia and comparatively;
• Have developed expert knowledge of the practical operation of privacy law in Australia and comparatively;
• Have developed the ability to independently understand, research and critically analyse legal and scholarly developments that contribute to professional practice in the area of media law; and
• Have developed the ability to communicate their analysis of the law and its application to specialist and non-specialist audiences in appropriate scholarly and professional formats.

A 3-hour examination or an independent research essay of 6,000 words (worth 100% of overall mark).

Research essays are expected to demonstrate a highly advanced understanding of media law. In particular, it will be expected that students will generate complex argumentation, evaluate the forms and values of knowledge relevant to the area, as well as demonstrate creativity and initiative in the development of their advanced understanding of the matters at issue in the essay. Students will be given the option of writing on a topic formulated by them and approved by the coordinator, or writing on a topic set by the coordinator.

The due date of the above assessment will be available to students via the LMS.

• David Rolph, Matt Vitins and Judith Bannister, Media Law: Cases, Materials and Commentary (Oxford University Press, South Melbourne 2015);

• Specialist printed materials will also be made available from the Melbourne Law School.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of the subject students should have developed the following skills:

• Mastery of the principal areas of media law (such as defamation, contempt, privacy and freedom of speech) as well as associated theoretical material;
• Expert, specialised cognitive and technical skills for critical and independent thought and reflection in the area of media law and practice;
• Mastery of technical research skills relevant to media law;
• Expert, specialised cognitive, creative and technical skills to solve problems, including through the critical evaluation of research relevant to the area of media law and practice;
• The ability to expertly communicate specialised and complex information, ideas, concepts and theories relevant to media law and practice.