LAW 662 - Media, Technology & the Courts

Few people head to the courthouse to watch trials anymore. As a result, the media’s relationship with courts increasingly defines how the public learns about the law. This course will investigate the interaction between the media and the courts with particular emphasis on the impact of technology. In addition to coverning the basic legal concepts governing media coverage of courts (prior restraints, libel, privacy, and so forth), this course will examine more foundational questions of the nature of the public interest in courts, whether lawyers and judges ought to be more involved in public education about courts. In addition, the course will explore whether courts and the media are effectively harnessing new technologies to educate the public about the business of courts. Ought privacy or other concerns curtail the use of such technology? Students in the class will gain a foundation in media law and a sophisticated sense of the broader questions of public education about law.