This market-leading text discusses the most relevant mass media legal decisions, from the Constitution to the most recent Supreme Court sessions, in relation to their relevance to modern American law. From the Internet to political advertising laws, Mass Media Law examines the current issues that are shaping the United States legal system. Known for its clear explanations and its consistent pedagogy, the text includes mid-chapter summaries, a table of cases, and more. The new edition has been heavily revised to include several new cases, updated coverage on military censorship (to include the war in Iraq), intrusion on the Internet, and new material on the deregulation of the telecommunications industry.
Read this for my communications law class. The chapters are dense, but the book effectively presents important concepts in U.S. journalism and media law, supported by key legal precedents.
2.5 - the cases and content are pretty interesting for a textbook, but the chapters are ungodly long and I spend most of my time skimming so I wouldn’t fall asleep
I use this class every year in my media law class -- great intro to legal concepts around the First Amendment, copyright, media regulation. Pember and Calvert do a nice job bringing this material alive with current cases and decisions. I hate that it costs so much money but I do require the latest version because of changing case law.
This is a tough book to get through, but I literally read it cover to cover. If you are reading this book for a Media Law course and the quizzes come from the book, I would strongly recommend using the Online Learning Center (www.mhhe.com/pember17e) to take the practice quizzes as the book does not always provide clear explanations. It's a long and grueling 640 pages!
This is probably one of the most interesting text books ever. Although we only had to read parts of it for my media law class, I ended up reading it page by page. But I guess if you aren't into communications law (censorship, copyright and such), this really wouldn't be too interesting.