MASS MEDIA LAW - EXAM 4 STUDY GUIDE (chapters 10 - 12)

This web guide is meant to assist you in your preparation for your own personal study guide as well as the exam. Reading your text, listening in class, and going over the materials are your best preparation. You are allowed to bring to the exam a one-sided, hand-written personal studyguide.  This will be turned in with your exam.  Make sure your name is on it.  This is an option for you.  However, to help you focus your efforts, the following suggestions may assist you further:

1. Know the key terms of the each chapter. You can also find them in the glossary at the end of the book.

2. Read over notes from class. Class lessons are highlights of the chapters/subjects and therefore are already prioritized for study.

3. Court cases - you should be familiar with those cases that were mentioned in class as part of the lesson or given special attention in the chapters. Recognize the general issue and what was the final result.

4. In each chapter, there are summaries of information. These summaries give emphasis to the most important facts and principles presented in that chapter. Make sure you understand them.

5. The test is mostly objective (true/false, multiple choice, matching). There will be three essays - each relating to a chapter.

6. Don't forget to go over any highlighted, boxed or bold type.

7. Some specific areas to consider are:

How does the equal opportunities rule change broadcast hiring?  What court case made this rule significantly modified?

What is the "safe habor" principle?  When does this occur?

What are the various program ratings and what is a V-chip?

What do FCC regulations say about sponsor identification?

What was the Paris Adult Theater v. Slaton case about?

What did the Meese commission find concerning exposure to sexually explicit materials?

How did the Miller court case affect common law concerning obscenity?

What is the Miller test?

What other options do government entities have in controlling indecency and obscenity?

What are the rules concerning indecency on broadcast stations? Is it different for cable?

Be familiar with these cases: Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products; Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; Valentine v. Chrestensen; and Bates v. State Bar of Arizona. If you have trouble finding these in your text - go online and read summaries of them. Your text shows some of these in the footnotes.

What did the Central Hudson case establish concerning commercial speech?

How can advertising be misleading?

What did the Greater New Orleans case concerning casinos establish concerning disapproved speech?

What is a disclaimer or required disclosure?

What is the purpose of the FTC and what do they regulate?

What is "puffery"?

Why was the Charmin commercial found to be deceptive?

What did the 2009 FTC guides cover?

How does the Lanham Act affect advertising?

How does "personal jurisdiction" affect cases related to the Internet?

How did the Telecommunications Act of 1996 affect Internet Service Providers?

What are the four categories of disputes between trademark holders and URL address holders?

What are the main legal issues involved in online privacy?

What is the CIPA? What is the CDA? How did these laws affect the Internet in the long run?