After an Apple engineer accidentally left a yet-to-be-released iPhone 4G in a restaurant, Gizmodo.com paid $5,000 for the phone so that it could review and write about it. Police got a search warrant and raided the Gizmodo blogger's home, but Gizmodo challenged the seizure. This lesson explores the reporter's privilege and the legal issues involved with publishing illegally obtained information.
Tag: lesson-plans
Learning from the headlines: Reporter’s privilege and shield laws
In 2009, a San Francisco student journalist was taking photos for a journalism class project when a fatal shooting broke out nearby. The student journalist used California's reporter shield law to challenge a police search warrant and the seizing of his cameras and other equipment. This lesson plan explores state shield laws and how they apply to student journalists.
Learning from the headlines: Shepard Fairey, The Associated Press and fair use doctrine
A photograph of Barack Obama taken by an Associated Press photographer is at the center of a copyright dispute between the AP and an artist who created an iconic poster of Obama based off of the photograph. This lesson plan explores issues involving copyright and fair use.
Learning from the headlines: World Press Freedom Day 2011
In April 2011, the Student Press Law Center joined 39 of America's leading journalism and free-speech groups in calling attention to the lack of press freedoms in American schools and colleges in light of the annual World Press Freedom Day. This lesson explores the importance of press freedom in the U.S. and around the world.
Learning from the headlines: Video games and the Supreme Court
At the end of its 2011 term, the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a California law that made it a crime to sell kids under 18 video games that contain extreme, realistic violence against human figures. The lesson explores the Court's decision and its implications on free speech for students.