Mass Media Law--Pielemeier--Sping 1997
Time: 3 hours
Outside Materials Permitted: NONE
Special Instructions:
a. This examination consists of five questions. The recommended amount of time for each of the first three questions is twenty minutes each, and the recommended amount of time for each of the last two questions is one hour each. The total amount of recommended times is three hours, which is the total amount of time permitted for the exam.
b. An answer containing only your conclusions will receive little credit. Taking into account the amount of time suggested for each question, state fully the reasons supporting your answers. In addition, discuss all issues reasonably raised by each question, even though your resolution of one issue may seem to render the others moot.
C. The fact scenarios in the questions are not set in any particular state. You should discuss all issues reasonably raised based on general principles of law (including constitutional law) that were discussed in the course.
In Minnesota v. Turner, which was covered in class, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that the Minnesota Free Flow of Information Act protects reporters from having to disclose unpublished materials to authorities only when those materials would tend to identify a confidential source. Assume that legislation is proposed to amend the statute so that, absent a very strong showing of need by authorities, reporters need not disclose any unpublished materials, regardless of whether they are from a confidential source or would tend to identify the source.
Briefly sketch arguments that might reasonably be made in favor of and against such legislation. Conclude by taking a position on whether such an amendment would reflect sound social policy.
Assume that a state legislature is considering forms of public financing to support the building of a new sports stadium for major league sports teams. One aspect of the proposal is based on the notion that "those businesses that benefit from the stadium should help pay for it." This leads to enactment of a law providing (1) All businesses within one-half mile of the stadium shall charge an extra ½ per cent sales tax on all taxable items sold, the proceeds of which will go towards financing the stadium; and (2) all broadcasters, cable operators and programmers, and satellite broadcasters transmitting games and other activities from the stadium shall pay a tax of ½ per cent of all advertising revenues received in connection with such transmissions, the proceeds of which will go towards financing the stadium.
Briefly discuss whether provision (2) is constitutionally permissible under the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
In Turner Broadcasting v. F.C.C., which was covered in class, and its subsequent review of the case after proceedings on remand, the United States Supreme Court held that legislation requiring cable operators to carry the signals of a specified number of local broadcasting stations is constitutionally permissible. Assume that in the wake of this decision, Congress passes legislation finding that the educational needs of children are not being sufficiently met by cable systems and (1) requiring that all cable operators devote at least one of their channels to the exclusive use of children's educational programming and (2) providing that if such cable operators are unable to find a programmer to produce such educational programming, they are required to produce and transmit it themselves, at their own expense.
Briefly discuss whether such legislation would be constitutionally permissible.
During the Morning of April 3, 1997, Maria Shuler was badly injured when she lost control of the car she was driving along an interstate highway and it tumbled down an embankment into a drainage ditch. Maria was pinned in the car, which had landed upside down. Firefighters, police officers, and other rescue personnel were called to the scene. In addition, the accident drew a crowd of onlookers who were able to view the scene from the freeway above.
Shortly after the first rescue personnel arrived, a news team from WTTV television arrived. The news team consisted of a reporter, Stacy Thomas, and a video-camera operator, Bob Taylor. Thomas and Taylor initially videotaped the attempts to free Ms. Shuler from the freeway above the ditch. Police then permitted them to approach nearer to the scene, where some videotaping and commentary by Thomas continued. (The commentary was not live, but rather was being taped for potential future broadcast.)
Shortly after Ms. Shuler had been freed from the automobile, a rescue helicopter, owned and operated by the local government, arrived to transport Shuler to the hospital. The county hospital flight nurse, Laura Carn, would perform medical care at the scene and on the way to the hospital. Thomas asked Carn if the news team could ride along and videotape what occurred, and Carn consented.
As a result of the taping, Thomas and Taylor put together a story which was broadcast on the WTTV evening news that evening. The broadcast began with Thomas at the scene describing a "dramatic rescue effort" undertaken by local authorities. It continued with a video clip, taken from the freeway, of the efforts to free Shuler from the car. Shuler's face was not visible in this clip, although at one point she could be heard saying to the rescuers, "Let me die--just let me die."
The broadcast continued with a shot of the rescue helicopter flying in, and of Laura Carn, the flight nurse, going to Shuler, who was now on a stretcher. During this portion, Carn asked "Maria" some questions about where she felt pain, which Shuler, her face visible, struggled to answer. The broadcast then showed Shuler being carried on the stretcher, and Thomas following, into the helicopter.
There followed a shot out the window of the rescue helicopter as it took off, and then a shot of Thomas, with Carn checking Shuler's vital signs behind her. Shuler's head and upper body are visible in this shot, although the body was covered with a sheet, and there was an oxygen mask over her mouth. In this shot, Thomas said, "Once airborne, medical personnel on the helicopter will update the patient's vital signs and establish communications with the waiting trauma team at the hospital." Thomas then asked Carn how things looked, to which Carn responded, "She can't move her feet, but her blood pressure and pulse seem to be holding steady." The clip then showed Carn saying to Shuler, "You're doing very well, we're going to the emergency room, we're going to take care of you."
The next clip of the broadcast showed the helicopter door opening from the inside, apparently on the roof of a hospital. It showed four people taking the stretcher out of the helicopter, during which Shuler could be heard saying, "My back hurts, I don't feel good." The clip concluded with a shot of Shuler being taken through the door into the hospital, and then a shot of Thomas saying, "Once inside, the patient will be further evaluated and moved into emergency surgery if need be. Thanks to the great efforts of all the rescue personnel, we may have just seen a life being saved."
Beginning in the early afternoon of the same day, WTTV also aired four short promotional spots urging viewers to watch its news broadcasts that evening for a story on a "great rescue effort." These promotional spots included a very short clip of Shuler being carried into the helicopter.
Assume that eventually Shuler sues WTTV for damages as a result of the facts described above, alleging theories of public disclosure of private facts, intrusion, and appropriation. Assume that WTTV would be vicariously liable for the actions of its employees. Analyze the likelihood of her success on these theories.
Eric Sneed was a public high school history teacher in the small town of Bloomburg. At the age of thirty, he decided he wanted to switch careers, and he began attending law school. Upon graduating at age thirty-four, he accepted a job as law clerk to trial court Judge Jeremiah Justice, whose chambers happened to be in Bloomburg. As the judge's law clerk, Sneed's primary responsibilities were doing legal research and sometimes writing first drafts of the judge's court opinions. The judge usually made some modifications of the drafts before issuing rulings with opinions, but occasionally issued them as written by Sneed. Sneed hoped to go into private law practice in Bloomburg after his two year clerkship with Judge Justice.
Shortly after Sneed began his clerkship, an incident occurred at Bloomburg High School where a high school senior physically assaulted one of the teachers. The student was expelled, and the incident was reported in the local newspaper, the Bloomburg Times. A few days after the incident, Sneed wrote a letter to the editor of the Times, in which he expressed the opinion that the incident was most likely a result the inability of teachers to use more forceful discipline measures on "problem students," especially in the earlier grades. His letter urged that legislation be proposed and enacted that would permit teachers to exercise some forms of physical punishment without being subject to liability in a law suit. His letter was signed only with his name, without any reference to his being a law clerk. It was published on the editorial page of the Times. His was the only letter up to that point in time that was published concerning the incident.
A few days later, however, the Times received another letter from a Jack Pratt. The letter identified Pratt as having been one of Sneed's students when Sneed had been teaching high school. The letter included the following statements:
When I was a student in Mr. Sneed's class, he once threatened me that if I didn't behave, I'd pay for it, and as he said this, he pointed the tip of a scissors right at my stomach. A classmate told me that Mr. Sneed made a similar threat to him, and that Mr. Sneed actually choked him in an isolated part of the school. And another told me that Mr. Sneed once threatened him with a body slam if he didn't shape up. Rumor had it that Sneed just drank too much. Is this the sort of "discipline" our public high school teachers should be permitted to engage in?
The editor of the Times, Bill Norris, had never heard of Pratt before, and he decided to call Sneed before printing the letter. Sneed confirmed that Pratt had been a student of his, "a real problem," he said, but adamantly denied the statements in the letter. However, without investigating further, Norris decided to print Pratt's letter on the editorial page under the heading "Another View on School Discipline." The following appeared right after the letter:
Editor's note: We are not acquainted with Mr. Pratt, and do not vouch for his credibility. Mr. Sneed confirms that he was one of his students, but has denied Mr. Pratt's accusations.
Sneed then brought suit against the Times for defamation. Discuss his likelihood of success, addressing all issues reasonably raised by the facts.