The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication

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You don’t need to sacrifice style to get the substance you want from a communication law book.

Content and coverage you want, with the color, visuals, and learning features your students need.

Journalism and communication law is anything but dry and boring, so why should your book send that message to your students? Getting away from densely written text, The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication offers students essential coverage and substantive discussion, but brings the subject to life with an abundance of photographs, useful feature boxes, timelines, a marginal glossary, and a colorful interior design. The book is sure to hook students and keep them reading, while grounding them in core concepts.

With an approach geared towards students as future practitioners, not as future lawyers, the authors provide a foundation for understanding the law by balancing conceptual learning with practical guidance. All of the book’s features advance that goal and include:

• Suppose… chapter-opening cases—hypothetical scenarios offer the perfect jumping-off point for students to situate legal issues and get them thinking critically;
• Landmark Cases in Context—graphic timelines at the start of each chapter help students link landmark cases to key historical events;
• realWorld Law boxes—engaging stories of the law in practice lend human interest while illustrating contemporary examples or emerging topics;
• Points of Law boxes—nuggets of essential information underscore key points, crystallize knowledge, and often include legal tests and handy checklists;
• Cases for Study—two excerpted cases—complete with case facts, an explanatory headnote, and questions—conclude each chapter and give students an opportunity to grapple with justices’ opinions without sending them to a companion casebook.
• Bolded key terms and a marginal glossary—students quickly and easily master key legal terms and concepts;
• More than 75 photos—compelling images give students a window into the drama and importance of events, and keep them turning the pages.

Timely updates, a revamped interior design, and a new publisher committed to independent publishing and editorial quality, make the second edition of The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication a must-see offering.

Robert Trager teaches courses in communication law, freedom of expression, and media institutions at the University of Colorado. He is the founding editor of Communication Law and Policy. Before joining the University of Colorado faculty, Trager was an attorney with a major cable television company and practiced media law with a firm in Washington, D.C.

Joseph Russomanno is associate professor in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He has worked as a news reporter in radio and television and as a television news writer, newscast producer and executive producer at stations in St. Louis and Denver. He has received several awards for his broadcast work. His teaching and research focus on broadcast issues and First Amendment law.

Susan Dente Ross is professor at Washington State University where she serves as the associate dean for research in the College of Liberal Arts. She conducts research on the freedoms of speech and press and the ways in which these rights can help advance greater global equity and justice. She also is a leader in international initiatives to increase the ability of media to contribute to conflict transformation and resolution.