Support and engagement with the First Amendment among high school students is at a high level; however, little is known regarding the ways high school students learn about the First Amendment. This study examines what sources students learn about the First Amendment from, and if some sources are considered more valuable than others. This study…

Support for student expression and First Amendment attitudes were measured among Missouri high school principals (n = 86). Findings demonstrated that the third-person effect was a significant predictor of these attitudes. The more principals perceived mass media to affect others over themselves, the less supportive they were for student free…

Amy Jordan addresses the need to balance the media industry's potentially important contributions to the healthy development of America's children against the consequences of excessive and age-inappropriate media exposure. Much of the philosophical tension regarding how much say the government should have about media content and delivery stems…

The Law section of the Proceedings contains the following 10 papers: "Protection without a Shield: Revisiting the Journalist's Common Law Privilege" (Laurence B. Alexander); "Burning the Global Village: The Constitutionality of State Laws Regulating Indecency in Cyberspace" (Dolores L. Flamiano); "Of Jellyfish and…

Examines the work of four major legal theorists with respect to interpreting First Amendment rights. Asserts that the work of these theorists assumes press responsibility, which could, if adopted by the court system, result in restrictions on freedom of the press. (PRA)

Section B of the Media and Law section of the proceedings contains the following nine papers: "The Professional Person as Libel Plaintiff: Reexamination of the Public Figure Doctrine" (Harry W. Stonecipher and Don Sneed); "The Anti-Federalists and Taxation under the Free Press Clause of the First Amendment" (Brad Thompson);…

Considers the question of the media as a necessity or luxury, questioning whether the flood of trivia overwhelms and dulls our sensitivities to the part of the media that tells us of government activities and the events of the world.

Examines how the Commerce Clause (article one, section eight) of the Constitution has been used in Supreme Court litigation on the freedom of the press. (RB)

Although the media has long been familiar with the tort law of libel and invasion of privacy, they may not be aware that the law of torts reaches more broadly. This paper examines legal developments in cases where actions of the media are alleged either to have caused the plaintiff to do something resulting in physical harm or financial loss, or…

Section A of the Media and Law section of the proceedings contains the following nine papers: "RICO and the First Amendment: Racketeering Laws Threaten Free Expression" (Matthew D. Bunker and others); "Press Coverage of the Federal Appellate Courts: Technology and a Shared Notion of Newsworthiness" (Rebekah V. Bromley);…

States that, during its first five years, the Rehnquist Court was supportive of free expression issues. Contends that in later years a different picture emerges. Asserts that this drop in support, caused by the retirement of justices carried over from the Berger Court, gives rise to concerns about the future of free expression rights. (PRA)

These two papers consider the implications of industry concentration in the mass media industry. The first, "Selling the Store: Policy Implications of the 1986 Bonanza in Television Station Transfers" (Joseph Foley, Ohio State University), analyzes the relationship between key market variables and prices paid in 1986 television stations…

This monograph traces the themes in various court decisions that reflect a growing respect for the broadcast industry as a mature communication medium which, despite federal regulation, deserves a fuller measure of the First Amendment protection enjoyed by other media. The review begins with the first government involvement in broadcast content in…