{"id":138,"date":"2015-06-02T13:10:54","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T13:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/?page_id=138"},"modified":"2023-05-09T15:57:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T15:57:23","slug":"syllabus","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/course\/syllabus\/","title":{"rendered":"Syllabus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>COMS 400\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Course catalog:<\/b> Examination of basic legal concepts and legal problems affecting mass media and media professionals. Includes case studies from the areas of constitutional law, statutory law and regulatory agency decisions. Principles and case studies in mass media ethics explored.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Textbooks:\u00a0<\/strong>Online resources as noted in the course schedule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Instructor and Office Hours<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s2\"><a href=\"mailto:Prof.%20Bill%20Kovarik\">Prof. Bill Kovarik<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s1\">, Ph.D. email wkovarik @ radford\u00a0 \u00a0dot edu<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>What you will learn in this class:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">What freedom of religion, speech, press and assembly means in the US and the world.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">How US law protects you and your ability to act responsibly and ethically.\u00a0 Avoiding harm is not enough. You want to respect and protect freedom and you need to rely on the law to help you.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">How to avoid doing harm in your work. You will learn how to recognize and avoid defamation, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement and other legal pitfalls.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">How to appreciate the strengths and flaws of media law, both in the US and internationally.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Textbooks &amp; materials\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">Readings from\u00a0http:\/\/www.revolutionsincommunication\/law<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Policies<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li><strong>Honor Code:<\/strong> By accepting admission to this university, each students makes a commitment to understand, support and abide by the University Honor Code without compromise or exception.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Professional standards<\/strong> are always expected.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Controversy:\u00a0<\/strong> We will be dealing with some \u00a0controversial material that might be a little upsetting to some people some of the time. This will include some obscene words and some uncomfortable history.\u00a0 \u00a0 College students should expect to be challenged, of course; but no one should feel disrespected.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 Feel free to speak up in class or online sessions if you have a perspective or point of view.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Late policy:<\/strong> Late completion of projects will result in reduction of \u00a0your grade.\u00a0 Waiting until the last week of class to turn in all your assignments is a formula for failure.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Disabilities policy:<\/strong> We are glad to work with all students to accommodate disabilities on a non-discriminatory basis. Students with special needs may be required to clear accommodations through the Disabilities Resource Office of the university.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Attendance:<\/strong> You are expected to attend all classes, but are allowed to miss 10 percent of the classes without penalty or the need to offer excuses. More than 10 percent absenteeism will lead to penalties and grade reductions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Personal issues:\u00a0<\/strong> To respect students, a professor can&#8217;t (and probably should not) evaluate\u00a0 major personal problems that may lead to a large number of excused absences or failure to meet deadlines. It&#8217;s better to take your issues to one of the helpful offices in the university where your problem can be evaluated and a reasonable accommodation suggested.\u00a0 These include:\u00a0 1) The Disabilities Resource Office; 2) The Dean of Students Office 3) The CHBS Advising Center; 4) The School of Communication chair&#8217;s office. They can make recommendations to the instructor through a much more helpful process.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Plagiarism<\/strong> &#8212; Students who submit work that is not their own may fail\u00a0the class and be reported to the Dean of Students office.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>COMS 400\u00a0 Course catalog: Examination of basic legal concepts and legal problems affecting mass media and media professionals. Includes case studies from the areas of constitutional law, statutory law and regulatory agency decisions. Principles and case studies in mass media &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/course\/syllabus\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-138","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5759,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138\/revisions\/5759"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}