What I would like you to do is to answer the following questions in an email. Then, send the email to me no later than 9 a.m. Monday to omars@msu.edu, with the subject line of law quiz. This is a closed-book quiz; please take it after reading the ethics chapter and blog post, but DO NOT use those materials while actually taking the quiz.
No, I can't make sure you're being honest. But journalists are only as good as their integrity. Ethics are what you do when no one is looking, right? So, don't cheat.
Here are your questions, to be answered in a true/false format:
1. The right of the press and public to attend judicial proceedings can never be abridged.
2. The federal government and all state governments have laws that open public meetings and records, but the laws contain many exemptions.
3. Under modern libel law, plaintiffs must prove the falsity of the defamatory statements.
4. Actual malice, which public figures who sue for libel must prove, means the reporter or publisher intended to harm the plaintiff.
5. Journalists have an absolute right of access to crime, accident or disaster scenes.
6. One way reporters protect themselves against libel suits is by identifying the people they write about as precisely as possible, using name, age and address.
7. The U.S. Supreme Court has approved the practice of allowing reporters to ride along with police on drug busts or other arrests.
8. News organizations always escape liability for defamatory statements if they prove they accurately quoted defamatory charges made by other people.
9. Information drawn from public records, such as property tax information or court documents, can never be the basis for a lawsuit over publicity to private facts.
10. The major common-law defenses to libel suits are truth, fair-report privilege and harmless error.
11. Such things as interviewing acquaintances and examining public records do not constitute intrusion on a person's privacy.
12. Defamatory statements are those that lower a person's reputation in the community or deter others from associating or doing business with that person.
13. A private individual who is a libel plaintiff must prove actual malice to win punitive damages.
14. The U.S. Supreme Court has said most people who become public figures for purposes of a libel suit do so involuntarily.
15. The plaintiff in a false light privacy lawsuit does not have to prove injury to reputation.
16. Statements of opinion may be protected from libel suits, so long as the statements are not based on or do not imply false facts about the plaintiff.
17. The U.S. Supreme Court has said reporters cannot be subpoenaed by courts or grand juries to testify about confidential sources and information.
No, I can't make sure you're being honest. But journalists are only as good as their integrity. Ethics are what you do when no one is looking, right? So, don't cheat.
Here are your questions, to be answered in a true/false format:
1. The right of the press and public to attend judicial proceedings can never be abridged.
2. The federal government and all state governments have laws that open public meetings and records, but the laws contain many exemptions.
3. Under modern libel law, plaintiffs must prove the falsity of the defamatory statements.
4. Actual malice, which public figures who sue for libel must prove, means the reporter or publisher intended to harm the plaintiff.
5. Journalists have an absolute right of access to crime, accident or disaster scenes.
6. One way reporters protect themselves against libel suits is by identifying the people they write about as precisely as possible, using name, age and address.
7. The U.S. Supreme Court has approved the practice of allowing reporters to ride along with police on drug busts or other arrests.
8. News organizations always escape liability for defamatory statements if they prove they accurately quoted defamatory charges made by other people.
9. Information drawn from public records, such as property tax information or court documents, can never be the basis for a lawsuit over publicity to private facts.
10. The major common-law defenses to libel suits are truth, fair-report privilege and harmless error.
11. Such things as interviewing acquaintances and examining public records do not constitute intrusion on a person's privacy.
12. Defamatory statements are those that lower a person's reputation in the community or deter others from associating or doing business with that person.
13. A private individual who is a libel plaintiff must prove actual malice to win punitive damages.
14. The U.S. Supreme Court has said most people who become public figures for purposes of a libel suit do so involuntarily.
15. The plaintiff in a false light privacy lawsuit does not have to prove injury to reputation.
16. Statements of opinion may be protected from libel suits, so long as the statements are not based on or do not imply false facts about the plaintiff.
17. The U.S. Supreme Court has said reporters cannot be subpoenaed by courts or grand juries to testify about confidential sources and information.
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