More Speech, Not Less: Communications Law in the Information Age - Hardcover

Sableman, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809320711 ISBN 13: 9780809320714

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997

Synopsis

On a daily basis we are confronted with "more speech, not less" more news reports, more television channels, more publications, more electronic communications. Communications laws have expanded in response to the proliferation of communications, and these laws affect everyone.

Communications lawyer Mark Sableman uses recent case studies, practical examples, and plain language to describe and analyze the broad spectrum of modern communications laws and policies. In these essays, Sableman helps communications professionals as well as informed citizens understand the law.

The constitutional foundation for the information age is settled: radical solutions on either side have been rejected. Neither First Amendment absolutism nor untrammeled content-based censorship will rule in America. But within the remaining middle area, many key policy choices are being made by courts and policy makers. Intricate webs of legal do’s and don’ts, practical pitfalls, and effective safe harbors are being developed across the broad spectrum of communications law.

In this guide to existing law, developing trends, and critical policy determinations, Sableman discusses privacy, Internet communications and policy, censorship, libel and slander, copyright and intellectual property, advertising, broadcasting, and journalistic confidentiality. Through actual cases and practical examples, he examines and explains both the existing rules for communications professionals and the developing policies that deserve the attention and scrutiny of informed citizens. Sableman approaches these subjects as a practicing lawyer experienced in both business and media communications.

The phrase "more speech, not less" describes not only the growing cacophony of the information age, but also one approach to legal policy Justice Louis D. Brandeis’s preference for "more speech, not enforced silence" in all but the most extreme situations. Drawing from his strong advocacy of free speech, Sableman hopes to stimulate informed debate among all who are concerned about the power of information and the magic of words and images.

About this title

About the Author:

Mark Sableman is a former newspaper reporter who has practiced law in Chicago and St. Louis, concentrating on litigation and communications law. He has handled over one hundred lawsuits involving libel, privacy, and other First Amendment issues. A partner in the Thompson Coburn law firm in St. Louis and a past president of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, he is a frequent contributor to the St. Louis Journalism Review and other publications.

From Library Journal:

Sableman, a St. Louis attorney involved with the ACLU and a former newspaper reporter, has written a thoughtful collection of essays on communications law in the information age. Each chapter explores the state of existing law and offers a comprehensive public policy analysis of it, covering a range of information-related issues including censorship, news gathering, confidentiality of news sources, libel, privacy rights, and broadcasting. Although the book tempts Internet junkies with its information focus, Sableman devotes only one rather simplistic chapter to the rise of the Internet and the free speech and intellectual property issues resulting from it. Because of this, his effort seems to work much better as a commentary on the legal issues relating to the news media. Although the work is an insightful overview for those new to the journalism or legal professions, experienced attorneys and editors may want an even more legalistic or detailed analysis. Sableman's book belongs on the shelves of academic and larger public libraries only.?Steven Anderson, Baltimore Cty. Circuit Court Law Lib.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0809320711
• ISBN 13: 9780809320714
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304