Research projects
Reporting Project: Media Law
The purpose of these projects is to conduct original, up-to-date research on selected legal issues facing the media. This year, the topics will contribute to a class project of a media law website prototype, “The Legal Guide for the Global Journalist,” with an initial emphasis on Asia. We will do country reports for several Asian countries covering key legal areas, such as defamation, freedom of information, contempt of court, Internet/online regulation, privacy, copyright and maybe one or two specialty topics of that country.
The following are the assigned countries for team projects. You may have up to eight persons on a team. Each team’s designated team leader will coordinate efforts among the team members and to apprise Doreen/Sky of the team’s progress. Recommended length: 1,500-2,000 words per person. In addition to text, work will include bibliography, links to primary sources (cases, legislation, administrative regulations) and links to related secondary sources (articles, topic websites, etc). Project due: April 25, 2011
Timeline:
Tues, March 8: confirm topic assignment with team leader
Mon, March 14: submit to team leader a preliminary bibliography with resources, links, etc collected so far and reporting plan on what else you’ll be looking for.
Fri, March 18: We give feedback on bibliography
Mon, April 4: 1st draft of text due
Fri, April 14: We give feedback on text to team leader
Tues, April 25: Final draft due
Media Law Research Instructions
Here’s the example I went over in class:
COUNTRIES
Australia: Heidi Yeung (team leader)(internet regulation); Richard Schuster (Internet regulation); Chan Wai Ching, Sara (privacy); Colin Reid (access to information); Alice Woodhouse (defamation); Esther Chung
India: Shaad Baig (team leader)(defamation); Eldes Tran (access to information); Zhu Li, Julie (internet regulation); Luo Xiaoyu
Indonesia: Chien Mi Wong (team leader)(defamation); Nathan Griffiths (Internet/online regulation); Shari Nijman (privacy), Maha Shah (copyright), Henri Viiralt (contempt of court)
Japan: Tim Cheung (team leader)(access to information); David Hetherington(online/internet regulation), Adrian Wong (defamation), Natalie Deng (privacy), Andrew Willis (copyright)
Macau: Stuart Lau (team leader)(Press Law reform); Mandy Lai (freedom of speech), Holly Ip (Internet regulation-data protection), Peggy Shen (national security), Kathleen Ngai (privacy), Eric Zhao (reporting restrictions on gambling industry)
Malaysia: Jennifer Jett (team leader)(Internet/online regulation); Holden Mann (lese majeste); Shunxi Yu(defamation); Ada Wang (freedom of information); Wong Ka Chun (use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims), Michelle Lai (national security/sedition); Grace Lee (Li Nan)(privacy)
PRC: Yao Fei (team leader)(state secrets), Vincent Du (regulation of reporters/licensing of reporters), Sabrina Cao (regulation of media and reporters– secret interview), Carol Zhong (defamation), Ivy Zhang (regulation of media, reporters), Bella Wu (privacy), Xie Yimeng (Internet and self-regulation)
Singapore: Wang Xiaojie (team leader) (contempt of court); Lydia Tsui (defamation); Lin Yichen (freedom of expression), Wei Wei (privacy), Zhu Tong (Internet regulation), Elaine Ho (copyright)
South Korea: Justin Heifetz (team leader)(contempt); Vanessa Ko (copyright), Dan Goodman (privacy), Zhou Ping(defamation), Selina Cheng(internet regulation), Lina Zhu (obscenity)
Taiwan: Francis Yin (team leader)(access to information, secrets, privacy); Zhuang Xueya, Cyndi (access to information, secrets, privacy); Xu Ke (copyright), Chang Dili, Gloria (broadcast regulation); Zhu Han, Jill (defamation); Zhang Qianye, Alice (reporting on mainland); Ida Chan (obscenity), Wang Yang (freedom of expression)
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Some sources for bibliographies:
General:
U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2010, East Asia and the Pacific and South and Central Asia
Weisenhaus, “Communication Law and Policy: Asia,” in Wolfgang Donsbach (ed), The International Encyclopedia of Communication (Wiley Blackwell 2008), pp 723-728
Southeast Asia Press Alliance (keeps track of cases in Southeast Asia)
Article 19 (all topics, esp. defamation, and includes individual cases in Asia)
e.g., India decriminalising defamation
Article 19′s searchable database for court cases, translated into English, from its Freedom of Expression Handbook. (Asian countries include Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines.)
Article 19′s summaries of legal and regulatory frameworks per region and country (Asian countries: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea) from its report, “Speaking Out for Freedom of Expression, 1987-2007 and Beyond” http://www.article19.org/speaking-out/
IFEX (International Freedom of Expression Exchange)
Freedom House Press Freedom Report 2010
http://www.asianlii.org (for primary sources)
Access to information
(Asian countries covered include: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan)
Internet regulation
Privacy
Privacy International (India, Malaysia) http://www.privacyinternational.org
More guidelines:
Please make sure the content is focused on journalists, NOT to be all inclusive!! E.g., when talking about copyright law, don’t need to talk about performers, etc.
Also make sure to cite any news media or news coverage exceptions. *e,g, data protection laws in HK. If citing cases, these should be related to journalists, news media, etc or at least applicable to them.
Have a section on guidelines for the foreign journalists (do they need visa, what restrictions if any, where can they go for more guidance (e.g., foreign correspondent clubs, local press clubs)
If civil v. criminal penalties (defamation, copyright, privacy, etc), try to sort out which is more prevalent and likely to be used against journalists
Be clear on sourcing it correctly. Do not lift directly unless you indicate that by footnotes, quote marks, etc, especially when you’re taking from secondary sources. Use footnotes to make it easier to source where the info came from. As I have said repeatedly, NO PLAGIARISM!
Make sure your sources are up to date! Some are using sources 10 and 20 years old!