Media Law – Final assignment

The assignment requires students to identify the main media law problems arising in this scenario and to explain their preferred course of action to navigate the legal dilemmas, justifying their responses by reference to other examples, cases and legislation where relevant. In support of your answer, you must include substantial reference to at least two media law cases to illustrate and exemplify (THEY DO NOT NEED TO BE WITHIN TWO YEARS BUT YOU MUST POINT TO THE MOST RECENT CASE RELEVANT TO THE POINT YOU ARE MAKING). Please note that all suspected AI misuse will be processed through the academic misconduct process.

• Your final attempt will be submitted using Turnitin. You are advised to do this several hours in advance of deadline to avoid last minute technical glitches.
• The 1500-word limit will be STRICTLY ENFORCED, with deductions applying for over-length assignments.
• Remember, only a loose form of referencing is required, so all references and case lists are INCLUDED in the word count. There is no need for reference or case lists. Please do NOT include a cover page – all words shown on the pages submitted are included.

———

The Arts Director and the Regional Workshop

You work for a small publication with an online presence as a cultural commentator with a following of around 15,000. Your content focuses on public institutions, arts funding, and accountability, and you often break stories before traditional media outlets. Your posts are monetised through advertising and sponsorships, and you frequently embed archival images, promotional videos, and excerpts from subscription-only news coverage to support your commentary.

You are tipped off about Dr Eleanor Muse, who has recently been appointed Director of a major state-funded arts organisation. Muse is widely praised for championing youth engagement and diversity in the arts. An anonymous source emails you a document marked internal use only showing that Dr Muse has been charged earlier that day with sexual offences involving a 14-year-old student, Evan Minor, from a regional workshop. The document includes excerpts from welfare reports prepared after the workshop, detailing Minors mental health and family circumstances, including the fact that the workshop was held in the childs town, which has a small population of only 200 people. The matter is yet to be heard in court.

You publish a breaking article and a social media post naming Dr Muse. This includes a cropped image of the document and references the workshop’s location and Muses role in youth arts programs. You include screenshots of these excerpts in your online post, cropping out names but leaving the workshop venue, school year group, and regional location visible. You also embed a photo taken from a private Facebook group for workshop parents, which shows the student performing on stage, stating it helps contextualise the story.

Tomorrow, you plan to go live on TikTok outside the courthouse using the title What This Means for the Arts Sector and will respond to viewers speculation in the comments about the story. Your blog auto-generates ads featuring youth arts imagery and location-based targeting linked to the town mentioned.

Use your 1500 word limit in a lightly referenced response (loose acknowledgment without formal references or reference list, as per the instructions) to answer these questions about this situation:

1. What are the main media law issues that arise here?
2. Explain briefly how those laws and possible defences might apply.
3. What cases / examples / legislation are relevant to this situation?
4. Assuming the goal is to try to publish as much material as is legally allowable, what course of action would you recommend for the publisher in this situation and why?