Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: identify the administrative agencies involved in regulating the media and describe roles in doing so; explain how the First Amendment protects the media and allows them the right to communicate news and ideas to the public; outline the methods of prior restraint employed by the government to stifle speech by the media and the extent to which these are allowed; explain the elements of defamation and extent to which the media is protected from defamation lawsuits by the First Amendment; describe various actions that constitute invasion of privacy, especially as it relates to the media broadcasting information about people or companies; apply copyright laws to determine whether a media's usage of copyrighted material is an infringement or is protected under the fair use rule; apply trademark laws to determine whether a media's usage of a company's trademark is an infringement of the owner's rights; explain the extent to which political speech is protected and the limitations that the government can subject free speech to protect the integrity of elections; discuss how the First Amendment protects commercial advertising; research and apply false and deceptive advertising rules that exist under federal law; determine whether a communication is obscene and thus not protected by the First Amendment; explain the extent and manner in which the broadcast of "indecent" material is limited under federal law; outline the steps that judges may take against the media to limit their ability to poison the jury pool in preparation for a trial; identify and discuss protections that are given to journalists under federal and state law that allow them to keep their sources confidential; decide what government information can and cannot be obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and state equivalents; and seek information under the Freedom of Information Act.