MC 4163 - FIRST EXAM STUDY GUIDE

---

Freedoms of Speech and Press
 
Know the definitions and rules. Be able to correctly recognize and apply them in hypothetical situations.

• Article II, Section 22 of the Oklahoma Constitution
• Explain which positivist First Amendment theory the Oklahoma Supreme Court has adopted when interpreting the provision.

 

• Explain whether free speech in Oklahoma is limited to the news media.

 

• Explain if Oklahoma's provision applies to the right to distribute information.

 

• Does Oklahoma's Constitution provide more protection than the First Amendment? Explain.

 

• How are "negative" and "affirmative" rights different? (See footnotes) Why is that difference important?

 

• Does Oklahoma's Constitution offer absolute freedom of speech and press? Explain.

 

• Which is preferable: Holding a speaker liable for libelous speech or prior restraint stopping potentially libelous speech?

 

• According to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, what is the purpose of Article II, Section 22?

 

• First Amendment Theory
• EXPLAIN why the British Crown feared the printing press.

 

• What was seditious libel?

 

• How did the British attempt to control colonial American printers and publishers?

 

• Who was John Peter Zenger? Why was he arrested? His arrest was an attempt to do what? Why was he acquitted? His case is an early example of what?

 

• Explain the concept of community censorship. Even in the absence of government censorship, did true freedom of expression exist in colonial America? Did freedom of thought and expression exist for everyone? Under what conditions? How is this concept exemplified in the propaganda war preceding the Revolution? What are the examples of community censorship today?

 

• What is a heckler's veto?

 

• Explain the concept of viewpoint neutrality and its importance.

 

• Why did the Articles of Confederation created in 1781 not explicitly guarantee freedom of expression?

 

• Why did the Constitution not explicitly guarantee freedom of expression?

 

• What is the wording of the First Amendment?

 

• Most legal scholars agree freedom of expression in 1791 meant at least what?

 

• What is the two-part test to determine if conduct is symbolic speech? What are the textbook's examples of symbolic speech?

 

• What is the difference in which speech and how much speech is protected by the First Amendment when the ultimate goal is to protect the rights of the speaker as compared to when the goal is to protect society's interests? Under which of those ultimate goals is more censorship tolerated? Why?

 

• Who determines today's meaning of the First Amendment?

 

• What is the "chilling effect"?

 

• What is the Preferred Position Balancing Theory?

 

• What presumption does it include?

 

• Who has the burden to prove what?

 

• Why is that presumption important?

 

• What are the attributes and criticisms of positivist First Amendment theories?

 

• KNOW the definitions, theorists, rationales, categories of speech protected or excluded, histories and criticisms for the following theories:

 

• Marketplace of Ideas

 

• Political Self-Government / Meiklejohnian Theory

 

• Checking Value

 

• Self-Fulfillment / Self-Realization

 

• Safety Valve

 

• For which of those positivist theories is protecting the individual the ultimate goal? For which is it protecting society? Explain. Which would tolerate the most censorship to reach that goal? Which would seem to tolerate the least censorship?

 

---

Return to Media Law Home Page