Category: media law

Criminal law, embargo, media law, The News Media

Media Law Morning

 

MEDIA LAW MORNING

 

 

Stu.#/1st Exam+2nd Exam+Report=Total=Grade

05-15862 \40 + 50+1 =10 = 1.25

06-33526\35.5+45+18= 98.5=1.75

04-78016  \ LOA   LOA LOA   LOA   

03-14977\ 23+ 23+ 23= 69= 2.5

05-13001\46 +  39+ 17= 102= 1.5

03-15267\ 39+ 32.5+ 25= 96.5=1.75

05-75129\ 25+ 45+23=93=1.75

04-52977\ 38.5 + 29.5+ 23= 91 = 2.0

05-03461\24 +24+ 21=69+ 2.5

05-70432\17+33+ 21=71= 2.5

04-66719\ 20+ 37+21=78=  2.25

04-53303\ 20+ 42+23= 85=  2.0

05-04977\ 34.5+ 22.5+ 23= 80=  2.25

05-78611\13 + 13 + 18 =44  = 4.0

05-39069 \27+ 38.5+ 17= 82.5= 2.25

04-95096\ 48+ 16+ 22= 86= 2.0

04-78827\ 29+ 33+ 20=82= 2.25

04-02842\34+ 32.5+ 17= 83.5= 2.25

05-79158\25+ 30.5+ 24= 79.5= 2.25      

04-15643\52+ 39+ 22=113=1.25

05-73432\35.5+ 37.5+ 15= 88= 2.0

05-18188\31.5+ 34+ 21= 86.5= 2.0

04-08948\33+ 35+ 25= 93=1.75   

04-11490\ 27.5+ 30.5+15= 73=2.5

05-19264\29+ 46+ 15= 90= 2.0

04-22171\39+ 38+ 21= 98=1.75

05-04565\ 24+ 46.5+ 23=93.5=1.75

04-21361\44.5+ 22.5+19= 86= 2.0

 

 

Jan.28, 2008 First Exam, Media Law Morning

1.What  is the Constitution? What is the difference between the Constitution and  statutes? What is the social contract theory? Explain using the Nov. 29 Manila Pen incident as take-off point. (10pts)

2.Make a diagrammatic presentation of the structure of the judiciary.(10 pts)

3.Now and then, there is a proposal to revive the Anti-Subversion Law which criminalizes mere membership in the communist party without any need to prove overt acts of participation in an armed uprising. Using the dissenting opinionof Justice Holmes in Abrams vs. United States, comment on the proposal. (Who and what were punished, and with what jail term, in said case? Why did Justice Holmes dissent?) (5pts.)

4.Last year, the First Gentleman had about 27 or so pending libel cases against 90 or so journalists (after his near-death experience with a heart attack, he withdrew them). During certain points when the libel cases were pending, he said he filed them because he had been hurt by all the “lies” peddled against him. Can FG find comfort in what Justice Malcolm said in U.S. vs. Bustos? (What is that case all about and what did Justice Malcolm say?) (5 pts)

5.During the Nov. 29 Manila Pen incident, the PNP top brass called up the news directors of the broadcast stations and asked them not to air any live feed, audio and video, of the formation of government troops.  Is this a form of prior restraint? What is prior restraint? What can and cannot be the subject of prior restraint? Enumerate and explain using the pertinent case taken up in class. (10pts.)  

6.The headline of a news item said that the Philippines was on the watchlist of the WTO intellectual property council. What does this mean? Why are we on the watchlist? What is intellectual property? What is copyright? What is TRIPS, and what are its effects? Apply TRIPS to our situation of being on the watchlist. (10pts)

7.Ashley Olseng has been a reporter on a year-to-year basis in a leading TV network for seven years. An internal  complaint for  corruption (an allegation that she received P10,000 in exchange for producing a report about a congressman) was lodged against her; she was given a copy and fired upon receipt. Does Ashley Olseng have any rights? Enumerate, if any; and enumerate the grounds for termination. Explain fully. (10 pts.)

 

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 Second Test, Media Law Morning,  March 25, 2008.

1.Enumerate the laws taken up in class that constitute limits to freedom of expression. (9 pts)

2.Enumerate the laws taken up in class that constitute limits to news-gathering methods.  (5 pts)   

3.Can a tv drama episode be made out of the lifestory of Jun Lozada? Why or why not? State your legal basis; specify and elaborate. State the general rule,  exceptions if any. (6pts.)

4.The Inquirer reported that a senior DFA official said that linking the ZTE alleged kickbacks to the Spratlys deal will “threaten RP-China relations”, and may even incite shooting in the Spratlys.  A congressman issued the following statement: “But the armed guards of China stationed  some of the islands in the Spratlys are already shooting at fishermen from Palawan who happen to drift in the area. We’re not doing anything about our claims. If China finds oil in the Spratlys, do you think China will share it with us? The naval fleet of China will be in the Spratlys and Palawan to guard and mine the oil. Our territory has been sold to China for a hundred million dollars!” Does the following constitute lawful speech? Why or why not? (5 pts) Enumerate the laws on public order taken up in class and their essential elements. (5 pts) Total: 10 pts

5.At the height of the Senate investigation on the ZTE alleged kickbacks, text messages were circulated that former Comelec chair Ben Abalos supposedly had an extramarital affair with a reporter, who was named in the text messages, when he was MMDA chair. He was asked questions on this in subsequent press conferences and news stories came out on the alleged former “mistress”, who was named and even photographed and hounded and asked questions. Are these news stories libellous vis-a-vis Ben Abalos? What about vis-a-vis the alleged former “mistress”. Why or why not? State your legal basis (5 pts); Enumerate  categories; state the pertinent doctrine or principle (5 pts). Total: 10 pts.

6.Under the topic “right to a fair trial versus free speech”, four different kinds of prejudicial publicity were taken up in class. State only two  and describe each. (5).

7.  In “In re Jurado”, then Justice Reynato Puno, now Chief Justice, wrote in his dissenting opinion: “(W)e should take comfort in the thought that falsehoods cannot destroy, only truth does but only to set us free.” In the context of the said case, and the legal issue in said case (specify the legal issue), what did he mean by that? (5pts)

8.What kinds of images/ scenes/ action/ film/ photos do you consider obscene or pornographic as to be violative of Art. 201 of the Revised Penal Code? (5 pts)  State your legal basis by using the cases taken up in class. (5 pts). Total:10 pts. 

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Criminal law, media law, messages

Glimpses

claudemonet.jpg       

 Claude Monet. Studio Corner. 1861. Oil on canvas. Musee d’Orsay, Paris, France. Right-clicked from http://www.abcgallery.com      

  

        I don’t have a complete legal opinion on the “obstruction of justice” law in the blog ( one post enumerated some cases on the interpretation of Articles 150 and 151 of the Revised Penal Code on resistance to and disobedience of persons in authority; and another post on some notes on just one provision of the “obstruction of justice” law in relation to the seizing of video tapes and camera equipment of media persons during the Manila Pen stand-off and the  CIDG “order” to a media organization to turn over raw footage.) I never wrote a full article on obstruction of justice because there are too many intellectual property thieves in the internet, or those who have been assigned by their employers to write articles but steal other people’s ideas and put them out as their own. So, I thought that I’d just reserve that article for a journal or publication somewhere sometime where I can get credit for it. Since I juggle practice and teaching, I get points for academic work as follows:  faculty members get credits or points for published articles under the category of research or publications or creative output (points that are computed during the round of promotions if any);  and they also get credit or points under the category of extension work for interviews or legal advice or legal opinion aired over television or radio, although there’s a ceiling for it, I usually exceed the ceiling for points for televised legal opinions/ interviews;   so I don’t get credit for the excess ha-ha.  Blogs aren’t credited at all, so no full articles and no full legal opinion here. I’m not a fountain.  Anyway.      

           Here’s a two-paragraph answer requested by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines newsletter staff about three weeks ago,  on the question of: “Are there any press freedom issues raised by incidents during the Manila Pen caper? Please discuss, two paragraphs.” It’s some sort of a forum as I understand it.          

          I emailed the following two short paragraphs:                   

         Handcuffing and detaining media persons who were broadcasting live the breaking news and the aftermath of the Manila Pen caper is not just a form of invalid warrantless arrest (for being done without probable cause) therefore illegal; is not just a means to send out a “chilling effect” on media organizations; it is a far worse form of infringement: it is an extraordinary, unusual and very physical form of prior restraint. While media organizations were allowed to continue airing images and sounds, the reporters and crew themselves were physically detained and therefore effectively stopped for five hours from broadcasting their individual reports.                  

         As an afterthought, the police said the media persons were “guilty” of “obstruction of justice” . But under said law, what is punishable is the “harbouring, concealing, and facilitating escape” of persons who may have committed a crime. Photographing, filming, interviewing, taking down notes, airing live, cannot in any way be construed as “harbouring, concealing, and facilitating escape…” unless the police means it is punishable to not actively help them capture their quarry; in which case they mean to transform us into a police state. The police, DILG, and Malacañang tax the collective imagination of the nation when they propound such excuses. Not only do they tax the imagination, they stretch the constitutional bound to breaking point – they who profess to be our law enforcers.