Media Laws

Media laws are regulations that put restraints on the publishers of the newspapers to print reliable information for their consumers. Privacy laws deals with the ways that false information about people get published. Libel is the actual publication of the false information. Newspaper consumers get reliable information with the help of privacy laws that coincide with the libel laws.

Shirley Biagi, professor of journalism at the California State University and also the author of “Media/ Impact”, helps clarify the contents of privacy laws. The privacy laws consist of four basic ways to invade into someone’s privacy. The first one is physical or mental solitude; this is when someone trespasses or uses spy-like equipment to get information about a person and then uses it against them. The second way is publishing private information about someone that could cause them humiliation; this includes when someone tries to keep their information private but then someone finds out and publishes it. The third one is false light; this is when a person is shown to be someone else or for doing something that they did not do. The last one is appropriation; this law means that you use someone’s name or information to sell a product without their consent. The false light law in some states can even be classified as being libel because libel and some of the privacy laws mean the same thing (325-327).

Now as for libel, Biagi will also explain the meaning of libel. The definition that she gives is “A libelous statement is one that unjustifiably exposes someone to ridicule or contempt” (320). This means that someone published something about someone that the truth value was false. Biagi also states the procedures to follow to show that libel has happened.

The statement was communicated to a third party. People who read or saw the statement

would be able to identify the person, even if that person was not actually named. The

statement injured someone’s reputation or income or...