About

Media Law is a core course of the UBC Graduate School of Journalism (http://journalism.ubc.ca/about/course-descriptions/). Through this course students will be introduced to the Canadian legal system, court procedures, terminology, decisions and statutes. Legal issues and pitfalls faced by journalists, including defamation, contempt, publication bans, privacy, intellectual property, freedom of expression, roadblocks to reporting, dealing with police situations and the law affecting online media, blogs, digital forums and citizen journalism will be explored. Legal tools to aid information gathering and improve stories including access to information legislation and legal research will also be covered. Practical examples and problems are frequently used. In addition to mid term and final exams, students will prepare an article in the style of a magazine feature on an area of media law they are interested in.