Journalism school to study global media, law issues

FROM IDS REPORTS

The IU School of Journalism founded the new Center for International Media Law and Policy Studies, which would aim to keep journalists worldwide safe from laws that stifle their voice.

The institution will inform the public about free speech and give students opportunities to work with companies that support media rights,
according to a press release.

Anthony Fargo, associate professor of journalism, has been named director.
Fargo said the center is the first of its kind at a journalism school at a public university to direct its attention to international media law and policy issues.

“We see the possibilities for all kinds of roles for the center in terms of encouraging and supporting research on international law as well as issues that remain current with regard to media laws in the United States,” Fargo said in a press release.

Material on the Internet is not subject to only the laws of one country. Americans have experienced repercussions in other countries for things published in the U.S. which traveled internationally via the Internet, according to the release.

“While Americans sometimes don’t particularly have a strong knowledge of First Amendment rights, they have even less knowledge about the rest of the world,” Fargo said. “What a lot of people don’t realize is that when they decide to start a blog or post comments about someone they don’t like from another country, they are potentially making themselves open to being liable to the laws of that country, because the Internet is an international
medium.”

Officials may someday sponsor graduate and faculty fellowships and have an endowed professorship, according to the release.

— Sydney Murray