Zoe's Guide to Media Law

       On December 3, 1992 a man named Richard Jarvis sent the first text message. That event was a turning point in history. Jarvis sent the message to a 22-year-old man named Neil Papworth. Most people do not know this, but SMS text messaging was actually invented 1984, but did not start to take off until 1999. It started to become popular, when users started texting across different mobile networks.       Originally SMS texts were created by typing on a keyboard called T9. The T9 keyboard, is a 3x4 layout with letters that go along to corresponding numbers. This keyboard was ahead of its time and featured a predictive text feature. In 1996, the Nokia 9000i Communicator was created. This was the first phone to feature a QWERTY keyboard. Soon after, many other mobile phone companies began to adopt the QWERTY keyboard into their design. The QWERTY keyboard is what we use today in modern society. Whether it be your mobile phone keyboard, or your la...

     The First Amendment is protecting America from dissent, especially when it comes to war-related topics. Before writing this post, I looked through two websites that shared their ANTIWAR points of view. These sites are just one of the many examples of the First Amendment in action. People challenged the government on many playing fields during the Progressive Era. People used their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech by speaking out about the United States of America getting involved in World War I.      What I found especially interesting is that I have never come across these types of articles in mainstream media. Why is that? What I believe is happening here is censorship. Media giants such as NBC, CNN, ABC, and even FOX are censoring these ANTIWAR voices because they disagree with it. “Does the censorship of these ANTIWAR voices remind you of a very, very important figure in history being silenced?” The fact that media platforms such as Face...

     When it comes to the eight freedoms of expression, there is one that sticks out to me the most; the Discovery of Truth aka the Marketplace of Ideas. John Milton first suggested this value. He was the first one to say that when truth and falsehood are allowed to freely grapple, truth will win out. And the grappling makes the truth even stronger. Milton stated this in his argument about requiring a license for printing and publishing. In the Marketplace of Ideas, competition between ideas is an important part of deliberation, and the creation of public opinion and self-government.      In regard to which freedom of expression is most prominent today, I would say that the Check on Governmental power would be it. After what we have been through with the recent election and the riots on the Capitol, this value of expression is very important in our society today. The check on governmental powers allows freedom of the press. Freedom of the press enables citi...

     If you have ever been to Hollywood, California, then you have probably come across a building with word SCIENTOLOGY written across it. The Church of Scientology has been involved in several legal cases throughout the years. Many people almost think of the church as a cult. Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s. Scientologists main belief is that human being has a reactive mind. What this does is shape the way they react to life’s traumas. Scientologists do this by figuring out a way to cloud a person’s analytic mind in order to keep people from experiencing reality. Scientology has many notable members. Some of its members include, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Elizabeth Moss, Nicole Kidman, and Katie Holmes. These are just a few of their many celebrity members.       For years Scientology has been under a microscope battling many lawsuits along the way. There have been several attempts to get the church to be shut down, but so far, ...