Publications avoiding lawsuits during #MeToo

Poster Number

47

Session Title

Poster Session 2

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Mass Communication

Faculty Mentor

William Schulte, Ph. D.

Abstract

The #MeToo movement gained traction in 2017 due to the sexual assault allegations and sexual harassment made against Harvey Weinstein. Publications were reporting these types of allegations as well as other forms of allegations against a wide range of public and private figures. However, publications reporting this and similar allegations had to be careful in their coverage of these issues to avoid defamation lawsuits from the accused. These publications needed to weigh the ethical, legal, and morally correct procedures to use when covering these issues, while also giving survivors a voice. In order to examine the legal issues and ethical approaches publications used, this study surveys multimedia-visual components, FOIA requests, government documents, primary and secondary sources, and interviews. This study catalogs the laws that protect newspapers from defamation lawsuits and explains why survivor stories are important journalists to recount.

Honors Thesis Committee

William Schulte, Ph. D.; Michael Lipscomb, Ph.D., Guy Reel, Ph.D.; Aimee Meader, Ph. D.

Course Assignment

MCOM 441 - Schulte

Type of Presentation

Poster presentation

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Publications avoiding lawsuits during #MeToo

The #MeToo movement gained traction in 2017 due to the sexual assault allegations and sexual harassment made against Harvey Weinstein. Publications were reporting these types of allegations as well as other forms of allegations against a wide range of public and private figures. However, publications reporting this and similar allegations had to be careful in their coverage of these issues to avoid defamation lawsuits from the accused. These publications needed to weigh the ethical, legal, and morally correct procedures to use when covering these issues, while also giving survivors a voice. In order to examine the legal issues and ethical approaches publications used, this study surveys multimedia-visual components, FOIA requests, government documents, primary and secondary sources, and interviews. This study catalogs the laws that protect newspapers from defamation lawsuits and explains why survivor stories are important journalists to recount.