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
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.
