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53 Media L. Notes 1 (2024-2025)

handle is hein.journals/mdilwnts53 and id is 1 raw text is: October2024 Media Law Notes Vol. 53, Issue 1 Headnotes Welcome to another academic year! The syllabi have been dusted off. The tweaks and updates to class have been set in motion (fingers crossed that they work!). And First Amendment challenges haven't gone anywhere. Book bans, threats to academic freedom, students protesting on the first day of school. Freedom Forum just released its annual survey on the state of the First Amendment, showing that fewer college students than ever would vote to ratify the First Amendment today. Our classes have never been more relevant. Members of our division have never been more crucial to educating the next generation of citizens on how to engage and participate robustly in our democracy. This charge comes with the territory of being a communications law professor. It's a challenge that we, collectively, willingly rise to. It's one of the biggest reasons I'm proud to be a part of this great division. But I would argue we need to think of that charge outside of the classroom as well. Judge Learned Hand famously said, Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. The First Amendment is just words on a page. A professor I had as a freshman in college said the same thing about religion: It's all just words on a page. Until people make it mean something. We help make the First Amendment mean something to our students (or at least we hope we do). We should also make it mean something to our communities-to our friends and neighbors, our local journalists, our local officials. We should do so with the zeal of so many of the street preachers from the cases we discuss (I'm looking at you, Newton Cantwell). Many of us already do this, and for this, we deserve to celebrate these successes. UNC's First Amendment Day events, Tony Fargo's podcast, the annual Silha Lecture, and all of the press appearances many of us make show just how much we care about going public with our work. One of my goals as division head is to recognize these achievements. I believe the more we see the public advocacy work that our colleagues are doing, the more likely we are to follow suit. So, starting with this issue of the newsletter and moving forward (hopefully in perpetuity!), let's do this! Any press appearances (with links, please), any events (no matter how small ... like speaking to a high school journalism class about Hazelwood, Tinker, and Mahanoy), and legal advocacy (signing amicus briefs, for example), please let our intrepid editor Katie Montalbano know about it. Also, let's let these actions spur conversations: How did you get on a news organization's list of experts in this field? What were the logistical hurdles you faced in putting on this event? What reception did you get from the high schooljournalists? Those of us who want to expand our public outreach, be courageous and ask these questions. Those of us who have routinely done this work, be courteous and answer them. Despite all the challenges that we face-in our classrooms, communities, and country-I have never been more proud and more excited to be a part of this incredible group of scholars and educators. Keep doing the great work that you do. And thank you for doing it! Brett Brett Johnson, University of Iowa Division Head 7