CFP: First Amendment and Media Reform

[Eric Freedman]

Please feel free to re-distribute appropriately. Thanx. -E.

A conference on constitutional theories of media reform is scheduled for January 2007 at Hofstra Law School.  See the Call for Papers at http://www.fepproject.org/fepp/hofstra.CallPapers.pdf 

Call for Papers:  RECLAIMING THE FIRST AMENDMENT:   A CONFERENCE ON CONSTITUTIONAL THEORIES OF MEDIA REFORM 

     2007 will mark the 40th anniversary of Jerome Barron's Harvard Law Review article, "Access to the Press - A New First Amendment Right."  Although First Amendment theories of access, like First Amendment arguments for government regulation of the mass media to ensure a diversity of viewpoints, have had a mixed reception in the courts, there is growing concern today that consolidated media ownership presents a serious challenge to democracy. 

   To commemorate the publication and reinvigorate legal and policy work on the First Amendment as a basis for media access and structural reform, Hofstra Law School, along with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, is organizing a one-day conference on Jan. 19, 2007, titled Reclaiming the First Amendment:  A Conference on Constitutional Theories of Media Reform.  The major papers from the conference will be published in a symposium issue of the Hofstra Law Review.

      The conference will be structured around four panels that will consist of one keynote speaker, one responder, and two additional presentations.   We are pleased that four distinguished scholars have agreed to join us as keynoters:   C. Edwin Baker of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Robert McChesney of the University of Illinois, Lili Levi of the University of Miami Law School, and Ellen Goodman of Rutgers Law School.  Jerome Barron will be the luncheon speaker.

      Papers may address any aspect of the First Amendment and the mass media, including cable, print, broadcasting, and the Internet.  For example:

* The Supreme Court noted 62 years ago that the First Amendment "rests on the assumption that the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public."  How might this principle be harnessed to address contemporary concerns?  

* Is the "scarcity" rationale still viable?  Can it form the basis for structural regulation beyond broadcasting?  

* Are there other theories to support a First Amendment right to diverse ownership or that provide a basis for structural regulation?  

* How strong is the First Amendment argument for resisting regulation?  

* What First Amendment standards should apply to content-neutral, content-based, and viewpoint-based media regulation? 

* What relevance does Barron's article have for media reform today?

* What impact do changes in communications technologies have on issues of access and how should the law respond? 
           
This list is by no means exclusive.   Papers may be of any length but should further the conference goal of proposing innovative policy and legal approaches, and be suitable for law review publication.  

        We invite paper proposals of 750-1,000 words, to be submitted in electronic form to Dawn.M.Marzella at Hofstra.edu by April 1, 2006.  Decisions will be made by May 1, and the authors selected will be invited to participate as panelists.  Completed papers will be due November 1, 2006.

              For further information, contact:

	Professor Eric M. Freedman, Hofstra Law School, LAWEMF at Hofstra.edu, tel. 516-463-5167
	or Marjorie Heins, Brennan Center for Justice, Marjorie.Heins at NYU.edu,  tel. 212-992-8847






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                         Eric M. Freedman
    Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law
                     LAWEMF at Hofstra.edu 
Office:                            Home Office:
Hofstra Law School            250 West 94th Street
Hempstead, N.Y. 11550     New York, N.Y. 10025
Tel. 516-463-5167             Tel. 212-665-2713
Fax 516-463-5129              Fax 212-665-2714
          http://People.Hofstra.edu/Faculty/Eric_M_Freedman     
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