COMM 455: Media Law and Ethics

Finding a topic or case: 

Media Law Reporter (REF KF 2750 A513):  Yearly volume containing court decisions on media and communications-related topics (First Amendment, Internet privacy, video piracy, etc.)

• Look up broad topic area in index at front
• Locate the section or sub-section listings to get an overview of the topic and the relevant cases
• Use the page references to find information on the cases themselves
• Note the names of cases (New York Times vs. Tasini) or the page references (29 Med. L. Rep. 1865) to find the cases in LexisNexis

Finding Specific Cases 

Click on the button for Databases at the top of the Pickler Memorial Library homepage and then select LexisNexis or go directly to the service at http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic

Click the tab for US Legal.  Click on Federal & State Cases in the column on the left-hand side.  You can find the full text of a case by entering the parties in the case in the search box and selecting Party Names from the drop-down box.  The order of the parties does not matter.

If you know any one of the citations, you may type that in on the line for citation number and should automatically retrieve the correct case.  This is a more precise search if you have the information to do it.

Example:

Party Names:           Anderson v. Augusta Chronicle
Citations:                  31 Media L. Rep. 1393
                                   355 S.C. 461; 585 S.E.2d 506; 2003 S.C. App. LEXIS 14
                                  (Most cases have more than one citation)

You may retrieve state or federal cases at any level in this search.

Finding Legal Cases on a Topic 

You may want to search for cases in an area of law rather than for a specific case.  To do this, click on the link to Federal & State Cases as noted above and use the search box at the top of the screen to type in terms you wish to look for in the text of legal cases.  You may make your searches more precise by selecting certain fields to search in the drop-down box.

Depending on the search you have entered, you may get a message such as the one below

You then have the option of editing the search to narrow the results or retrieving the results.  If you choose retrieval, you will still see all your results but they may take some time to load.

Limiting Your Results 

Once you have found results for a search, you may limit them by using the categories in the left-hand column.  Select one of the main categories, such as Cases or Decisions and then choose from one or the publication types listed below (US District Court Cases, GA Court of Appeals Cases, etc.).  This allows you to see cases in a specific area of jurisdiction rather than the combined spectrum of state and federal cases.

You may also limit your searches from the beginning by using the drop down boxes on the search screen.  Under Jurisdiction, choose from the options that are available, including federal and state case combined, U.S. Supreme Court, and individual state cases, Farther down are options to limit to all federal appeals courts, all district courts, or individual circuit courts. 

You may also limit by date in the drop down box provided.  This provides a variety of options, ranging from Today, Previous Week, Previous 2 Years, etc., as well the option of indicating specific date ranges.

Other Resources

• LexisNexis Congressional: Hearings, testimony, reports, bills and other material from both houses of Congress
• U.S. Code: Online (LexisNexis)
• Communication and Mass Media Complete (EBSCO)