Converging Media Industries: Legal and Regulatory Challenges

Order Description
Converging Media Industries: Legal and Regulatory Challenges

What: A converging media industry (in Australia) research essay
Discipline: Law
How long: 2,500 words
Topic: One of Two Questions (see below)
Referencing: Australian legal citation (see attached)
Plagiarism: NEVER (I have caught the last writer literally paraphrasing the whole essay off the web and got him sanctioned and 50% of my money back). Do not paraphrase the content off the web.

The written assessment for this course is the preparation of an essay (one of the two topics below) in the field of media convergence in Australia. The word limit for the essay is 2,500 words (including substantive footnotes, but not including simple citation footnotes). The examiner will stop reading the essay when a student has reached the word limit.

IMPORTANT: Please be aware that, since these essays are Australian-focused, you are strongly encouraged to use and work around Australian sources including books, academic journals and reliable scholarly websites:

TASK – Choose one of the following and in your essay include any ethical dimensions of the selected topic:

1. Account for the differing regulatory responses to media convergence in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Europe and Singapore. Argue for a preferred regulatory strategy from the experiences of these jurisdictions.

OR

2. Evaluate the proposition that self-regulation has become more important, if not critical, in regulating in a converged media environment.
Development of a sustained thesis or argument addressing the essay question; knowledge and understanding of relevant law/theory/policy; critical analysis and evaluation of relevant issues including their identification and application of relevant law/theory/policy; response to ethical dimension; scope of and engagement with relevant sources; structure and organisation; style and expression; referencing in accordance with the Faculty’s preferred style (AGLC3).

a) Referencing: Students are required to use the referencing style adopted by the Faculty as set out in the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (Melbourne Univeresity Law Review Association Inc, 3rd ed, 2010) (AGLC3).

b) Bibliography is required for the Essay: A bibliography is required for the Essay. For requirements regarding the content, style and format of the bibliography, refer to the AGLC3.

c) Record your word count: You are required to record the word count for your essay in the space provided on the cover sheet. This count should not include items excluded from the word length specified above for each essay.
Recommended texts

Eric Barendt, Jason Bosland, Rachael Brauford-Smith and Lesley Hitchens, Media Law: Text, Cases and Materials (Pearson Education, 2014).

Scott Beattie and Elizabeth Beale, Connect + Converge: Australian Media and Communications Law (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Des Butler and Sharon Rodrick, Australian Media Law (Thomson Reuters, 5th ed, 2015).

Mike Fentuck and Mike Varney, Media Regulation, Public Interest and the Law (Edinburgh University Press, 2nd ed, 2006).

Lesley Hitchens, Broadcasting Pluralism and Diversity: A Comparative Study of Policy and Regulation (Hart Publishing, 2006).

Peter Lunt and Sonia Livingstone, Media Regulation: Governance and the Interests of Citizens and Consumers (SAGE, 2012).

Monroe E Price, Stefaan G Verhulst and Libby Morgan (eds), Routledge Handbook of Media Law (Routledge, 2013).

David Rolph, Matt Vitins, Judith Bannister and Daniel Joyce, Media Law: Cases and Materials (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2015)

Other resources

Further references:
Lord Justice Leveson, ‘Hold the Front Page: News Gathering in a Time of Change’ (Speech delivered at the University of Melbourne, 12 December 2012) available at <www.judiciary.gov.uk>. [Preliminary reading].

Australian Communications and Media Authority, Broken Concepts: A 2013 Update on the Australian Communications Legislative Landscape (June 2013), available at <www.acma.gov.au>.

Terry Flew, The Convergent Media Policy Moment (2012) 3(3) ICS Occasional Paper Series (UWS Institute for Culture and Society) available at <www.uws.edu.au>.

Journals/Newspapers:
Australian Financial Review
Communications Law Bulletin
Journal of Media Law (UK journal)
Media and Arts Law Review
Telecommunications Journal of Australia
The Australian (Monday edition’s ‘Media’ section)

Some interesting websites:
Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII): <www.austlii.edu.au>
Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) <www.acma.gov.au/>.
Australian Competition and Communications Commission (ACCC) <www.accc.gov.au/>.
Department of Communications <www.communications.gov.au/>.
mediaweek <mediaweek.com.au>.
mUmBRELLA <mumbrella.com.au/>.
Office of Communications (UK) (Ofcom) <www.ofcom.org.uk/>.
TV Tonight <www.tvtonight.com.au>.
Interesting Radio and Television Programmes:
ABC Media Watch, broadcast on ABC1 on Mondays at 9.20pm, repeated on Tuesdays at 10.45am and Thursdays at 1.05am, transcript and broadcast available at <www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/>