MCOM 3327 (Osei-Hwere): Media Communication Law

Want to jump-start your research?  Use the online catalog or search the eBook Collection database to find titles such as:

• Privileging the Press: Confidential Sources, Journalism Ethics and the First Amendment
• Journalism Ethics by Court Decree: The Supreme Court on the Proper Practice of Journalism
• Democracy, Inc: The Press and Law in the Corporate Rationalization of the Public Sphere
• Freeing the Presses: The First Amendment in Action
• Courting the Media Contemporary Perspectives on Media and Law
• Communication Law in America
• The Social Media Reader

Most of the books below are located in the Reference Collection on the 1st floor of the library.  Reference books cannot be checked out.

American Jurisprudence 2d

• An encyclopedia of United States law
• Print last updated May 2003 
• Online in Westlaw Campus, but no index volumes (only Table of Contents)
• KF 75 .A47 1962 Ref.

 Black’s Law Dictionary

• Also available on Westlaw Campus home page!
• KF 156 .B53 Ref. (various editions) 

Code of Federal Regulations (print and online)

• Has federal rules and regulations of executive departments and agencies
• Easier to use in print than online
• AE 2.106/3:29/ (Government Documents – Reference – 2d floor)

Federal Register (microfiche and online)

• A daily publication of rules, proposed rules, and notices of federal agencies and organizations, including executive orders

 Legal Research:  How to Find & Understand the Law.  Nolo Press.

• KF 240 .E35 2012 Ref.

Texas Administrative Code

• Has Texas state agency rules

Texas Jur III

• An encyclopedia of Texas law
• KFT 1280 .T490 Ref.

United States Code Annotated

• Has United States laws
• KF 62 1927 .W45 Ref.

Vernon’s Texas Codes Annotated/Vernon’s Annotated Revised Civil Statutes

• Has Texas laws
• KFT 1230.5 V4 Ref.

The Congressional Research Service:

• is the non-partisan policy research arm of the United States Congress
• has been a component of the Library of Congress since 1914
• produces documents at the request of and for the use of members of Congress
• only recently started providing direct public access to its reports
• can Google "crs report" and topic to find some reports

Sample reports:

• Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment (2014)
• The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA):  Background, Legislation, and Policy Issues (2014)
• Access to Broadband Networks:  The Net Neutrality Debate: Access to Broadband Networks (2019)
• Free Speech and the Regulation of Social Media Content (2019)                          .

More information and list of reputable web sites with reports at Congressional Research Service