By: Denise Thompson
Dara Quackenbush, a Texas State University mass comm professor, will be presenting her panel, “Can you tweet that? Social Media and the Law.”
“I find this stuff very interesting and relevant. It’s a new area of law emerging, and laws do not always keep up with technology. The stories have always fascinated me.”
The topic of social media and the law is very important due to the enormous increase in popularity that it has received over the recent years.
“I teach PR,” said Prof. Quackenbush. “I’m also teaching a social media class this semester and I incorporate social media into my public relations teaching, because I think there shouldn’t be a distinction between new media and social media; it should just be media.”
The one question that Prof. Quackenbush proposed was, “How does this effect the PR for the company and how does it effect business?”
While listening to a radio show, Dr. Quackenbush recalled a story that she had heard about back in June or July. “A photographer leaves his camera in the jungle, and some monkeys get a hold of it and start taking pictures. Who owns the copyright? The reporter said no one owns the copyright, and the company the photographer works for said that they own the copyright. It was an interesting discussion that morning.”
After having a guest speaker come to talk to one of her classes, Prof. Quackenbush felt that she could speak on the topic of of social media and law.
“I’m going to make the presentation fairly interactive — in the realm of social media who’s considered a public person and who’s considered a private person.”
I learned a lot during my interview with Prof. Quackenbush, and I think that anyone who visits her panel will also come away with a wealth of knowledge.
The questions to be answered at the panel are:
1. What are the five tests of defamation, what is the defense of defamation, and how does it apply to social media?
2. What’s the difference between a private citizen and a public person and how has that changed with the growth of social media rock stars?
3. Is hate speech covered by the 1st Amendment? What constitutes hate speech?
4. How is copyright determined? What copyright can you use/not use freely?
5. Why does every organization need an employee social media policy?