Section 1: Review
Course Introduction & Quotations
Procedure 1
Procedure 2
Four Theories
Other Matters

Course Introduction & Quotations
Who said:

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Free speech is a component of "personal autonomy."

We're defined as Americans by our beliefs, not by our ethnic origins, our race or our religion. Our belief in religious freedom, political freedom, economic freedom, that's what makes an American.

...in view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.

And though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength.

When we consider either the history of opinion or the ordinary conduct of human life, to what is it to be ascribed that the one and the other are no worse than they are? Not certainly to the inherent force of the human understanding, for on any matter not self-evident there are ninety-nine persons totally incapable of judging of it for one who is capable...

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.

And...

What was the political compact John Locke expressed?

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Procedure 1
What is the county commissioners court? How many people are on it?
What do you call the presiding officer?

How many members are there in the Texas House of Representatives?
How many in the Texas Senate?

How many members are there in the U.S. House of Representatives?
How many in the U.S. Senate?

How many seats does Texas have in the U.S. House of Representative?
Redistricting occurs at least every 10 years. Why and how?

Who is your Congressperson?
Who are the two U.S. senators from Texas?

Be sure you know the various levels of the court system, both state and federal, and what happens at each level.

What is the difference in civil law and criminal law?

What is implied by the concept of common law?

How does an act become a criminal act?

Is there a body of civil law? If so, what is it?

How does a civil case originate? What do you call the party bringing the action, and what do you call the person being sued?

What is discovery? What are interrogatories? What are depositions?

What do juries and/or judges decide in civil cases?
Why is no one guilty or innocent in a civil trial?

How are most civil matters decided?

What's the difference in a misdemeanor and a felony?
What's the difference in jail and prison?
What are state jail felonies?

In Texas, after cases leave the district court, where do they go on appeal?

We have two high courts in Texas? What are they, and what area of the law is each responsible for?

What kind of offenses constitute federal crimes?

Constitutional questions aside, how does a civil case get into federal court?

In federal court, after cases leave the district court, where do they go on appeal?

And after that, where do they go?

What federal appellate district are we in?

How are judges chosen in state courts? In federal courts?

How many members are there of the U.S. Supreme Court?
Who is the chief justice and what is his official title?

What are landmark cases? Give examples.
Why are they considered landmark cases?

What was the issue in Plessy v. Ferguson?
What did Justice John Marshall Harlan say in Plessy v. Ferguson?

What was the effect of the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education?

What rights were established in Miranda v. Arizona?

What was the significance of Griswold v. Connecticut?

What were the circumstances that led to Roe v. Wade?
Who was Roe and who was Wade?

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Procedure 2
We have open records laws both in the state and in the nation.
What is the purpose of these, and with what do they deal?

The Texas Public Information Act begins with a pronouncement.
What is the general tenor of the announcement?

To what extent are electronic records open in Texas?

In Texas, the meetings of governmental bodies can be closed only under specific conditions. Name those conditions:

What is the obligation of colleges and universities to report crimes that occur on their campuses? What is the name of the act that mandates that?

If anyone sees a crime being committed, do they have to testify as to what they saw? Why?

Can individuals, including reporters, be forced to testify to a grand jury?

What's the purpose of copyright?

Suppose something is copyrighted and you want to use some aspect of it.
How do you go about doing that legally?

What determines how much of a copyrighted piece can be used without getting permission? What is the concept that governs this?

How old would something have to be for us to be absolutely sure it is no longer covered under copyright?

Since 1998, how long do copyrights last?

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Four Theories
Where do the media in America get the right to do what they do?

How is the kind of media in a particular country related to the kind of government in that country?

How is the kind of media we have in America related to the kind of government and business systems we have?

Why didn't the Hutchins Commission have a more significant impact?

What are the four theories of the press?

The oldest and most dominant theory of the press is the

He argued that propaganda should be popular and should adapt its level to the least intellectual among the people. Who was he?

What was the implication when Italians said that Mussolini made the trains run on time?

What are examples of the way the Taliban controlled life in Afganistan?

Who is Aung San Suu Ky and what has happened to her over the years?

Who is Salman Rushdie, and what kind of difficulty was he in?

What are examples of the authoritarian approach to media today?
That is, in what countries and what kinds of situations?

Under the Soviet-Communist system, how was news defined?

Communism began to lose its hold on the Soviet Union when Mikhail Gorbachev instituted a series of changes. Among them were perestroika and glasnost. What were these?

The symbol of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe occurred on November 9, 1989. What happened?

In what countries is Soviet-Communism as a theory of the press still practiced today?

Who wrote this?: And though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field...

What was the argument John Stuart Mill presented in On Liberty?

What did Thomas Jefferson say about the relationship between newspapers and government?

To what extent do the ideals by Milton and Mill hold true today?

What is the best example of where some form of libertarianism exists in the world today?

What are the strains of libertarianism in American life?

In general, how does the social responsibility theory work?

What restrains exist on media in America today?

To what extent can people affect media in America today?

What would you say to people who believe we ought to have more controls on the media in America?

Why do we need to be eternally vigilant?

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Other Matters
What are examples of how America has sometimes lost its way throughout history?

What has to be our response to those occurrences in view of how things were to change later?

When and where did slaves first arrive in America?

How did the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution deal with slavery?

What practice was put in place as a result of Plessy v. Ferguson?

What was the effect of the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education?

What two acts by Congress in the 1960s corrected abuses of segregation?

Name the states that have apologized for slavery:

What was the Trail of Tears?

What happened at Little Big Horn and at Wounded Knee?

Why were Japanese Americans interned during World War II?

How did the Supreme Court rule on the order by President Roosevelt?

What did the United States later do in behalf of the Japanese Americans?

When and where did the women’s movement begin?

Who were the early leaders of the movement?

What was the first state to allow women to vote? When?

Who was the first woman to serve in the United States Congress?

When and with what amendment did women get the right to vote?

What happened to the Equal Rights Amendment?

With what issue was Margaret Sanger concerned?

What were the Comstock laws?

What was the specific issue in Griswold v. Connecticut?

How did the ruling in the Griswold case become a precursor to Roe v. Wade?

Who was Roe and who was Wade? When was the case decided?

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