The Basics of Media Law
Media law is a broad and multifaceted area of law that encompasses a variety of different legal concepts and principles. At its core, however, media law is primarily concerned with the ways in which the various forms of media – whether traditional media like television and newspapers or newer digital media like apps and social media – can be legally governed in a way that balances the interests of creators and owners of original content on the one hand, and the public at large on the other.
One of the key areas of media law is intellectual property, which includes laws pertaining to the ownership and use of creative works such as music, literature, and other artistic or written materials. In order to ensure the proliferation of new ideas and creative works, intellectual property laws afford certain protections to the people and entities who create them, providing them with exclusive rights to the reproduction and distribution of their work for a limited period . Because new technologies often obfuscate the lines of intellectual property protection (for example, digital music or movies that can be easily copied and shared), intellectual property is an area of law that is constantly evolving in response to new medium and technologies.
Freedom of speech is another key area of media law that deals with the legal protections afforded to speech in all its forms. While the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution safeguards many speech-related activities, there are still a significant number of exceptions pertaining to areas like obscenity, defamation, and intellectual property.
Privacy is also an important aspect of media law that touches on the numerous ways in which media publications can intrude upon the personal lives of individuals. Film and television portrayals of real-life events and people are two primary areas where privacy law and media law intersect. As is the case with many other areas of media law, privacy law is an evolving area of law that is continually being adapted to respond to new technologies.
Advantages of a Media Law Internship
Hands-on experience is a tremendous asset for law students entering the legal field, and an internship in media law offers a plethora of advantages to students. The opportunity to work side by side with experienced professionals provides a valuable chance to be involved in real legal matters in the field of intellectual property. In addition to vital on-the-job experience, the opportunity to apply legal concepts learned in the classroom in a practical way provides a template for real-world application of the law. Understanding how legal concepts apply to the media, entertainment and advertising industries can change the way you approach the law.
Internships also offer students a way to evaluate their career options. Media law can include any of numerous specialties, from intellectual property to taxation in the advertising and entertainment fields. Hands-on experience within one core area of this field can help students determine if that specialty is the right one for them. The relationships built through an internship can also lead to employment opportunities down the road.
How to Find an Internship in Media Law
Following the distribution of this article’s predecessor, I received a number of calls, texts and emails from students and others asking about how exactly to land a media law internship or job. In order to help myself with my own job search, I’ve decided to give these folks a little summary of the first steps to land an entry level media law internship. First and foremost, research and networking are your best friends. Take advantage of CLiME, and any other career counseling sources, but understand that law school career services only has so much information. Getting a spot at a great firm requires climbing down all the paywalls and digging through all the dark alleys of the internet to see what you come up with. (Heads up guys, there really isn’t a hidden gem of a firm, so don’t waste your time trying to find the lost "$(your favorite sports team) victory" gem of firms that will give an intern an "amazing experience and opportunities.") Ultimately, it just comes down to hard work and persistence. Start by looking on LinkedIn for other students and attorneys who have interned or worked at the firm(s) you are interested in. Try to figure out where those people went to school and their level of experience. Interns and associates who went to Harvard, Yale, UVA, and other elite schools will undoubtedly have very different prospects than students from less elite schools. If there are students from your school on LinkedIn, then you can try to get in contact with those students. Once you get those contacts from LinkedIn, then you can ask to connect for coffee and eventually follow up with an email asking for some advice. Most people love to give some sort of advice, and if you treat them to coffee, they’ll likely help you get your name out at their respective firms. (Please note that this only works if you actually try. Merely looking them up isn’t enough – actually reach out and put in some effort. Another option is to network from inside the firm. If you have a friend who worked at the firm, or your parents have a friend who works at a media law firm, or if you did a summer or externship in-house and met attorneys there, you can get an internal referral. This is a great option because you can use your time at the current job to show what kind of person you would be as a permanent hire, without the firm even needing to give you an intern spot. If you hear of any openings, jump on it, but make sure an insider at the firm gives you a referral by sending them your resume and cover letter. If you can’t get a good internal referral, then you can use the daunting task of looking on individual firms and internal referees to see who is taking interns / clerks. If you find a firm that looks interesting, check online for the firm’s deadline, application instructions, and internship page (if any). Figure out if you need to submit a cover letter, and if you should address it to someone in particular. Create a Word document with the firm’s deadlines and contact information and keep it in one place for when deadlines come up. If you can’t click on the hyperlinks, go back and do the searching manually. Now that you have the knowledge and information, it is time to create your application, starting with your resume and cover letter. For the purposes of this blog post, we will assume that you have your resume finished, and thus will skip to our next step: cover letters. One thing you need to know is that your cover letter should be no more than a single page in length. Second, the cover letter should not regurgitate what was in your resume, but rather complement and supplement the resume. You should put another pair of eyes on your cover letter, with a preference for official eyes such as a career counselor. Submit your cover letter.
Skills to Cultivate During a Media Law Internship
Beyond a reinforcement of prior learning, as well as an expansion of that knowledge base, an internship is a good opportunity to develop a variety of skills necessary for a successful legal career. For media law internships, there are a number of practical skills you should focus on developing, including:
Legal research;
Reading and understanding cases;
Learning how to draft a motion and/or other legal pleadings;
Becoming adept at working with and drafting contracts;
Gaining familiarity with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure;
Gaining familiarity with the Federal Rules of Evidence;
Focusing on reading and digesting cases;
Familiarizing yourself with filing in state and federal court systems;
Familiarizing yourself with FOIA and state open records statutes;
Learning the ins and outs of filing a FOIA or open records request;
Working with risk management and insurance carriers;
Working with reporters to help draft stories;
Learning how corporate and media transactions operate;
Learning how to brief a case;
Working to understand whether a defendant qualifies as a "state actor" subject to First Amendment liability;
Digging into the law governing public and private figures, comparing, contrasting, and learning how to analyze when someone would be classified as either;
Understanding what a SLAPP lawsuit is and how it operates;
Learning about the reporter’s privilege, and how that privilege applies to journalists;
Learning about copyright law and how media has to be careful not to infringe upon copyright for photos, videos, songs, and other creative works;
Working to understand common law privacy issues; and
Digging into what online comments are protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
What to Expect from a Media Law Internship
You may have to deal with tight deadlines. You may also need to interpret complex legal issues that are still being debated in courts and legislatures. Specific laws like the DMCA, COPPA, and other federal and state statutes have their own unique grey areas. Maybe you just have a simple question about how to target a motion for an injunction. Here are a few common challenges for media law interns: Even for those without prior experience in the field , it is possible to translate impressive undergraduate performance in other fields into something applicable to media law. Know the basics of whatever topic is assigned to you and ask pointed questions as needed. As with any internship, an ability to learn on the fly is key.
Making the Most Out of a Media Law Internship
Another suggestion is to connect with other interns and as a general rule of thumb, just be willing to speak up if you need something. You should take on as much work as you can and just try to be available. Interns should work together. If another intern has time to help you on something or if you can offer another intern some help, you should communicate whether the other intern has the time or not. Other interns can play various roles — they might be paralegals, they might be law clerks or they might be summer associates. You should just go for it. Asking a question generally will yield good results. When you are given an assignment, you should ask questions right away. You can always contact your supervisor about whether you are supposed to do something a certain way. Many times this clears up confusion right off the bat. Where appropriate, sometimes it helps if an intern’s analysis is coupled with his or her own opinions. In law school, many times people wait until they are asked to respond to a question. However, in the working world it is sometimes better to offer your own opinion. The same thing goes for questioning a boss or other business person. When the opportunity presents itself for an intern to attend a meeting, it is a great idea to attend and participate. Meeting preparation is just like exam preparation or preparing for an oral argument. It makes perfect sense that when you are preparing for something, you just want to be fully prepared for that meeting. Many interns play a role in the business development aspects of the firm. Interactions with the media will come up in meetings, where clients will come up in meetings, or various marketing efforts will need to be discussed. Interns in this area of the firm could be asked to conduct their research, sort through information and present it in a PowerPoint or online format. Other possible opportunities may include event preparation, client visits or even dinners. The best thing about being able to do all of these things is that they will enable the intern to learn more about the business as well as the firm. Often, you just have to be willing to do it.
Career Options for the Future
So what’s next once your internship comes to an end? If an internship is done right, you’ll have an opportunity to demonstrate the skills and abilities that employers are looking for. Media law internships can lead to a number of different types of potential employers, including media companies, law firms, and corporate legal departments.
Media Law Firms — Many media law firms, (e.g., Davis Wright Tremaine, Ballard Spahr and Arnold & Porter), look for interns from some of the nation’s best journalism and media programs. For individuals that are seeking a career in a law firm, there is no better experience than an internship with a media law group. In addition to the substantive media law experience, interns often leave with great contacts and can be well positioned into an associate position right after graduation.
Media Companies’ Legal Departments – Sometimes the best fit for a media law students is in a legal department in a media company. NBC, ABC, CBS and most of the broadcast networks, as well as many national cable networks (e.g., CNN, Fox Business) all have very strong legal departments. Clients like NBC or Fox are one-stop shops: they may need an expert in intellectual property issues, libel, labor law, transactional work, licensing issues, and/or advertising law, all of which may overlap with media law.
Contingent on your background, you may also have opportunities with other media companies, including firms like Thomson-Reuters and Bloomberg-Law, both of whom specialize in news gathering and dissemination . Another example, The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN), which represents alternative newspapers, runs the AAN Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides media law training and legal defense to alternative news associations. The AAN Foundation offers a four-month fellowship designed to train a young lawyer in media law issues and assist them with their mission. The AAN Foundation pays a modest stipend, but is a good opportunity to work with media companies in an in-house environment.
Corporations and non-profits – While it may seem odd at first to find a media law position with GM or Nike, many well-known corporations, universities and other institutions have media and trust and safety concerns. For example, a university’s campus newspaper may need a lawyer to help them develop a school paper policy and deal with possible censorship issues. Another example – HULU or Netflix. While those are media companies, they are also corporations that employ hundreds of lawyers to help them navigate labor issues, corporate entity issues, acquisitions, or IP matters. Another large employer that seeks out media law students is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC hires students to work as interns within multiple divisions, including the Enforcement Bureau, Office of General Counsel and Competition Policy Division.