Media Law and Literacy

The Apple iPhone is one of the most popular electronic devices that we currently have on the market. From its release in 2007, customers just cannot get enough of the phone. The first generation of the iPhone was the first cell phone that had a web browser and an mp3 player built-in on it. Since the first iPhone, there have been many upgrades and added features, including Siri(virtual assistant), facetime, high-quality cameras, and thousands of different apps to choose from.  People that have phones or any kind of smartphone are usually on it non stop. The iPhone has changed the way our world operates in many ways. Having a phone that is able to do almost anything also makes people a lot lazier. With an iPhone, you can turn your lights off and on, open and close your garage, feed your dog, and many other things that usually require physical activity. iPhones have even been in questioned about whether they are sharing information with the government about consumers or not. One of th...

In the news, you rarely hear anything about anti-war movements which is very strange, being that there are a lot of them going on. Could the government possibly be having a lot of these websites covered up and made unsearchable? I think it is very possible that the reason that we do not hear anything about anti-war voices is that the government doesn't want the countries citizens to hear the messages of the anti-war voices to sway them. The government could be silencing news stations in a way that they don't feel comfortable reporting on antiwar voices. A couple of anti-war sites that are not popular and that were hard to find are below. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/web-categories/realism-restraint/ antiwar.com

With the recent Black Lives Matter movement there have been many different occasions where people have not been able to use their first amendment right, or at least not every part of it. With there being six clauses in the First amendment, sometimes people haven't been allowed to use all of the clauses. Judges have prevented lawyers from wearing black lives matter apparel and accessories in court which is a violation of the speech clause. Local law enforcement also has been gearing up in combat gear which comes off as very aggressive to citizens. In some instances, law enforcement has been aggressive with peaceful protestors, which is abusing 2 clauses, the assembly clause and freedom of speech. Do the government and police officials realize they are not allowing citizens to use there first amendment right? https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1512/black-lives-matter

Over the past two weeks, there has been a fair amount of uproar around the world due to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed by police officers. People have been protesting nonstop since May 26, 2020. Over 2000 cities and towns in the United States have participated in protesting to support George Floyd and get justice for him. Some of the protesting have led to more police brutality with police teargassing and being physically aggressive with protesters. People supporting George Floyd are using three of the six clauses of the First Amendment. People protesting are using the assembly clause by peacefully assembling together to protest the murder of George Floyd and the other injustices going on in the United States. They are also using the petition clause by creating petitions to defund police stations and petitions for other things that are supporting or encouraging the injustice of African Americans. People are also using the press clause by being able to freely pos...

The head of the judicial branch of government is the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court was established in 1789 and had its first official meeting on February 2, 1790. The Supreme Court Justices are nominated by the President of the United States and then the United States has to approve the nominee in order for them to become a justice. Supreme Justices stay in office for as long as they want unless they are impeached. John Marshall is the longest-serving Chief Justice and he served for 34 years. He played an important part in having the supreme court carefully review Marbury v. Madison. I think that there should be a term limit for justices just like there are for presidents and other high political positions. I think that the world changes so much from year to year and having these powerful people that may be biased or have strong opinions on situations may not be fair in some of the cases they have to decide on. I think that it would be a good idea to maybe have justices serve t...

Mike Adams, a professor at the University on North Carolina Wilmington, has been catching a lot of heat lately for his not so sweet twitter fingers. A lot of people have created petitions trying to get him removed as a faculty member. Mike has tweeted many racist and offensive comments which most people would expect the university to not tolerate but because it is his personal account, he is protected by first amendment rights. Some of the things he has tweeted - "This evening I ate pizza and drank beer with six guys at a six-seat tabletop. I almost felt like a free man who was not living in the slave state of North Carolina. Massa Cooper, let my people go!"   he has also said that "women's studies" is a nonessential major. A lot of people feel being that he is a professor that he should be setting an example instead of being offensive in his tweets, even though they are personal. The university has responded by saying that Adams is protected by the first amendm...

My name is Josiah Faison and I am from Wilmington, NC. My major is strategic communications and I have minors in business administration and public and professional writing. In my classes I hope to focus on learning things that can help me improve professionally, and outside of class I like to focus making sure all of my assignments are complete and then have a good time with friends and family. After HPU, I hope to maybe find a job that I can have for a year or two and then get my MPA.