The course examines the evolution of communication media generally and of mass communication more specifically, the role media plays within society, the arguments for and against regulatory intervention, the types of regulatory intervention in respect of different communication media as well as the various approaches taken in different countries to content regulation and the reasons for such divergence. Last but not least the course examines the regulatory challenges triggered by recent phenomena such as the Internet. The course content emphasises that media law is far more than the sum total of the points of contact between discreet areas of the law and the media.

The module introduces students to the legal framework regulating communication media to provide students with both the practical knowledge to assess legal problems and disputes in the fields as well as the theoretical insights in how the various and discrete legal fields affecting communication media not only shape them, but shape as well as reflect society as a whole. So the module objectives are, firstly, to familiarise students with the discrete areas of the law affecting communication media and their practical application and, secondly, to isolate the common thread underlying these legal areas. This in turn will provide the foundations for a critical assessment of the centrality of media and media regulation to society and democracy and of the challenges recent developments such as the Internet pose particularly to States which have traditionally tightly regulated the media.