Media Malpractice: The Legal Risks of Voluntary Social Responsibility in Mass Communication

Authors

Robert E. Dreschel

Abstract

Critics of social responsibility theory have worried that in the process of establishing voluntary standards for responsible behavior, mass communicators may provide a convenient yardstick against which to define and measure legal claims of "media malpractice." Examination of legal actions against mass communicators suggests that social responsibility does carry legal risks. Although courts have been relatively unsympathetic to efforts to establish new legal duties, professional standards have become highly relevant to determination of media negligence.

First Page

237

Recommended Citation

Robert E. Dreschel, Media Malpractice: The Legal Risks of Voluntary Social Responsibility in Mass Communication, 27 Duq. L. Rev. 237 (1989).
Available at: https://dsc.duq.edu/dlr/vol27/iss2/4