Publications

2016—Professor Jane Kirtley co-authored an amicus brief for Ventura v. Kyle, 825 F.3d 876 (8th Cir. 2016).

March 18, 2016—Professor Jane Kirtley wrote an essay for The New York Times' "Room for Debate" on its Opinion Page. The title of the article was "Should the Gawker-Hulk Hogan Jurors Decide What's Newsworthy?" and Professor Kirtley's essay was entitled "Hogan Case is a Threat to Editorial Independence." The article is available online.

2016—A new edition of Professor Jane Kirtley’s book, Media Ethics Today: Issues, Analysis, Solutions, which she co-authored with SJMC faculty member Chris Ison, was published by Cognella.  This edition was larger than the preliminary edition of the book, published in 2014.

July 12, 2015—An article by Professor Jane Kirtley, “Gawker – and First Amendment – may receive body blow from another thin-skinned wrestler” that appeared in The Conversation, was republished by Newsweek in an article entitled, “Hulk Hogan’s Sex Tape Trial Tests the First Amendment.”  The Newsweek article is available online.

July 6, 2015—Professor Jane Kirtley’s article entitled, “Gawker – and First Amendment – may receive body blow from another thin-skinned wrestler,” was published in The Conversation, an online publisher of articles written by members of the academic and research community. The article examines Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker Media over the publication of the former professional wrestler’s sex tape, a case which would pit a celebrity’s privacy rights against the Bill of Rights. The article is available online.

July 31, 2014—Professor Jane Kirtley's op-ed about the Jesse Ventura libel case appeared in MinnPost.  The piece, entitled “Ventura verdict sends message to writers: Be careful,” is available online.

May 15, 2014—Professor Jane Kirtley wrote an editorial for The Guardian (London) entitled, “Why the US constitution gives you the right to know lethal injection’s secrets.”  The article is available online.

Winter 2014—Professor Jane Kirtley wrote an article, "The Future of Privileges for the Press,” that was published in the vol. 19, no. 1 (Winter 2014) issue of Communications Law & Policy.

Winter 2014—Professor Kirtley wrote a book review of Dangerous Talk: Scandalous, Seditious, and Treasonable Speech in Pre-Modern England that appeared in the Winter 2013, vol.90, no. 4 issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.

Autumn 2013—Professor Jane Kirtley authored a book review, “Advocacy to Zealousness: Learning Lawyering Skills from Classic Films,”  in the volume 90, number 3 issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Autumn 2013).

2013—Professor Jane Kirtley and Holly Miller, a JD/MA candidate in the dual degree program through the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication and its Law School, authored an article entitled, "Media's Quote Approval Practice Raises Ethical and Legal Concerns." The article appeared on the front page of the Winter 2013 edition of Committee News, the Newletter for the American Bar Association's Media, Privacy, and Defamation Law Committee. The newsletter is available here.

2013—Professor Jane Kirtley authored a chapter in Social Media and the Value of Truth by Berrin Beasley and Mitchell R. Haney, eds.(Lexington Books, 2013). Kirtley's chapter is entitled, "'It's About Trust': Should Government Intervene to Compel Disclosure in Social Media?" Additional information about the book is available here.

Winter 2012—Author of a book review, "Freedom from Religion: Rights and National Security," in the volume 89, number 4 issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Winter 2012).

November 2012—Assisted by University of Minnesota Law School students Mikel J. Sporer, Jason P. Steck, and Emily Mawer, Professor Kirtley prepared “Global Privacy and Advertising Developments,” a 146-page roundup of significant legal developments, which was published in the conference “Course Handbook” for the Practising Law Institute's Communications Law in the Digital Age 2012 conference in New York, NY. Infomation about the course is available online.

Fall 2012—Author of a book review, "Privileging the Press: Confidential Sources, Journalism Ethics, and the First Amendment," in the volume 89, number 3 issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Fall 2012).

September 21, 2012—Professor Jane Kirtley was the author of one of the foundation papers for a conference "Creating Public Value in a Multi-Sector, Shared-Power World," sponsored by the Center for Integrative Leadership, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and Carlson School at the University of Minnesota. The conference was held at the Commons Hotel at the University of Minnesota, from September 20-22, 2012. Professor Kirtley's is entitled, "Media and Communications: Is the Public Value Test Consistent with the First Amendment?" and is available online.

Summer 2012—Author of a book review, "Freeing Speech: The Constitutional War over National Security," in the volume 89, number 2 issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Summer 2012).

February 2012—Author of an article, “The First’s ‘indeterminacy’” for the international conference, “The Media World after WikiLeaks and News of the World” held in Paris, February 16-17, 2012. The conference was organized by the World Press Freedom Committee in cooperation with the UNESCO Communication & Information Sector, and was co-sponsored by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, World Editors Forum and the International Press Institute.

Winter 2011—Author of a book review, "Justices and Journalists: The U.S. Supreme Court and the Media," in the v. 88, no. 4 issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Winter 2011).

2011—Author of a chapter, "Privacy Protection and Related Developments in Internet Law," in Communication Law in the Digital Age (Jeffrey P. Cunard, Bruce P. Keller and Lee Levine, eds., Practising Law Institute 2011)

2011—Author of a chapter, "Special Report: Imperiled Newspapers, WikiLeaks, and Access to Information," in Library and Book Trade Almanac (formerly Bowker Annual; Dave Bogart, editor, Information Today, Inc. 2011).

Autumn 2011—Author of a book review, "Journalists in Film: Heroes and Villians," in v. 88, no. 3 issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Autumn 2011).

April 2011—Author of a chapter, "The Right to be Wrong: Law and Ethics" in the new 4th Edition of Journalism Ethics: A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media. (Marion Street Press 2011).

Spring 2011—Author of a book review, "The Great War on the Small Screen: Representing the First World War in Contemporary Britain," in the v. 88, no. 1 issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Spring 2011).

January 2011—Contributed a chapter, "Not just sloppy journalism, but a profound ethical failure: media coverage of the Duke Lacrosse case" to a new book "Institutional Failures: Duke Lacrosse, Universities, the News Media and the Legal System," which was published by Ashgate January 2011. 

December 6, 2010—Prof. Jane Kirtley's new book, "Media Law Handbook," was been published by the U.S. State Department. The initial press run of 30,000 copies will be distributed by U.S. Embassies around the world. 

Summer 2010—Authored “Lights, camera, ethics! Using film to teach media ethics,” the cover story for the summer 2010 issue of Ethical News, Newsletter of the AEJMC Media Ethics Division.

May 2010—An article, entitled, "Mask, Shield and Sword: Should the Journalist's Privilege Protect the Identity of Anonymous Posters to News Media Websites?" in Minnesota Law Review volume 94, number 5. 

March/April 2010—An article, entitled, "Should news organizations protect the identity of anonymous commenters?" in the March/April issue of Communique, March–April 2010.

2009—Three articles, "First Amendment," "Free Press and Fair Trial," and "Gag Orders," were published in Encyclopedia of Journalism (Christoher H. Sterling, ed.) by Sage.

November 12, 2009—Assisted by Silha research assistant Cary Snyder, Professor Kirtley prepared “Privacy Protection, Safety and Security,” a 94-page roundup of significant legal developments, which was published in the conference “Course Handbook” for the Practising Law Institute's Communications Law in the Digital Age 2009 conference in New York, NY.

November 7, 2009—A paper, “Anonymity, Privacy and Other Perils of the Internet: A Perspective from the U.S.A,” which was included in the conference materials at the Ad IDEM/Canadian Media Lawyers Association Annual Conference in Montreal.

November 2009—A chapter in “Privacy Protection, Safety and Security,” published in the course handbook, Communications Law in the Digital Age 2009, published by the Practising Law Institute. 

October 2009—A chapter in “The Challenges for a Free Press in the Twenty First Century,” published in the book The Edge of Change: Women in the Twenty-First Century Press, edited by June O. Nicholson, et al., published by the University of Illinois Press.

Summer 2009—A book review, "Anatomy of a Trial: Public Loss, Lessons Learned from The People vs. O.J. Simpson," in Journalism and Mass Commmunication Quarterly, vol. 85, issue 2 (Summer 2009).

June 5, 2009—An op-ed piece entitled, "It's time to make Minnesota's open government laws stronger and clearer," appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

March/April 2009—An article entitled, "Obama's ‘new era of openness'" appeared in the March/April 2009 issue of the national Association for Women in Communications newsletter, Communique.

March 15, 2009—An op-ed piece entitled, "More people are knocking on the door. Let them in," appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

March 11, 2009—An op-ed piece entitled, "Respect. That's What Open Government is All About," appears on the 2009 Sunshine Week Toolkit, where it can be downloaded and used by any participant in National Sunshine Week.

January 2009—A book review, "25 Years of Media Ethics in One Easy Lesson," (a review of The Handbook of Mass Media Ethics) published in Journal of Mass Media Ethics, vol. 24, number 1 (January-March 2009).

January 26, 2009—An article, "Cheers greet Obama's declaration of ‘a new era of openness;' the trick will be keeping his promises," appeared on MinnPost.com.

Winter 2008—A book review, "Founding Father: How C-SPAN's Brian Lamb Changed Politics in America," in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 85, issue 4 (Winter 2008).

Winter 2008—A chapter, "The Future of Ethics and the Law," appeared in a new book, An Ethics Trajectory: Visions of Media Past, Present and Yet to Come (John Michael Kittross, ed.), published in 2008 by The Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois.

Winter 2008—An article, "Web v. Journalism: Court Cases Challenge Long-Held Principles," appeared in the Winter 2008 issue of Nieman Reports.

March 16, 2008—Wrote a column, entitled "Letter to Snowbirds," which was posted at the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors "Sunshine Sunday" web site. "Sunshine Sunday" is observed in Florida on the first day of national Sunshine Week, and columns posted on this web site are made available to Florida news outlets for publication without charge.

Winter 2008—Authored an article, "Shield laws face challenges, hostility" which was published in Media Law Notes the publication of the Law Division of AEJMC, vol. 36, no. 2 (Winter 2008). The article is online here.

Winter 2007/2008—Authored an article, "Reporter's Privilege in the 21st Century" which appeared in the Winter 2007/08 issue of Delaware Lawyer (volume 25, number 4).

November, 2007—Prepared a paper for the 2007 Annual Conference of Ad IDEM/Canadian Media Lawyers Association in Toronto, titled: "As the Ability to Do Harm Has Grown, So Must the Law's Ability to Protect the Innocent: A Summary of Selected United States Cases Involving the Internet and New Media." 

February, 2007—Published an essay, "I Can Tell You're a Real Liberal, But You Seem Like a Nice Person, Anyway," in Journalism Studies, volume 8, number 1 (February 2007).

December, 2006—Authored an article, "Will the Demise of the Reporter's Privilege Mean the End of Investigative Reporting, and Should Judges Care if it Does?" published in Ohio Northern University Law Review, Volume 32, number 3 (2006).

October 16, 2006—Published commentary entitled "News councils seen as one more way to undermine press credibility" on the NiemanWatchdog website.

October 10, 2006—Contributed two articles to the Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties, edited by Paul Finkelman and published by Routledge, entitled "Access to Government Operations Information" and "Journalism and Sources."

October, 2006—Authored an article, "Transparency and Accountability in a Time of Terror: The Bush Administration's Assault on Freedom of Information," published in Communications Law and Policy, volume 11, number 4 (Autumn 2006). Silha Fellow Ashley Ewald assisted with the research for this article.

May 24, 2006—Submitted testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for a hearing held May 26, 2006 in Washington, D.C. on unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

July 5, 2005—Authored an Op-Ed piece for the Baltimore Sun, entitled, "Judges and Journalists." The article is available on the web.

April, 2005—Contributed two chapters to the book, Institutions of Democracy: The Press, edited by Geneva Overholser and Kathleen Hall Jamieson published by Oxford University Press. Prof. Kirtley was the sole author on the chapter "Legal Evolution of the Government-News Media Relationship," and co-author with Bruce W. Sanford of the chapter "The First Amendment Tradition and Its Critics."

March 31, 2005—Was co-author and co-counsel for an Amicus brief, Mink v. Buck, a case that will be considered by the U.S. Court of Appeals (10th Circuit) in Denver. The brief is available at on the Silha Center website under Resources. More information is available here.

September 2, 2004—Assisted by Silha Research Assistant Andrew Deutsch, prepared and filed Comments on the Proposed Rules of Public Access Records of the Judicial Branch with the Minnesota Supreme Court. Prof. Kirtley also testified at the public hearing held in St. Paul on September, 21, 2004.

July 16, 2004—Prepared and filed comments on the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Transportation interim final rule on the protection of sensitive security information. Prof. Jane E. Kirtley, assisted by Silha Legal Research Assistant Andrew Deutsch, prepared the comments. They can be accessed on the DOT's website.

June, 2004—A paper, "Criminal Defamation: An ‘Instrument of Destruction'" appeared in "Ending the Chilling Effect: Working to Repeal Criminal Libel and Insult Laws," a book published by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

February 7, 2004—Minneapolis, MN, Prepared and filed comments on the Preliminary Recommendations of the Minnesota Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules of Public Access to Records of the Judicial Branch in the state of Minnesota's Supreme Court.

November, 2003—A paper, "Criminal Defamation: An 'Instrument of Destruction,'" was distributed at a conference, "Libel and Insult Laws: What More Can be Done to Decriminalize LIbel and Repeal Insult Laws," convened by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Nov. 24-25, 2003 in Paris, France. Prof. Kirtley prepared the paper at the request of Alex Ivanko, Senior Adviser to the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. She was assisted in her research by Silha Fellows Elaine Hargrove Simon and Doug Peters, and by Silha R.A. Tom Corbett. Information about the conference can be found here and here.

October, 2003—An article, "The American Executive Branch: A Culture of Secrecy," appeared in the vol. 6, no. 1 of "The Long Term View," published by the Massachusetts School of Law. The public policy journal devotes each issue to an in-depth discussion of a single topic. The theme of this issue is "Secrecy is Everywhere."

September 30, 2003—An article, "Bloggers and Their First Amendment Protection," appeared in the vol. 57, no. 3 Fall 2003 issue of "The Neiman Reports," published by The Neiman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. A copy of the article is available here.

August 21, 2003—Prepared and filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief in the United States Supreme Court assisted by Silha Fellow Doug Peters and Silha RA Tom Corbett, on behalf of the Silha Center. The case is Office of Independent Counsel v. Favish , a Freedom of Information Act case concerning the scope of the privacy exemption to the statute in the context of a request for access to the Vince Foster suicide photographs. A copy of the amicus brief is available on the Silha Center web site under Resources.

July 2003—Book chapter, "What's in a Name? Privacy, Property Rights and Free Expression in the New Communications Media," has been published in Journalism and the Debate Over Privacy, edited by Craig L. LaMay. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. is the publisher of the new book, which was on display at AEJMC.

May 2003—An essay, "Coming of Age in Minnesota," appeared in the May 2003 issue of the Federal Communications Law Journal, published by the Indiana University School of Law. The essay is one of 24 by contributors including Zoe Baird, Rep. Edward Markey, Prof. Cass Sunstein and the late Fred Rogers, for a special issue, "The Vast Wasteland Revisited," commemorating Newton Minow's 1961 "Vast Wasteland" speech to the National Association of Broadcasters.

Ongoing Column, "First Amendment Watch," formerly "The Press and the Law," appearing in each issue of American Journalism Review. (AJR publishes ten issues each year.)

April 2003—An encyclopedia article, "Privacy vs. Public Right to Know," in the four-volume Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications, published by Academic Press. Silha Fellow Elaine Hargrove assisted with Kirtley's research for the chapter. For more information, visit here.

April 30, 2003—Filed comments on the Council of Europe's "Draft Recommendation on the right of reply in the on-line media" with the assistance of Silha Fellow Elaine Hargrove. The comments are available on the Silha Center website under Resources.

February, 2003—An essay, "Sept. 11: your rights and the nation's security," appeared in "It's your right to know," a collection of essays published by Access/RI, a non-profit freedom of information coalition affiliated with the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University in Providence.

November 2002—an article, "Hidden Justice: The Ethics of Secret Settlements" appeared in the LDRC MediaLaw Letter.

September 27, 2002—Was co-author of comments filed on behalf of the Silha Center. The comments centered on a proposed amendment to Local Rule 5.03 in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. The proposed rule would prohibit judges from sealing settlement agreements in any legal case. Kirtley co-authored the comments with Silha Fellow Kirsten Murphy.

September 11, 2002—an essay, "Don't Trade Freedom for False Security" appeared in the Minnesota Daily. The article is posted online at.

September 11, 2002—an essay, "U Professor Questions U.S. Government Infringements on Media Freedom" was published in The Wake.

July 11, 2002—was co-author of an amicus brief filed in the California Supreme Court case, DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. Bunner.

Summer 2002—an article, "The Lonely Pamphleteer Redux" was published as the cover story in the summer issue of the American Bar Association's Tort and Insurance Practice Committee News.

December 2001—An article entitled "The USA PATRIOT Act: Louis Freeh Gets His Wish," appeared in the Libel Defense Resource Center's LibelLetter.

November/December, 2001—Excerpts from an article, "It's the Process, Stupid," were reprinted in the special 40th Anniversary Issue Supplement of Columbia Journalism Review.

Fall, 2001—An article entitled "Keeping the Government Out of the Newsroom: A First Amendment Imperative?" was published in Human Rights, the Journal of the American Bar Association's Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities. The article was part of a special issue devoted to media and the circle of rights.

October/November 2001—An article entitled "Privacy Intrusion: Where to Draw the Line," appeared in The Correspondent, the magazine of the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong.

September 28, 2001—An article entitled, "Fighting Back Against Information Shutdown at Home and Abroad" was published on the Poynter Institute's Web site. The article can be found here. The article also appeared in the Fall 2001 issue of the Silha Bulletin.

September 2001—An article entitled, "Enough is Enough," originally published in the Summer 2001 issue of Media Studies Journal, was posted to the Tom Paine Common Sense website. Professor Kirtley was also quoted in an opinion advertisement that the organization placed in the New York Times.

Summer 2001—An article in Media Studies Journal entitled, "Enough is Enough: Journalists Should Draw a Line in the Sand to Limit the Military's Attempts at Absolute Secrecy," as part of a symposium "Front Lines and Deadlines: Perspectives on War Reporting."

January 26, 2001—A Second Circuit amicus brief, Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Reimerdes, with former Silha Fellow and research assistant Erik Ugland. Amici were Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law; Online News Association; Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; Newspaper Association of America; Student Press Law Center; Wired News; Pew Center on the States; and the College of Communications, California State University, Fullerton. Text of the brief can be found here.

January 26, 2001—Comments, "Privacy and Public Access to Electronic Case Files," drafted with former Silha Fellow and research assistant Erik Ugland, submitted to the Judicial Conference of the United States Privacy and Electronic Access to Case Files Subcommittee, Court Administration and Case Management Committee.

November 27, 2000—A chapter, entitled, "Obtaining information under FOI Laws," as part of a monograph "Freedom of Information Concept Paper" by the American Bar Association's Central and Eastern European Law Initiative.

November 10, 2000—Prepared a critique of the proposed implementing legislation for the freedom of information law for the Slovak Republic and the American Bar Association's Central and Eastern European Law Initiative.

September/October 2000—An article entitled, "It's the Process, Stupid: Newsgathering is the Target," published in the Columbia Journalism Review.

Fall 2000—An article entitled, "Privacy and the Press in The New Millennium: How International Standards are Driving the Privacy Debate in the United States and Abroad" was published in the Fall 2000 issue of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Law Review.

June 2000—An op-ed piece on privacy appears under various titles in more than a dozen newspapers nationwide, including the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Portland Oregonian, Sandusky (OH) Register, Atlantic City Press, Watertown (NY) Daily Times, Birmingham (AL) Post-Herald, San Angelo (TX) Standard Times, Dayton (OH), Daily News, Redding (CA) Record Searchlight as well as "The Washington Newspaper," published by the Washington State Newspaper Publishers Association.

June 2000—A course outline, "Ethics and the Newsgathering Process," published in Practising Law Institute's course book, Litigating Newsgathering Claims 2000.

May 2000—An essay, "What a Free Press Means to Me," in "Voices of Freedom 2000: What a Free Press Means to Me," published by the World Press Freedom Committee.

May, 2000—A book chapter, "Louis Brandeis Has a Lot to Answer for: Restricting News Coverage in the Name of Protecting Privacy," in New Code Words for Censorship, published by World Press Freedom Committee.

Spring 2000—An article, "Much Ado about Nothing? Preparing to Face Videocameras in the Courtroom," appeared in Litigation Magazine, published by the American Bar Association's Section of Litigation.

March 2000—An article, "Backtalk: Better or Worse?" in Presstime magazine.

January 2000—A book chapter, "Is It a Crime? An Overview of Recent Legal Actions Stemming from Investigative Reports," appeared in The Big Chill: Investigative Reporting in the Current Media Environment, published by the Iowa State University Press.

October/November 1999—An article, "What about Due Process?" in The Correspondent.