Skip to Main Content
Research Guides

COM 440 / POLS 461: Mass Media Law - Fall 2015 (Cook): Find Mass Media Law Cases

LexisNexis Academic

News

News sources are often the only published sources for legal cases, especially state trial cases.  Newspapers, magazines, and e-news sources often provide the most current information on a topic. They are brief and focus on the facts.  The articles are usually written by a journalist and reviewed by an editor.  

Background

Trial courts decide the facts.  Cases can then go to the appellate courts on appeal.  The appellate courts establish the new laws.

How to Search

Databases work by matching your search terms with the items in the database, in this case information about articles.  Generally when searching a library type database, link your search terms with the word AND

For example, to find articles related to journalists' protection of news sources, I might search for articles about this general topic or articles focusing on the case of Judith Miller.  I should also consider other related terms including synonyms. So I might do searches on:

  • journalists AND sources
  • journalists AND "anonymous sources"
  • journalis* AND "shield law"
  • "judith miller" AND sources
  • journalist* AND confidential* AND source*
  • "journalistic privilege"

Searching is a bit of an art so be creative and use a variety of search terms and strategies in order to find the best articles on your topic.