American Exceptionalism, the French Exception, and Digital Media Law - by Lyombe S Eko (Hardcover)

About the Book

This volume explores and explains sameness and difference between the United States and France in the matters of freedom of expression on the Internet, the management of the tensions that arise between freedom of expression and the right of privacy of public figures, the compa...

Book Synopsis

This volume explores and explains sameness and difference between the United States and France in the matters of freedom of expression on the Internet, the management of the tensions that arise between freedom of expression and the right of privacy of public figures, the comparative role of interest groups in the regulation of Internet content in both countries, the intellectual property implications of the digitization and transfer of journalistic works from print to searchable electronic databases, how courts in the United States and France managed the copyright issues that were triggered by the Google Book Search project, as well as the clash between intellectual property rights and freedom of expression in the area of parody or "gripe" web sites on the Internet. The volume presents American exceptionalism and the French exception as functionally equivalent logics that lead to different freedom of expression outcomes. This book makes a significant contribution to comparative communication law studies, an area that has not received serious academic interest.

Review Quotes

A highly sophisticated and important work that should not only move the field of communication law and policy into a new era, but do the same for the study of comparative law, legal globalization, Internet governance, law and society, and, indeed, international relations.

This book offers a superb investigation of French and American exceptionalism, a value in national philosophies and practices that has not received sufficient attention in communication scholarship. Eko's work provides new ways of charting exceptionalism's role in the development of legal regimes around intellectual property, freedom of speech and technological innovations, enriching our understanding of global media with its compelling depth and power.

About the Author

Lyombe Eko is associate professor and director of graduate studies in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa. He is also Co-Director of the African Studies Program.