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Georgetown Law Library

Communications Law Research Guide

This guide suggests resources in media law, First Amendment, cable and broadcasting law, computer and internet law, and telecommunications.

Contents

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  • Preeminent Treatise
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Select Treatises, Books, & Study Aids

The following is a select list of texts & treatises on issues of privacy law.  There are many others; to find more, try searching the library's catalog (see below) or browsing a treatise collection on a research platform like Lexis, Westlaw, or Bloomberg Law.  You might also want to check our Communications Law Treatise Finder.

Finding Additional Items

To find more items in our catalog on the topic of Communications Law, try searching by subject using some of the following headings:

Academic Journals & Journal Databases

Law Journal Databases

Communications/Computer Journal Databases

View our databases that cover Communications Law materials.  This includes some of the following:

  • ACM Digital Library
    Offers access to books, journal articles, theses, and proceedings of the Association of Computer Machinery.
  • Communication Abstracts
    Covers communication-related articles, reports, papers, and books from a variety of publishers, research institutions, and information sources on a world-wide scale. Coverage includes not only communication literature but also literature in other disciplines that is relevant to communication researchers, such as international literature in film studies, the role of technology in human communications, risk communication, crisis communication and public opinions.
  • Communication & Mass Media Complete
    This database provides full-text access to about 200 journals in the area of communication and mass media, as well as citation coverage for additional sources.
  • IEEE Xplore
    This database includes over 100 telecommunications industry publications, such as magazines, journals, and newsletters for electrical and electronics engineers. Subjects include internet, artificial intelligence, IoT and cybersecurity.
  • ProQuest Telecommunications
    This database includes over 100 telecommunications industry publications, such as magazines, journals, and newsletters for this industry.
     

Multidisciplinary Databases

  • ABI/Inform Complete
    Abstracts and some full-text articles from over 2,800 business and management publications. Covers finance, management, marketing, accounting, business conditions and other business topics.
  • Academic Search Premier
    Full text of journal articles from nearly 1,560 academic, social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals.
  • ProQuest Research Library
    ProQuest Research Library includes more than 3,700 titles -- over 2,500 in full text. It features a diversified mix of scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers.

News & Current Awareness

It is crucial when practicing or researching in heavily regulated areas of law such as communications to keep on top of new developments. You can also use legal news and current awareness sources to help find topics for scholarly research or journal notes.  Also refer to the Professional Associations, Organizations, and Institutes page of this guide.

A few of the tools available for doing so are listed below. 

  • Media Law Reporter (BNA) publishes U.S. Supreme Court and selected state and lower federal court decisions on all aspects of media law, including First Amendment, broadcast and cable regulation, and entertainment law.
     
  • Electronic Commerce and Law Report (BNA)
    This weekly newsletter, covering legal developments and trends in the major legal issues surrounding digital communications -- contents, transactions, and infrastructure -- on federal, state, and international levels, was discontinued in 2018; archive of issues since April 12, 1996 is available on Bloomberg Law. Coverage continued in Tech & Telecom Law News.
     
  • Privacy & Data Security Law News (Bloomberg Law)
    Covers developments in worldwide privacy law. Published monthly.
     
  • The FCC Daily Digest provides a brief synopsis of Commission orders, news releases, speeches, public notices and all other FCC documents that are released each business day.
  • Headlines (on the FCC website) is the best source for up-to-the-minute status and links to the latest and highest profile items at the Commission, and for other important notices.
     
  • Communications Daily (daily newsletter covering telecommunications, broadcasting, cable televisions, and the electronic media)
  • ABA Blawg Directory: Media & Communications Law: The ABA maintains comprehensive directory of more than 4,500 continually updated law blogs.  This links to those categorized under the "Media & Communications Law" topic.
     
  • Tech & Telecom Practice Center (Bloomberg Law)
    Includes legal news and analysis in addition to practical guidance, primary sources, regulatory materials, BNA portfolios, and more. Includes the following Practice Areas: Communications Law, Data Privacy & Security Law, Tech & Internet Law, Media Law.

     

Dictionaries & Glossaries