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Home » Research Colloquium » Hornaday to talk on Twitter, police scanners

Doctoral student Bill Hornaday will talk on "Tweeting the Police Scanner: The Rediscovered Liabilities" at the next Research Colloquium at 4 p.m. Nov. 1 in the Ernie Pyle Hall lounge.

Hornaday addressed this topic in a paper that won the Whitney and Shirley Mundt Award, First Place Student Paper in the Law and Policy Division, at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications last summer.

His research examines First Amendment issues that might arise when professional or citizen journalists use Twitter to spread information obtained from police scanner transmissions. It concludes by arguing that “scanner tweeting” should be done sparingly and under guidelines that minimize the spread of flawed information, reduce the risk of a potential defamation lawsuit, and promote the safety of emergency personnel, the public and media.

The Research Colloquium is open to all and provides a place for researchers to present their work and gather feedback.

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