Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law
The Silha Center's primary function is to conduct research in areas where legal and ethical issues converge and to monitor changes in law or in journalistic practice that may result.
About the Silha Center
The Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law was established in 1984 with an endowment from Otto and Helen Silha. Located within the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, the Silha Center is the vanguard of the School's interest in the ethical responsibilities and legal rights of the mass media in a democratic society.
The Silha Center focuses on the concepts and values that define the highest ideals of American journalism: liberty, justice, freedom, responsibility, autonomy, and dignity. It honors the importance of these ideals by examining their theoretical and practical applications and by recognizing the interdependence of ethical and legal principles.
The Silha Center mounts an endowed annual public lecture and also sponsors forums on a variety of topics. The Center funds graduate student and faculty research, publishes analyses of current media law and ethics issues, provides law and ethics training to journalists and newsrooms, and files amicus briefs in high-impact cases involving freedom of the press.
The Silha Center also provides information and comment to scholars and media professionals, both nationally and internationally. It offers audio and video copies of the annual lectures, media law and ethics bibliographies, and a number of publications from the now-defunct National News Council.
Silha Center News
Upcoming Silha Center Events
Our Director
Jeff Kosseff is the Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law and the Director of the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law. Jeff is a First Amendment lawyer and former journalist who was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and recipient of the George Polk Award for National Reporting.
He has written four books about free speech. The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom (with Jacob Mchangama) (Johns Hopkins University Press 2026) examines recent challenges to free expression worldwide and suggests solutions to reduce global censorship. Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation (Johns Hopkins University Press 2023) explains and defends the First Amendment’s robust protections for false speech. The United States of Anonymous: How the First Amendment Shaped Online Speech (Cornell University Press 2022) explores the longstanding tradition of anonymous speech in the United States. The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet (Cornell University Press 2019) traces the history of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Kosseff also is the author of Cybersecurity Law (Wiley 2026), a textbook that is in its fourth edition. He has published more than 25 academic articles, in venues including the Iowa Law Review, Wake Forest Law Review and Berkeley Technology Law Journal.
Before joining the University of Minnesota, Kosseff was an associate professor at the United States Naval Academy. He practiced First Amendment and cybersecurity law at Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, and clerked for the Hon. Milan D. Smith, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Hon. Leonie M. Brinkema of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Before becoming a lawyer, Kosseff was a journalist at The Oregonian.
Kosseff has a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center and a Master of Public Policy and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan.
Jeff Kosseff Media Interviews, July 2026 – present
August 12, 2026 – "Ninth Circuit Rewrites Section 230 To Remove The Part That Actually Mattered," TechDirt.
August 8, 2026 – "Why Shiloh Hendrix, the racial slur hurler, may win an appeal to overturn her disorderly conduct conviction," Post Bulletin.
July 29, 2026 – "First Amendment questions at center of lawsuit against Minnesota's AI nudification ban," MPR News.
Fellowships
The Silha Research Assistantships
Additional content coming soon.