Mass media and the law on them

The media, as many are convinced, is the "fourth power". So much influence of newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and online sources is noticeable in modern society. What is the role and function of the media? How is the legislative regulation of the media sphere carried out? What innovations can we expect in this aspect?

Definition of the term "media"

According to the popular interpretation, the mass media are institutions that are created for public broadcasting to the society or local groups of its various information through certain technological channels. The media, as a rule, have a target audience and a thematic (sectoral) focus. There are political mass media, there are mass media of business orientation, scientific, entertaining, etc.

Technological channels in question are now divided into offline (also called "traditional") and online. The first include printed newspapers and magazines, radio, television. The second is their analogues, which function on the Internet in the form of articles on web pages, TV and online broadcasts, as well as video and audio clips laid out as a record and other ways of presenting content using digital technologies (flash presentations, HTML5 scripts, etc.).

The emergence of the media

At the same time, according to some experts, the prototypes of the media existed already at the time when mankind had not yet invented not just a printing press and an alphabet, but even a full-fledged language. Rock paintings of antiquity, some scientists believe, could already perform a number of functions characteristic of those that are performed by modern media. For example, through them, one nomadic tribe could inform (intentionally or accidentally) another, which came to their place, about what resources are present in the territory - water, vegetation, minerals, give general information about the climate, (for example, draw the sun ) Or display the elements of warm clothing in the drawings.

However, mass media were found, of course, only on the fact of the invention of information carriers, which presupposed the technical possibility of replicating sources in a large number of copies. This was later the Middle Ages - the time when the first newspapers appeared. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a telephone, a telegraph, and later radio and TV were invented. By that time, communities of developed countries had begun to experience tangible communication needs due to processes reflecting aspects of political construction, socio-economic problems that were brewing in the face of intensification of production and the introduction of new market mechanisms. Power and business began to actively use available technologies for communication with the community. This trend quickly acquired a mass character, and the mass media appeared in the form in which we know them today.

The media received a huge demand, primarily in the political environment. They have become a key mechanism for communication between government and society, as well as an effective tool for discussion among various political organizations. The media became a resource, control of which could guarantee the ability of certain interested groups to manage the consciousness of people on the scale of the whole society or its individual representatives. The power of the media has appeared.

The media are endowed with specific functions. Consider them.

Functions of mass media

Experts call the basic function of information. It consists in acquaintance of the community or specific groups that form it, with information reflecting actual problems, events, forecasts. Also, the information function can be expressed in the publication of information by certain political actors or business entities to inform not only society, but also significant figures or organizations of its level. This can be expressed, for example, in the publication of profile interviews, where an entrepreneur talks about the competitive advantages of his firm - this kind of information can be calculated not so much by the target customers as by those who can be considered competitors of the firm or, for example, potential investors . In this case, the forms of presentation of information may be different. Among the main ones, two can be distinguished - in the form of facts and in the form of opinions (or through a balanced blending of the two models).

A number of experts believe that the media perform an educational (and to some extent socializing) function. It consists in transferring to the target groups of citizens or society as a whole knowledge that helps to increase the level of involvement in certain processes, to begin to understand what is happening in politics, in the economy, in society. Also, the educational function of the media is important from the point of view that the target audience understands the language of the sources read, becomes permanent, interested in obtaining new information. The influence of the media on the level of education as such, of course, is not so great. This function, in turn, is designed to deal with schools, universities and other educational institutions. However, the media can harmoniously complement the knowledge that people receive in educational institutions.

The socializing function of the mass media can be to help people to get involved in the realities of the social environment. The mass media can give people guidance in the choice of those values that will contribute to an early adaptation to the specifics of socio-economic and political processes.

Who controls whom?

The media, if we talk about democratic regimes, also perform the function of controlling certain phenomena in politics and economy. At the same time, the society itself is called upon to be the subject that fulfills it. Interacting with the media, the society (as a rule, in the form of individual activists expressing the interests of certain groups) forms the appropriate problems, and the media themselves make it public. The power, in turn, or the subjects of economic activities, enterprises, individual business figures, will be forced to respond to the relevant requests of society, "account" for promises, for the implementation of certain programs, the solution of pressing problems. In some cases, control is supplemented by a function of criticism. The role of the mass media in this sense does not change - the main thing is to convey relevant comments and suggestions to the broad masses. And then, in turn, broadcast the response of the authorities or businesses.

One of the specific functions of the media is articulation. It is to enable society, again, in the person of activists representing someone's interests, to express their opinions publicly, to bring it to other audiences. Also, the mobilization function of the media adjoins the articulation. It presupposes the existence of channels through which the same activists who reflect someone's interests are included in a political or economic process. They become not just representatives of someone's views, but also direct figures at the level of government or business.

Media and the law

The Russian media, like the media in most countries of the world, work in accordance with established norms of law. What kind of normative acts govern the activities of the media sphere in the Russian Federation? The main source of law for us is the Law on the Mass Media, which came into force in February 1992. However, it was adopted in December 1991. Since then the USSR still formally existed, the body that adopted this act was called the Supreme Soviet of Russia. And the President of the RSFSR, Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin, signed it. Previous to this legal act is the Soviet Law "On Press", which came into force in August 1990. Experts note the fact that both sources of law were developed mostly by the same authors.

The history of Russian media legislation

What legal acts preceded the two, which we named above? Historians note that the laws regulating the activities of the media were in force even before the October Revolution. However, after the change of power, they were abolished. Very soon, however, appeared the Decree on Press, signed by the Council of People's Commissars in October 1917. It stated that once the new political system is stable, any administrative impact on the work of print media will be discontinued. It was assumed that there will be freedom of speech, limited only in possible measures of responsibility before the judiciary. However, the adoption of a law that would consolidate these provisions, did not take place, until 1990.

Censorship and publicity

The Bolsheviks, as historians note, almost immediately after the establishment of their power closed dozens of newspapers, introduced censorship. The activity of the Soviet media was not regulated by any law and was, according to experts, under the direct control of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers. The interaction of the media and government in the USSR took place in fact unilaterally. The functionaries of the central bodies or subordinate entities within the structures at the level of the union republics and constituent entities, as historians and lawyers note, took appropriate decisions concerning key aspects of the editorial policy, appointed leading officials in the publications, and decided organizational issues. A similar situation also took place in the sphere of radio and television. Thus, only state-owned media functioned legally in the USSR.

However, in the second half of the 1980s glasnost appeared in the country. The practice of direct intervention by the authorities in the media was somehow not linked to the evolving reality in this area. De facto publishing houses began to play a huge role in the socio-political development of the USSR. But de jure they were powerless. Publishers did not have the opportunity, as some experts note, to dispose of profits from selling huge quantities. As a result, the country's leadership decided to develop a law on the media, which would legally reinforce the importance that the media acquired in the era of glasnost. It was necessary to create a media sphere that operates independently of the party line.

So, from August 1, 1990, the USSR opened the possibility for the functioning of the media in the framework of publicity. The only mechanism that many experts considered an echo of the days of censorship was compulsory registration of the media, which required compliance with certain formalities. Such as, for example, the definition of a person or organization that establishes a mass medium - the law ordered it to do so.

New media law?

Formally accepted in the USSR, a legal act regulating the activities of the media is still in force. However, during the entire existence of the law, periodic amendments were regularly made to it. And today, discussions on whether to amend this legal act once again, to write down this or that norm, do not subside. Of course, we are not talking about the adoption of a principled law (in any case, there is no public data known to the general public). However, there are a lot of proposals on various kinds of amendments that would influence the activity of the mass media in Russia.

Among the most recent, adopted by the State Duma, is the restriction on the ownership of media shares for foreigners. What exactly is meant here? Until recently, in joint-stock shares and the authorized capital of Russian media, foreigners could be present in any proportions (excluding the sphere of radio and television). In the fall of 2014, the State Duma adopted amendments to the media law in three readings, according to which, since 2016, foreign investors will be able to own no more than 20% of the assets of the Russian media.

Limitation of the percentage of foreigners

According to experts, not one mass media can face the consequences of adopting the law in a new edition. Examples are in abundance. A large proportion of foreigners in the assets of such publishers as Sanoma Independent Media, Bauer, Hearst Shkulev and many others. To circumvent the norms of the law, lawyers believe, is problematic. The norms set forth in the act do not allow foreigners to hold stakes in media assets through an intermediary chain of different legal entities. What can this lead to?

Experts believe that the result of the amendments coming into force may be the desire of some media brands to stop their activities in Russia. In many respects, analysts believe that media owners will not have the opportunity to build an editorial policy in the desired format. In this regard, the recognition of the style of the media brand may lose in quality, readers will stop buying the relevant publications, and the owner will incur losses. According to some experts, the expediency of the law can raise doubts due to the fact that foreigners control the most sensitive areas of the media space in Russia (politics, society) not so much. Much more foreign influence in the "glossy" publications, almost unrelated to the affairs of state importance.

The law on bloggers

Among other sensational initiatives of the Russian legislator are amendments related to the activities of bloggers. In accordance with them, the owners of Internet portals (or pages in social networks and other similar online projects) in a certain expression are equated to the media if the audience on the relevant pages exceeds 3 thousand users daily. True, in this case the amendments concern not the Law on Mass Media, but another legal act related to regulation of the IT sphere.

What kind of obligations, typical for the media, will be performed by popular bloggers? First of all, it is the provision of a real last name, first name and patronymic. Also, the blogger is required to indicate the e-mail address so that it can be legally significant with him. In turn, the full name and e-mail of the blogger or the hosting provider of the site where the project is located should be forwarded to Roskomnadzor.

The blog should not publish information that can, by virtue of its content and focus, contradict the norms of the law. For example, unreasonable and negatively affecting the interests of other people, statements, judgments, publication of compromising and personal information become unacceptable.