LEGAL AND ETHICAL CULTURE OF JOURNALIST

Media law and ethics are a special subject of study in the system of journalistic education.

One of the St. Petersburg newspaper companies for four years of its existence has achieved lasting success with readers. But at the same time she did not pay a penny of taxes. The only reason for the violations, according to the CEO, was his ignorance of the law. As a result, the company was facing the threat of closure. Obviously, the director decided that his legal nihilism was balanced by sound editorial management. Indeed, with all the versatility of journalistic qualifications - from the point of view of the methodology and subject of coverage of events - every professional still chooses for himself more or less narrow areas of specialization, moving away from other types of work. In practice, it is quite possible, for example, to investigate and not to go on the gossip, to write texts brilliantly and not to own a camera, to be immersed in organizational worries and almost not to carry out literary and creative tasks.

From the right and ethics can not be removed. This would mean that the media employee ignores the standards of behavior proposed to him by society and the professional environment. Such a journalist is a danger not only for the social world, but also for the editorial board itself, and they will ultimately present their claims to him. The peculiarity of law and ethics also lies in the fact that they permeate the entire mass production of information. At each stage and in any subject-specific area, legal and ethical relations, regulations, conflicts arise. Finally, the prevailing part of the literary and creative skills of the journalist is turned inward, that is, it is used in the editorial “kitchen” - in the preparation of materials and the performance of other official functions. The observance of legal and ethical norms, on the contrary, most often happens outside, in the sphere of interests of citizens and legal entities that are somehow affected in the activities of the media.

Law and ethics governing the practice of the press, have a dual status. On the one hand, they are elements of the existing systems of legislation and professional ethics in society. In this sense, journalistic ethics have long been recognized by experts. The right of the media is just being finalized and becoming, finds itself. The volume of regulatory documents on information and informatization in Russia is growing. This encourages experts to highlight a particular branch of legislation - information law. An even narrower concept is used by those who deal with journalism - they talk about media law. Researchers and university professors offer to develop journalistic jurisprudence as a scientific and academic discipline.

All these names are not in the academic lists of branches of law, but they are de facto present in the latest literature and have a basis in mass-informational practice. We have no opportunity to go into theoretical and terminological discussions and we will use these names as working concepts. The point is not so much in the names, but in the fact that the right of the media is a wide-ranging, multifaceted body of norms. Covering all of it in one chapter will not succeed, and it will be necessary to confine ourselves mainly to the informational side of journalism.

Media law and ethics have another dimension: they belong to the system of journalistic theory and education . Here they have two wings. First, law and ethics are linked with the fundamental doctrine of the principles and social roles of the press, the structure of the journalist’s worldview, etc. Secondly, they form (prescribe, suggest, prohibit) standards of correspondent and editor behavior, predetermine the choice of these or other means of labor, and therefore must be studied at the application level, in the system of methods and techniques of production activity.

So, the preparation and self-education of a specialist is by no means exhausted by memorizing laws and ethical codes. Our subject is built according to the following scheme: legal and ethical consciousness - knowledge of norms - methods of activity. Considering that issues of journalistic ethics are better developed in educational literature, we will only lightly review them at the end of the chapter. The main attention will be paid to the legal culture - the most important, but little disclosed in the textbooks element of qualification of the media employee.

Content of legal culture. We understand the legal culture of a journalist as respect, knowledge and practical application of legal norms in the interests of effective and safe professional activity.

We will understand the definition in detail. Respect of norms means their conscious observance, and not selectively, with the division into convenient and inconvenient, but observance of the entire system of rights and obligations. For journalists, this circumstance is of particular importance. The specifics of the profession - risky, demanding perseverance and even persistent, sometimes conflicting - gives rise to the illusion that media employees have a legal priority over other people. However, in reality, the profession is designed by society primarily to protect the interests of citizens, organizations and the social system as a whole. In the media legislation, the duties of journalists are at least the same place as their rights. This is also suggested by the statistics of court proceedings concerning the activities of the media. Thus, over the past two centuries, the mass media in the US Supreme Court have won only half of the cases (up to the 1920s, only 15%). It is especially significant that they win mainly as plaintiffs, whereas as defendants in claims of citizens and organizations, they lose twice as often [1]. Similar statistics have been accumulated in modern Russia.

Knowledge of standards includes extensive and diverse material. It allows the journalist to freely navigate the social and professional worlds. We list its most important components:

Ø in connection with the social environment in which the practice of the media unfolds - constitutional law, the system of government in the Russian Federation, the foundations of international law;

Ø in connection with the object of activity - the rights of citizens, legal entities, authorities and authorities that fall within the scope of journalistic attention;

Ø in connection with the subject of activity - special legislation regulating mass information exchange;

Ø in connection with the conditions of activity - labor and administrative law (concerning the employee), property rights (concerning the manager or owner of the media), civil law (regarding the work of a journalist under a contract agreement);

Ø in connection with the exercise of their rights - means, instances and the procedure for legal protection and self-defense of a journalist.

Is it a lot for a person who is not and does not want to become a lawyer? It seems that the minimum information necessary for successful work is listed here. Moreover, the list should be supplemented with other special knowledge that also applies to working conditions in the media, for example, on regulating the activities of law enforcement agencies, which often come into official contact with journalists. Another thing is that the degree of immersion in the material varies widely. One correspondent will become so obnoxious in court disputes that he will be able to competently draw up a claim in defense of his rights. Another in such a case would have to seek the help of a lawyer. As in other areas of qualification, here self-improvement does not have an upper limit. Incidentally, the ability and habit to cooperate with experienced experts is also part of the legal culture.

The application of norms does not automatically follow from their knowledge. The Commission on Freedom of Access to Information (the Public Human Rights Foundation) found that about 70% of Russian journalists have an idea of ​​the RF Law “On Mass Media” as a central document in the media law system, another 30% are familiar with other laws on the profile of their work. On a five-point scale, such knowledge is estimated at 2.6 points. However, journalists are extremely rare in the court to defend their rights. Hence, knowledge remains superficial, fact-finding, not applied in practice.

Pay attention to the effectiveness and safety of the activities of a journalist. The right has not only a regulatory, but also a protective function. It protects a journalist from encroachment on his powers, on the ability to perform public duty and official duties. It also protects against the temptation of reckless boldness in dealing with facts, if the reporter looks back at the sanctions that can be applied to him. If he ignores them, then the payback is severe. For example, American newsmen paid $ 320,000 to popular actor Tom Cruise. Thus, the court estimated fabrications that hurt the honor and reputation of a movie star.

Typical violations of media rights. Violations of the norms associated with mass information activities, unfortunately, have become a familiar characteristic of our social life. Weak consolation is the fact that in world practice it is one of the most conflicting types of legal relations. We divide them into two large groups: violations by the media and journalists and an attempt on freedom of the media. The division is coarse, in reality every conflict looks much more complicated and rich in nuances.

Violations by the media are most often recorded at the stage of publication of materials. Of all the stages and types of journalistic work, the publication turned out to be an indicator of the weakness of the authors' legal preparation. The behavior of correspondents in the process of collecting information, organizing production, communicating with colleagues, etc. causes much fewer complaints. This should not be surprising - for the public, the meaning and content of journalism appear in the form of published texts.

From the point of view of reasons for claims to journalists, one of the first positions is occupied by infringement of the honor and dignity of citizens. In the future, we will consider in detail the regulatory grounds for the initiation of such disputes. Now we will make only a few explanatory notes. First, do not mix the spread of information discrediting honor and dignity with slander and insult. The first act is “under the jurisdiction” of civil law, while the second and third is criminal. There is a secret in this distinction: according to civil law, the defendant (journalist), according to the criminal law, in which the presumption of innocence is valid, must prove the information - the applicant (the offended person). By the way, the state duty when submitting an application for the recovery of non-pecuniary damage is ridiculously small - 10% of the minimum wage, regardless of the amount requested (RF Law "On State Duty"). That is why among those offended by the editors, the reference to diminishing their honor and dignity, and not some other form of harm, is so popular. Secondly, only in the first half of the 1990s, the number of prosecutions of journalists in connection with the infringement of honor and dignity, as well as the business reputation of citizens and legal entities has tripled. The objective reason for such a sharp rise is the development of civil self-awareness and self-esteem of people, and this, with all the inconveniences for editors, is a good sign: the trend towards democratization and humanization of society is growing. The subjective reason is that correspondents and editors do not reckon with this tendency and allow themselves anarchic freedom in handling facts and words.

Other types of offenses in the publication of materials are much less likely to appear in court records. This applies to unacceptable abuse of freedom of the media - in the form of, for example, disclosure of information constituting state or other secrets protected by law, calling for seizure of power, inciting national, class, social, religious intolerance or discord, propaganda for war (Article 4 of the RF Law “On the Mass Media”), hiding or falsifying socially significant information, spreading rumors under the guise of credible reports (Article 51). Let's not flatter ourselves - our press is far from sinless in this relationship. However, the proof of her guilt is often complicated, and responsibility does not occur.

According to the Supreme Court of Russia, in 1990-1995. There was such a criminal record under the articles of the Criminal Code:

Ø The maintenance of dens and pandering (mainly in the form of the publication of offers on intimate services) - 1089;

Ø production or sale of pornographic items - 416;

Ø slander - 143;

Ø insult - 39;

Ø violation of equality of citizens on the basis of race, nationality or attitude to religion - 4;

Ø violation of the secrecy of correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraph communications of citizens - 4;

Ø calls for violent change of the constitutional order - 3 [2].

To illustrate the first point of the report: the prosecutor’s office of Vladivostok, which decided to check out the so-called “leisure firms,” began with a study of newspaper ads about sexual services. They encourage citizens to take advantage of the offers of the dens and attract women to engage in prostitution, that is, they carry the elements of a crime.

And one more note. The report did not reflect one of the most common and typical acts of the press - a violation of the order of election campaigning. The reason is that real, operational sanctions against the media in this regard does not provide for legislation.

The concept of infringement of freedom of mass media received a detailed description in the Law “On Mass Media”:

Ø implementation of censorship;

Ø interference in the activities of the editors and violation of their professional independence;

Ø unlawful termination or suspension of media activities;

Ø violation of the right of editors to request and receive information;

Ø illegal seizure, as well as the destruction of the circulation or part thereof;

Ø forcing a journalist to distribute or refuse to disseminate information;

Ø establishment of restrictions on contacts with a journalist or transfer of information to him (except in special cases).

If there were accurate statistics, then a relatively mild form of infringement of journalists would probably be the priority - a refusal to provide them with information. However, the journalists themselves are inclined to keep silent about the violation of their right to seek and receive information, as well as the right to access information sources. The reasons are subjective: the difficulty of proving the offender’s fault also has an effect, and there are no time for the always rushing reporters administrative or economic pressure on the editorial board, and simply the absence of the habit of upholding your legitimate interests. However, no one else knows the situation with access to information better than journalists, and they cannot entrust their self-defense to anyone.

Among the serious misconduct call the use of violence in its various forms. Public attention is attracted primarily by the assassination of journalists. The delegates of one of the congresses of the Moscow Union of Journalists were told that in the capital over the past two years, 27 of their comrades died, while there were 24 dead in Chechnya. These are monstrous figures, because even a single violent death of a person performing professional duty shocks the society. Let us recall the murder in 1998 of the chief editor of the newspaper Sovetskaya Kalmykia, Larisa Yudina, who was known in the country for her heroic struggle for freedom of speech and independence of the press from administrative control. But at the same time, let's not forget about the current practice of telephone blackmail, threats, mental repression of the individual. In legal terms, there is not just a crime against the person, but a violation of the right of the media, because, according to the law, the state guarantees the journalist in connection with his professional activities protecting his honor, dignity, health, life and property.

Economic and financial harassment of the media in form may be similar to legal actions. It is carried out, for example, in the form of permanent work of the commissions on the audit of the editorial business. In the latter case, the management of the media has no official reason to object to the visit of the next auditors, but in fact it almost comes to the closure of the publication. Often, there is also administrative pressure on the media, which is expressed in issuing orders and giving instructions to journalists on behalf of government bodies or officials. From the point of view of the law, it qualifies as a violation of the professional independence of editors. It is characteristic that politicians and officials use not only the authorities and authority, but also economic leverage, which is the real balance of power in the Russian media, which are at their disposal.Thus, administrative coercion actually merges with economic and financial. Local publications are especially susceptible to it, which, as a rule, are subsidized from the budget.

In order to resist attempts at freedom of the media, an extraordinary courage is required of a journalist, since the legal culture does not imply any compromises in this area. Firstly, because the independence of the media is a legally recognized property of society, and not a specific editorial board, and secondly, because professional culture includes moral and ethical imperatives, namely, unshakable adherence to freedom as personal life value.