The media, as many are convinced, is the "fourth power." So the 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 implemented? What innovations can we expect in this aspect?
Definition of the term "media"
According to a popular interpretation, mass media are institutions that are created for public broadcasting to society or its local groups of various information through various technological channels. Media, as a rule, have a target audience and thematic (industry) focus. There are political media, there are media of a business orientation, scientific, entertainment, etc.
The technological channels in question are now divided into offline (also called "traditional") and online. The first include print newspapers and magazines, radio, television. The second are their analogues, which operate on the Internet in the form of articles on web pages, online TV and radio broadcasts, as well as video and audio clips laid out as a recording 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 already existed at a time when mankind had not yet invented not only a printing press and an alphabet, but even a full-fledged language. The cave paintings of antiquity, some scientists believe, could already perform a number of functions characteristic of those performed by modern media. For example, through them, one nomadic tribe could tell (intentionally or accidentally) to another that came to their place about what resources are present in this territory - water, vegetation, minerals, give general information about the climate, (for example, draw a sun) or display elements of warm clothing in the drawings.
However, the "mass" media found, of course, only upon the invention of information carriers, suggesting the technical ability to replicate sources in a large number of copies. This is the late Middle Ages - the time when the first newspapers appeared. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a telephone, a telegraph were invented, and a bit later, radio and TV. By that time, the communities of developed countries began to experience tangible communication needs due to processes reflecting the aspects of political construction, socio-economic problems that were brewing due to the intensification of production and the introduction of new market mechanisms. The authorities and business began to actively use available technologies for communication with the community. This trend quickly became widespread, and the media appeared in the form in which we know them today.
The media received great demand, primarily in the political environment. They have become a key mechanism of communication between government and society, as well as an effective tool for discussion between various political organizations. The media became a resource, control over which could guarantee the ability of various interest groups to control the consciousness of people throughout the whole society or its individual representatives. The power of the media appeared.
The media are endowed with specific functions. Consider them.
Media features
The experts call the basic function informational. It consists in familiarizing the community or the specific groups that form it, with information that reflects current problems, events, forecasts. Also, the information function can be expressed in the publication by certain participants of the political process or by business entities of information in order to inform not only society, but also significant figures or organizations of their level. This can be expressed, for example, in the publication of profile interviews, where the entrepreneur talks about the competitive advantages of his company - this kind of information can be calculated not only from the target customers, but by those who can be considered competitors of the company or, for example, potential investors. Moreover, the forms of presenting 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 balanced mixing of these 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 readable sources, becomes constant, interested in receiving 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 called upon to engage in schools, universities and other educational institutions. However, the media can harmoniously complement the knowledge that a person receives in educational institutions.
The socializing function of the media may be to assist people in becoming familiar with the realities of the public environment. The media can give people guidance in choosing those values that will contribute to the speedy 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 control over certain phenomena in politics and economics. In this case, the subject that performs it is called upon to be society itself. Interacting with the media, society (as a rule, in the face of individual activists expressing the interests of certain groups) forms the corresponding issues, and the media themselves make it public. The authorities, in turn, or the subjects of economic activities, enterprises, individual businessmen, will be forced to respond to the relevant requests of the company, "report" for promises, for the implementation of certain programs, and the solution of pressing problems. In some cases, control is supplemented by a critique function. The role of the media in this sense does not change - the main thing is to convey relevant comments and suggestions to the masses. And then, in turn, broadcast the response of the authorities or businesses.
One of the specific functions of the media is articulation. It consists in enabling society, again, in the face of activists representing someone’s interests, to express their opinion publicly, to convey it to other audiences. The mobilization function of the media is also adjacent to the articulation. It assumes the existence of channels through which the very same activists who reflect someone else's interests are included in a process of a political or economic nature. They become not only representatives of someone’s views, but also direct figures at the level of government or business.
Media and law
The Russian media, like the media in most countries of the world, operate in accordance with the established norms of the law. What kind of regulatory acts govern the activities of the media sector in the Russian Federation? Our main source of law is the Law "On Mass Media", which entered into force in February 1992. However, it was adopted back in December 1991. Since then the USSR still formally existed, the body that adopted this act was called the Supreme Council of Russia. And it was signed by the President of the RSFSR, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin. The Soviet Law "On the Press", which entered into force in August 1990, is considered to be preceding this legal act. Experts note the fact that both sources of law were developed mainly by the same authors.
History of Russian media legislation
What legal acts preceded the two that we mentioned above? Historians note that the laws governing the activities of the media were in force even before the October Revolution. However, after the change of power, they were canceled. Very soon, however, a Press Decree appeared, signed by the Council of People's Commissars in October 1917. It was said that as soon as the new political system becomes stable, any administrative impact on the work of print media will be stopped. It was assumed that there would be freedom of speech, limited only in possible measures of responsibility to the judiciary. True, 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 upon the establishment of their power closed several dozen newspapers and introduced censorship. The activities of the Soviet media were not regulated by any law and, according to experts, was under the direct control of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers. The interaction of the media and authorities in the USSR took place virtually unilaterally. The functionaries of the central organs or their subordinates as part of structures at the level of the Union republics and their constituent entities, as historians and lawyers have noted, adopted appropriate decisions regarding key aspects of editorial policy, appointed leading officials in publications, and resolved organizational issues. A similar situation also occurred in the field of radio and television. Thus, exclusively state-owned media were legally functioning in the USSR.
However, in the second half of the 80s, glasnost appeared in the country. The practice of direct interference of the authorities in the media was somehow not linked to the emerging reality in this area. De facto publishers 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 manage the profits from the sale of huge circulations. As a result, the country's leadership decided to develop a law on the media, which would legally consolidate the significance that the media acquired in the era of publicity. It was necessary to create a media sphere, operating independently of the party line.
So, from August 1, 1990, the USSR opened up the possibility for the functioning of the media within the framework of publicity. The only mechanism that many experts considered an echo of the times of censorship was the mandatory registration of the media, which required compliance with certain formalities. Such as, for example, the definition of a person or organization establishing a mass media, - the law prescribed to do so.
New media law?
Formally adopted back in the USSR, the legal act regulating the activities of the media is still valid. However, over the entire period of existence of the law, periodic amendments were regularly made to it. And today, discussions on whether to edit this legal act once again, to enter a particular norm, are not ceasing. Of course, we are not talking about the adoption of a fundamental law (in any case, there is no public data about this from the general public). However, there are a lot of proposals for various amendments that would affect the activities of the media in Russia.
Among the most recent adopted by the State Duma is the one regarding the restriction on the ownership of media shares for foreigners. What exactly is meant here? Until recently, foreigners could be present in any proportions (excluding the sphere of radio and television) in the shares and authorized capital of Russian media. In the fall of 2014, the State Duma in three readings adopted amendments to the law on the media, according to which from 2016 foreign investors will be able to own no more than 20% of the assets of the Russian media.
Limit the share of foreigners
The consequences of the adoption of the law in the new edition may be faced, according to experts, more than one media outlet. Examples abound. A large share of foreigners in the assets of publishers such as Sanoma Independent Media, Bauer, Hearst Shkulev and many others. Bypassing the rules of the law, lawyers believe, is problematic. The norms set forth in the act do not allow foreigners to own shares in media assets through an intermediary chain from different legal entities. What can this lead to?
Experts believe that the result of the entry into force of the amendments may be the desire of some media brands to cease operations in the Russian Federation. Largely because, analysts believe, media owners will not have the opportunity to build editorial policies in the desired format. In this connection, the recognition of the style of a media brand may lose in quality, readers will stop buying the appropriate publications, and the owner will suffer losses. According to some experts, the appropriateness of the law may raise doubts due to the fact that the most sensitive for the legislator spheres of the media space in Russia (politics, society) by foreigners are not controlled so much. Much more foreign influence in "glossy" publications, which are practically not related to matters of state importance.
