New law on media is far harsher than previous one (comparison table)

The Law on Mass Media, adopted by the “house of representatives” in the first reading will make conditions of work of independent media harder.

As Mikhail Pastukhou and Yury Taparashau, lawyers of the Belarusian Association of Journalist non-governmental organisation, think in this case we deal not with the amended Law on Press, but with a new law, regulating activity of mass media. Preserving the general structure of the acting Law on Press, this draft law brings significant novelties in legal regulation of media activity, which can become disastrous for developing of independent journalism in the Republic of Belarus, if it is adopted.

The first and the most important novelty is legal treatment of the World Wide Web as a mass media source. Its activity will be regulated by the law and bylaws.

Article 8 “Financing of Mass Media” is included in the draft law. According to it, some mass media can be financed from republican and local budgets and other sources, while the others are forbidden to receive monetary means or other property from foreign legal persons and anonymous sources.

The draft law preserves the administrative procedure of declarative and licensing registration of mass media. It is fully applied to online mass media with an addition which is to de defined by the Government.

One should bear in mind that the draft law makes the order of re-registration of mass media harsher. In particular, if a newspaper or a magazine hasn’t been released for more than 6 months (and not a year, as it is stated by the law now), re-registration is compulsory.

Article 17 of the draft law provides that distribution of mass media would be allowed only for legal entities which have functions of editorial offices, or basing on the agreement concluded by them with press retailers. It is also noted that the policy of online media distribution is to be regulated by governmental acts.

One more novelty of the draft law is establishment of the Public Coordinating Committee in the sphere of mass media. Its makeup and the order of its work are to be defined by the Ministry of Information.

The institute of accreditation will be changed considerably. Article 1 of the draft law views accreditation as “offering a journalist a right to cover events organised by state bodies”... Article 35 of the draft law defines the rights of the accreditation. Part two states that a journalist’s accreditation procedure is established by state bodies. That is, not a law, but an official is to decide to whom an accreditation will be granted, and who will be denied it. Part 4 of this article includes a categorical instruction that professional activities of journalists of foreign media at the territory of Belarus without accreditation are prohibited.

Article 37 on “Restricted Information” could be called one of the scandalous articles of the draft law. It contains a list of such information, which is finished by a reference to other kinds of information which could be envisaged by “legal acts of the Republic of Belarus”.

Besides, Article 38 of the draft law gives the list of information which dissemination in mass media is prohibited.

A pinnacle of the draft law is chapter 9, which provides responsibility for violation laws on media. According to it, a primary form of responsibility is written notice to the editor’s office of a mass media source, which can be rendered on various grounds, including “spreading of unreliable information, which can harm state and public interests”, “spreading of wrong information, which can denigrate honour, dignity and business reputation of physical persons or business reputation of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs” (article 49). A written notice can be issued by the Ministry of Information or by any prosecutor.

A second measure of responsibility is suspension of mass media’s activity for a term up to three months by the decision of the Ministry of Information for a wide list of violations (article 50).

And finally, the strictest sanction is close of activity of a mass media source. A decision on this issue is taken by court at the suit of the Ministry of Information or a prosecutor if a mass media source or a founder (founders) received two or more written warnings during a year.

Article 47 of the acting Law on Press, which provides relief of liability in case the information has been reprinted and other cases, has been significantly changed. The draft law (article 52) deprives journalists of this privilege in cases, when the spreading information discredits the Republic of Belarus, and unreliable data denigrating honour, dignity and business reputation of physical persons or business reputation of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.

A comparison table of the Law on Press and the new Law on Mass Media has been compiled by famous Belarusian blogger paulyuk. The table demonstrates how media will have to change their activity if the draft law is adopted.