If several individuals and (or) legal entities (publishers) act as a publisher, then they enter into an agreement that defines the rights and obligations of each of them in relations related to the publication of the mass media, including those relating to the procedure and share of financing of this media.
The transfer of the rights and obligations of the publisher to third parties is carried out in the manner prescribed by the agreement and constituent documents.
The publisher who has registered the mass media publishes it independently, or creates an editorial office for these purposes with or without the formation of a legal entity.
A publisher who publishes independently acts as an editor and in this case bears full responsibility for the content of the media.
A publisher who creates an editorial office without forming a legal entity approves the regulations on the editorial office of the mass media in accordance with Article 22 of this Law and bears full responsibility for the content of the mass media.
The publisher who creates the editorial office as a legal entity approves the charter of the media editorial office and (or) enters into an agreement with the media editorial office.
If the publisher creates an editorial office as a legal entity, the editorial office is responsible for the content of the media.
The publisher has the right to oblige the editors to publish, free of charge and within a specified period, a message or material on his behalf (publisher’s statement). The maximum volume of the publisher's statement is determined in the editorial board's charter, its contract or other agreement with the publisher. For claims and actions related to the publisher's statement, the publisher is responsible. If the ownership of the specified message or material to the publisher is not specified by the editors, it acts as a co-defendant.
The publisher does not have the right to interfere with the activities of the mass media, except in cases provided for by this Law, the editorial charter, or an agreement between the publisher and the editorial office (editor-in-chief).
The publisher may enter into an agreement on the preparation and (or) release of the mass media registered by him with the current editorial office, which is a legal entity or an individual. Responsibility for the content of the media, mutual rights and obligations of the parties are determined by agreement.
The publisher enters into an agreement with the editorial office of the mass media (editor-in-chief) in accordance with Article 22 of this Law.
The publisher is the owner of the media, that is, the owner of the means of its individualization (name, logo, brand name, etc.), and the products of this media.
Article 19. Edition
The editors carry out their activities on the basis of professional independence.
The editorial office is headed by the editor-in-chief, whose candidacy is proposed by journalists. The editor-in-chief exercises his powers on the basis of this Law, the charter of the editorial office, and the agreement between the publisher and the editorial office. The editor-in-chief represents the editorial office in relations with the publisher, distributor, citizens, organizations, government bodies, as well as in court. The editor-in-chief is responsible for the content of the media. At the same time, the publisher and editors must determine the subject matter and basic requirements for the content of the media.
The editorial office is the owner of the product of a given mass media at the stage of its publication (a finished issue of a periodical printed publication or audiovisual program, transferred for replication or broadcast).
If the editorial office is a legal entity and registers a mass media outlet, it is a publisher."
15. In Article 20:
part one after the words “mass information” should be supplemented with the words “formed as a legal entity”;
part one after the word “founder” is added with the word “editorial staff”;
in subparagraph one of part two, replace the word “founder” with the word “publisher”;
delete subparagraph four of part two;
state subparagraph five of part two in the following wording:
“the procedure for liquidation or reorganization of the editorial office, changing its organizational and legal form;”;
exclude parts three, four and five from the article.
16. Delete Article 21.
17. Article 22 should be stated as follows:
"Article 22. Agreement between the publisher and the editors
The agreement between the publisher (publishers) and the editorial office of the mass media, in particular, defines:
mutual rights, obligations, responsibilities, basic requirements for the content of the media, production, property and financial relations between them;
formation of funds and compensation of losses;
the publisher's obligations to ensure proper production and social conditions of life and work for editorial staff;
responsibility of the parties for the release of the media;
grounds and procedure for suspending or terminating the activities of a mass media outlet;
transfer and (or) retention of the right to the name, other legal consequences of a change of publisher, change in the composition of publishers, termination of the activities of the mass media;
procedure for resolving disputes between them.
18. In part two of Article 23, replace the word “established” with the word “created”.
19. In subparagraph two of the first part of Article 27, the words “founder (co-founders)” should be replaced with the words “publisher (publishers)”.
20. Article 29 should be deleted.
21. In Article 35:
in paragraph four of Article 35, the words “founders (co-founders)” should be replaced with the word “publishers”, and the words “state bodies” should be replaced with the words “state authorities and local self-government bodies”;
supplement the article with paragraphs five and six as follows:
"The media, financed from the federal budget, are obliged to provide time and place for speeches by deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, members of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, members of the Government of the Russian Federation in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation "On the procedure for covering the activities of state bodies authorities in state media."
Subjects of the Russian Federation have the right to legislatively introduce a similar norm for mass media financed from the budgets of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local budgets.
22. Paragraph three of the first part of Article 36 should be supplemented after the word “television programs” with the words “per day”.
23. In Article 37:
Part two should be stated as follows:
“Distribution of specialized radio and television programs of an erotic nature without signal coding is not permitted.”;
add a fourth part of the article as follows:
“In case of violation of part two of this article, the body registering the mass media is obliged to warn the mass media in writing about the inadmissibility of violating this article. Repeated violation will entail the withdrawal of the registration certificate.”
24. Supplement Article 41 with parts three and four as follows:
“The publisher (editorial office) of a mass media does not have the right to disclose the name of the author of material published anonymously or under a pseudonym without the consent of the author, except in cases where the corresponding requirement was received from the court in connection with a case pending before it.
The editors of a mass media have no right to interfere in the personal lives of citizens, or to make personal letters and other documents public, without the permission of their owner or his heirs."
25. Part one of Article 43 should be stated as follows:
“A citizen has the right to demand from the publisher (editorial office) a refutation of information that was disseminated in a given mass media that is not true, including information that discredits honor, dignity and business reputation. The citizen’s legal representatives also have this right, if the citizen himself does not has the opportunity to demand a refutation.
A legal entity has the right to demand from the publisher (editorial office) a refutation of untrue information discrediting business reputation that was disseminated in this mass media.
If the editors of a media outlet do not have evidence that the information disseminated in it is true, it is obliged to refute it in the same media outlet."
26. In Article 44:
add a fourth part of the article as follows:
“The editors of a media outlet do not have the right to comment on a refutation in the same issue (issue) of the media outlet in which it was published.”;
Part five should be considered part six and stated as follows:
“If a refutation is refused, the editorial office of a mass media outlet is obliged, within ten days from the date of receipt of the request for a refutation or its text, to notify the interested citizen or organization about this in writing, indicating the grounds for the refusal.”;
add the seventh part of the article as follows:
“Refutation of information that is untrue and discredits honor, dignity and business reputation regarding a candidate for an elective position in state authorities and local self-government bodies, which was disseminated in this media during the election campaign, must follow next, after receipt of the request about a refutation, issue (issue) of a mass media outlet, regardless of the frequency of its publication. In the event of a refusal to issue a refutation, the editorial office of a mass media outlet is obliged to notify the interested citizen or its text in writing within one day after receiving the request for a refutation or its text. organization indicating the grounds for refusal."
27. Part three of Article 46 should be stated as follows:
“The editor’s response to the response of a citizen or organization cannot be published in the same issue of the mass media in which the response of the citizen or organization is published.”
28. Add part six to Article 48 as follows:
“The editorial office of a mass media may be deprived of the right to accredit its journalists if it has violated the rules of accreditation, or the editorial journalists have repeatedly disseminated information that does not correspond to reality and discredits the business reputation of the organization accrediting journalists, which is confirmed by a court decision that has entered into legal force. The period for which the editorial office is deprived of the right to accredit its journalists, cannot exceed six months."
29. In Article 56, delete the word “Founders”.
30. In Article 57:
subparagraph three should be stated as follows:
“3) if they are contained in a response to a request for information, in official documents of government bodies, other organizations, or in the materials of their press services;”;
subparagraph four should be stated as follows:
"4) if they are a verbatim reproduction of complete fragments of speeches by deputies at meetings of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, or speeches by members of the Federation Council at meetings of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, as well as official speeches by officials of government bodies and other organizations under the indispensable condition that the reproduced fragments do not distort the essence of the performance."
31. In Article 58:
Paragraph one should be stated as follows:
“Infringement of freedom of mass information, that is, obstruction in any form by citizens, government officials and organizations of the legitimate activities of publishers, editorial offices and distributors of mass media, as well as journalists, including through:”;
in paragraph ten, delete the word “institutions”.
32. In Article 60:
in paragraph two, replace the word “institution” with the word “registration”;
in paragraph five, replace the word “activity” with the word “release”.
33. Add Article 63 to the Law as follows:
"Article 63. Transitional provisions
1. Certificates of registration of mass media issued before the entry into force of this Law do not require mandatory re-registration. The founders of these mass media acquire the status of publisher and bear full responsibility provided for by this Law as publishers.
2. Founders of mass media that are not legal entities, within a year from the date of entry into force of this Law, are required to register and determine their organizational and legal status in accordance with the Civil Code with subsequent re-registration of the mass media in accordance with this Law.
3. Editorial offices of mass media that do not have a certificate of registration of the mass media, but are a legal entity and actually independently publish and finance the release of mass media, have the right to re-register this mass media together with its founder and become one of the publishers. The size of shares (shares) of each co-publisher is determined by their agreement in the constituent agreement.
4. The founders of mass media who do not want to assume the functions of a publisher in accordance with this Law have the right to transfer these functions to the editorial office of the mass media with its subsequent re-registration.
The rights of the founder of a mass media outlet who is unable to perform the functions of a publisher as defined by this Law are transferred to the editorial board of this media outlet if the latter is ready to assume the functions of a publisher, with subsequent re-registration of the media outlet.
Freedom of the media. In the Russian Federation, the media are not subject to restrictions, with the exception of those provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation on the media.
mass media– periodical printed publication, radio, video programs, newsreels, other forms of periodic dissemination of mass information. Censorship of the media is not permitted.
Inadmissibility of abuse of freedom of mass information. It is not allowed to use the media: for the purpose of committing criminal offenses; for the disclosure of information constituting a state or other secret protected by law; to call for the seizure of power, forcible change of the constitutional system and the integrity of the state; to incite national, class, social, religious intolerance or hatred; for war propaganda; for the distribution of programs promoting pornography, the cult of violence and cruelty.
It is prohibited to use in television, video, film programs, documentaries and feature films, as well as in computer information files and software processing of information texts related to special media, hidden inserts that affect the subconscious of people and (or) have a harmful effect on their health . Founder (co-founder) of the media may be a citizen, enterprise, institution, organization, government body. Application for registration of mass media submitted by the founder to the Ministry of Press and Information of the Russian Federation.
Obstruction of lawful activities dissemination Media products are not allowed.
Distribution of media products is considered commercial if a fee is charged for it. Products intended for non-commercial distribution must be marked "Free" and may not be subject to commercial distribution.
In order to provide evidence relevant to the correct resolution of disputes, The editors of radio and television programs are obliged to: save materials from your own recorded broadcasts; record in the registration log the programs that were aired; in the registration log indicate the date and time of broadcast, its author, presenter and participants.
Shelf life: program materials – at least one month from the date of broadcast; registration journal - at least one year from the date of the last entry in it.
Citizens have the right to promptly receive reliable information through the media about the activities of government bodies and organizations, public associations, and their officials.
Citizen or organization has the right demand from the editors a refutation of information that is untrue and discredits their honor and dignity, which was disseminated in this media.
44. Rights and obligations of the editors
The editors have the right request information about the activities of government bodies and organizations, public associations, and their officials. Requests for information can be made either orally or in writing. The requested information is required to be provided by the heads of the specified bodies, organizations and associations, their deputies, press service employees or other authorized persons within their competence.
Refusal to provide requested information is possible only if it contains information constituting a state, commercial or other secret specially protected by law. A notice of refusal is given to a representative of the editorial office within three days from the date of receipt of a written request for information.
The editors have no right disclose in disseminated messages and materials information provided by the citizen under the condition of keeping them secret.
The editors are obliged to keep the source of information secret and do not have the right to name the person who provided the information, subject to the condition of non-disclosure of his name, except for the case when the corresponding requirement was received from the court in connection with a case pending before it.
The editors are obliged respect the rights to the works used, including copyrights, publishing rights, and other intellectual property rights.
The editors are not obliged to respond to letters from citizens.
If the editorial board of the media does not have evidence that the information disseminated by it corresponds to reality, it obliged to refute them in the same media.
IN refutation it must be indicated which information is untrue, when and how it was disseminated by the media.
A refutation in a periodical printed publication must be typed in the same font and placed under the heading “Refutation”, as a rule, in the same place on the page as the message or material being refuted. On radio and television, a refutation must be broadcast at the same time of day and, as a rule, in the same program as the message or material being refuted.
Scope of refutation cannot be more than twice the volume of the refuted fragment of a disseminated message or material. You cannot require that the text of the refutation be shorter than one standard page of typewritten text. A rebuttal on radio and television should not take up less airtime than it takes for an announcer to read a standard page of typewritten text.
Moral (non-property) damage caused to a citizen as a result of the dissemination of untrue information by the media that discredits the honor and dignity of a citizen or causes him other non-property harm, the media, as well as the guilty officials and citizens, are compensated by a court decision in an amount determined by the court.
In this material, we will look at the procedure for adopting a media charter, analyze the list of mandatory provisions of the charter and explain the possibilities for the exercise of rights by the founder and editorial board of the media, and talk about sanctions for violating the procedure for submitting a media charter to Roskomnadzor.
Practice shows that the founders of individual media consider the charter of the media editorial board to be a rather formal document and, as a result, accept the document based on a template found on the Internet, or, worse, forget about it. The last error, not noticed at the stage of launching the media, can greatly complicate the process of its functioning in the future. In addition to the fact that there are fines for the lack of a charter, which we will talk about later, other difficulties may arise, for example, when re-registering media outlets. Or there may be a generally fatal situation when the absence of a media editorial charter makes it impossible for the editorial office to publish media under the same name.
Charter of the editorial office of the media or charter of the media? Let's understand the terminology
The charter of a media editorial board is often called a media charter, which is incorrect. The Law on Mass Media in Article 20 speaks of the need to adopt a charter for the editorial office of the media, since it is the editorial office of the media that publishes the media and the charter determines its status. The media itself - a newspaper, magazine, website, television program, etc. - cannot and should not have a charter.
When might a media editorial board be needed?
The most important thing is that the charter is the very document that determines who is the editorial board of the media. The options may be different: the editorial office is a legal entity, the editorial office is a structural division of a legal entity, the editorial office is an individual or individual entrepreneur, the editorial office is an association of citizens.
Let us recall that the purpose of the media editorial charter, according to Art. 20 of the Law on Mass Media, - regulate relations between an economic entity (founder - an individual or legal entity) and the editorial office (employees, creative workers and other participants in the process of media production and distribution).
Let's look at the most common schemes.
1. A legal entity is created simultaneously with the media to ensure its work; it becomes, after registration of the media, the editorial offices of the media. In this case, the founder of the media can be an individual or another legal entity.
But even in this case, the charter of the media editorial office remains necessary. The charter of JSC Moskovskie Vedomosti does not replace the charter of the editorial office of the newspaper Moskovskie Vedomosti (unless the charter of the legal entity provides for provisions mandatory for the charter of the editorial office of the media) - these are two different documents. If, nevertheless, the charter of the legal entity and the editorial office of the media are combined in one document, it is necessary that this document be adopted at a meeting of the journalistic team and approved by the founders of the media (not to be confused with the founders of a legal entity, these are often different entities).
2. An already existing legal entity establishes a media outlet and itself becomes the editorial office of the media outlet and ensures the economic activities of the media outlet.
3. An individual combines the functions of the founder, the editorial office of the media and the editor-in-chief, that is, the editorial office of the media consists of one person. It is worth noting that an individual editorial office will be able to carry out entrepreneurial activities only by registering as an individual entrepreneur.
The adoption and approval of such a constituent document as a charter does not give the editorial office of a media outlet the status of a legal entity. The law defines the media only as a form of dissemination of mass information.
In the event of a change in the editorial office of the media (for example, at first the publication of the media was carried out by an individual entrepreneur, and then an LLC was created for this purpose), it will be necessary to make changes to the charter of the media editorial office.
What if there is no charter? It seems, what legal problems could be behind this? I'll tell you a story from our practice.
The media has one founder - LLC. Preparation and release of media is carried out by another legal entity. In fact, both legal entities are managed (even if not personally, but through other individuals, but this is not important) by one person, so there are no conflicts and are not expected, there was no urgent need to regulate relations between the editorial board and the founders of the media, the charter was not adopted and presented to the registration authority. This went on for many years, the media was successfully published, the founder went about his business. But at a certain point, the founding LLC was liquidated, while the printed publication continued to be published for more than one year. However, on January 1, amendments to the Law “On Mass Media” came into force, providing that Roskomnadzor can, on its own initiative, exclude from the register those media outlets whose founders have ceased to exist. Thus, this publication can be excluded from the media register at any time. This moment showed the media editors the precariousness of the situation, and the journalists turned to Pravo Online for advice.
According to the law, in the event of liquidation of the founder of a media outlet - a legal entity - his rights and obligations are transferred in full to the editorial office. Or the editorial charter can provide that the rights are transferred to some other person. But, as you remember, there is no charter, and without it it turned out to be virtually impossible to prove that a third-party legal entity is the editorial office of a media outlet. As a result, the media editors decided to register a new media outlet.
Another example.
The charter prescribes the procedure for appointing and terminating the powers of the editor-in-chief, and he is far from the last person in the editorial office, since it is the editor who is responsible for publishing the media. The procedure set out in the charter will determine whether the founder of the media can change the editor-in-chief by a unilateral decision or whether this will require the consent of the journalistic team.
I think I have convinced you that the charter of a media editorial office is not a simple piece of paper, but an important document.
A media editorial charter may still be needed if:
- Roskomnadzor will require it to be provided;
- you decide, because in the package of submitted documents you will need to provide a copy of the charter of the media editorial office;
- a lawsuit has been filed, and the court will demand that the charter of the media editorial office be provided.
The charter of the media editorial office must disclose the essential conditions, namely:
1) the mutual rights and obligations of the editorial board, founder, editor-in-chief, and journalistic team are determined;
2) the terms of reference of the team of journalists have been determined;
3) the procedure for the formation of editorial management bodies has been established: the editorial board, the editor-in-chief and others;
4) the grounds and procedure for termination and suspension of the activities of the media are indicated;
5) the procedure for transferring the right to the name of the media has been determined;
6) the procedure for adopting, approving and changing the charter of the editorial office and other provisions provided for by the Law on Mass Media has been established.
Once the charter is completely ready, namely: you have made sure that it reflects all the necessary sections, spells out the rights and responsibilities of the founder of the media and the media editorial office, and stipulates the terms of their relationship, all that remains is to accept the charter, formalize it properly and send it to Roskomnadzor.
The charter of the media editorial board should be sent to Roskomnadzor
In order to comply with the requirements of the law, it is necessary not only to adopt the charter, but also to send it to Roskomnadzor (for online media always to the central division) or its territorial body, depending on where you registered your media outlet. The Law on Mass Media states that the deadline for providing a charter is 3 months from the date of the start of mass media publication. But if, for example, your website is already operating and at some point you decide that you need to register a media outlet, then you are required to send the charter no later than three months after the date of registration. If you are registering a site that is still in the process of development or has not yet been launched for various reasons, then the three-month period for submitting the charter to Roskomnadzor begins to flow from the moment the site began operation. According to the Mass Media Law, the founder has one year from the date of registration to begin publishing mass media. Thus, in any case, the charter must be submitted to Roskomnadzor no later than 1 year 3 months from the date of registration of the media.
The charter can be submitted to Roskomnadzor in person; in this case, do not forget to ask to put a mark of receipt on the second copy of the media editorial charter. Or the charter of the media editorial office can be sent by Russian Post with a list of the contents and notification of receipt, as well as courier delivery.
Payment of a fine does not exempt the media founder from providing a copy of the media editorial charter to Roskomnadzor. And for further violation of the deadlines for providing the charter, the registration of the media may be declared invalid in court.
An agreement instead of a charter, perhaps?
The Law on Mass Media provides for the possibility of replacing the charter of the editorial office with an agreement between the founder and the editorial office of the media. During the drafting and before the adoption of the editorial charter at a general meeting of a team of journalists, it makes sense to pay attention to this case. Concluding an agreement between the founder and the editorial board of a media outlet is easier than approving the editorial board’s charter at a general meeting.
The conclusion of such an agreement is legal if the editorial staff consists of no more than 10 people. This fact is directly referred to in Article 20 of the Law “On the Mass Media”. But you can choose to accept the charter, this is your right, you are not obliged to enter into an agreement, even if you have a very small editorial board. But what to do if the editorial office is not small, but very small, where there is one person and the founder of the media, and the editorial office, and the editor-in-chief? In the case of online media, we know from our clients that this is not uncommon. According to the Law on Mass Media, the charter of the editorial board is mandatory even in the case when the editorial board has only one person, who is also the editor-in-chief and founder. This rule also applies to online publications.
Keywords:rights, obligations, founder, editors, media
Rights and obligations of the founder and editors , provided for by the Law “On the Mass Media”, arise from the moment of registration of the media, and those provided for by the editorial board - from the moment of its approval.
The founder approves the charter of the editorial office and (or) enters into an agreement with the editorial office of the media (editor-in-chief).
The founder has the right to oblige the editors to publish free of charge and within the specified time frame message or material on his behalf ( founder's statement). The maximum volume of the founder’s statement is determined in the editorial board’s charter, its agreement or other agreement with the founder. For claims and suits related to the founder’s application, the founder bears responsibility. If the ownership of the specified message or material to the founder is not specified by the editors, it acts as a co-defendant.
The founder has no right interfere with the activities of the media, except for cases provided for by the Law “On the Mass Media”, the charter of the editorial office, or the agreement between the founder and the editorial office (editor-in-chief). In the event of liquidation or reorganization of the founder, his rights and obligations are transferred in full to the editorial board, unless otherwise provided by the charter of the editorial board. The founder can act as editorial office, publisher, distributor, owner of the editorial office property.
The editors carry out their activities on the basis of professional independence.
The editorial office may be a legal entity , an independent economic entity organized in any form permitted by law. If the editorial office of a registered media outlet is organized as an enterprise, then it is also subject to registration in accordance with the Federal Law on State Registration of Legal Entities and, in addition to the production and release of media outlets, has the right to carry out other activities not prohibited by law in the prescribed manner.
The editors can act as founder of the media, publisher, distributor, owner of the editorial property.
The editorial office is led by Chief Editor, which exercises its powers on the basis of the Law “On the Mass Media”, the charter of the editorial office, and an agreement between the founder and the editorial office (editor-in-chief). Chief Editor represents the editors in relations with the founder, publisher, distributor, citizens, associations of citizens, enterprises, institutions, organizations, government bodies, as well as in court. He is responsible for fulfilling the requirements for the activities of the media by the Law “On the Media” and other legislative acts of the Russian Federation.
A foreign legal entity, as well as a Russian legal entity with foreign participation, the share (contribution) of foreign participation in the authorized (share) capital of which is 50 percent or more, a citizen of the Russian Federation with dual citizenship, does not have the right to act as founders of television and video programs.
