Legal guarantees of journalist’s activities in the conditions of war

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of the publication is to determine, based on the analysis of available scientific and regulatory sources, legal guarantees of the rights and freedoms of journalists and their family members under martial law. Research methods. The methodological basis of the scientific article was made up of such general scientific methods as dialectic, analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, analogy and abstraction, as well as special scientific methods (formal-logical, comparative-legal, dogmatic and systemic-structural), the use of which contributed to the study of the problem guarantees of the activities of journalists in the conditions of war in the unity of their social content and legal form. Results. The concept of legal guarantees for the activities of journalists, as stipulated by international treaties, conventions, declarations, and other national legal acts of the system of norms, principles, legal and organizational means, conditions and requirements, which are used to observe, ensure, protect and protect the rights of journalists, is formulated and their family members. It has been established that the Constitution of Ukraine and other laws provide for the use, along with domestic guarantees, of international legal guarantees of the activities of mass media representatives. Conclusions. According to the provisions of international humanitarian law, journalists can have two statuses in wartime: 1) military correspondents who have the right to receive the status of a prisoner of war in case of capture and 2) journalists who perform their functions in the zone of armed conflict, which are equated to civilians, and cannot be considered as prisoners of war, although they have the right to respect and protection. It is summarized that any illegal actions against journalists in the conditions of martial law should be considered a violation of the ethics and rules of war against the civilian population. At the same time, it was emphasized that the provisions of international humanitarian law impose on journalists the duty to respect the inviolability of private life and the dignity of the dead, to refrain from close-up coverage of scenes of violence and their consequences, to maintain a balance between the public interest in complete and accurate information and the need to be compassionate, as well as not to disclose information defined by national legislation as potentially threatening territorial integrity and national interests.