Does Limitation of Propaganda in the Media Affect Individual Freedom of Expression?

Demokratinėse valstybėse viena iš pamatinių laisvių yra asmens saviraiškos laisvė. Ši laisvė turi įtvirtinimus tiek nacionaliniuose, tiek tarptautiniuose teisės aktuose. Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucijos 25 str. ir Europos žmogaus teisių ir pagrindinių laisvių apsaugos konvencijos 10 str. apibrėžia ne tik šios laisvės teises, bet ir apribojimus. Gyvenant modernių technologijų laikais, kuomet informacija pasiekiama plačiai auditorijai, labai svarbu įvertinti informacijos turinį ir ar nėra saviraiškos laisvės pagalba bandoma pasiekti neteisėtų tikslų, kuomet saviraiškos laisvė perauga į propagandinę informaciją. Įvertinus dabartinę Lietuvos ir kaimyninių šalių situaciją, labai svarbu apsibrėžti ribas tarp saviraiškos laisvės ir propagandinės informacijos turinio. Šiame magistro darbe, kurio pavadinimas ,,Ar propagandos ribojimas žiniasklaidoje nepažeidžia asmens saviraiškos laisvės?“ bandoma atsakyti į išsikeltą klausimą, bei užsibrėžtus tikslus: atskleisti propagandos sampratą ir jos raiškos formas; atskleisti propagandos atribojimo problematiką nuo kitų informacijos rūšių; atskleisti saviraiškos laisvės sampratą ir jos įgyvendinimo formas; nustatyti galimus saviraiškos laisvės ribojimo kriterijus; nustatyti atvejus, kuomet informacijos skleidimui yra taikoma baudžiamoji ar administracinė atsakomybė; įvertinti baudžiamosios ar administracinės atsakomybės už propagandos skleidimą pagrįstumą saviraiškos laisvės ribojimų kontekste. Šiame darbe buvo naudojami dokumentų analizės, aprašomasis, lyginamasis ir aiškinamasis, bei apibendrinamasis metodai. Išanalizavus propagandos sampratą mokslininkų straipsniuose, tarptautinius ir nacionalinius teisės aktus, bei įvertinus administracines ir baudžiamąsias teisės nuostatas, paaiškėjo, kad hipotezė – propagandos ribojimas pažeidžia asmens saviraiškos laisvę, pasitvirtino iš dalies. Prieita prie išvados, jog tai pripažintina saviraiškos laisvės ribojimu, tačiau pagrįstu leidžiamų ribojimų kontekste.Democratic society guarantees the right to freedom of expression, which is enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the European Convention on Human Rights. This freedom guarantee is the foundation of democracy, because the diversity of opinions and their dissemination creates preconditions for an objective assessment of the circumstances and to make the right and informed decisions in your personal and social life. Contemporary modern information technology times, when information and its assimilation of everyday life becomes a habit, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate what information we get from the sources of information. Given the important role of information in a democratic society, the information being disseminated attempts to evaluate in various criteria of which the most important criteria is truth, raised the question of the incorrectly reproduced information related harm, the possible abuse of the freedom of expression. It refers to a variety of communication forms, as well as the concept of propaganda. It refers to a variety of communication forms, as well as the concept of propaganda. Usually propaganda in society is understood and valued even without knowing the real meaning of this concept. Various researchers that was mentioned: Mr. G. Mažeikis, A. Skrudupas, Edward L. Bernays have expressed their views on the concept of propaganda, but reaching unanimous opinion is not so simple, many of them said. However, it should be noted that the frequent dissemination of propaganda is seen as a negative phenomenon, and it is proposed to limit it by various means. Raising the problem, it is essential to find out not only the dissemination of information, but also to determine when to limit the information required in accordance with national and also with international law. It is therefore an object of this work – the propaganda limitation and freedom of expression ratio. Final goal - to find out whether the restriction of propaganda in the media does not affect individual freedom of expression. To achieve the objective to raise the following tasks: disclose the objective to raise the following tasks: disclose propaganda concept and its forms of expression; disclose the concept of freedom of expression and its implementation forms; identify potential criteria for limiting freedom of expression; determine the cases in which the dissemination of information is subject to criminal or administrative liability; evaluate the criminal or administrative liability for propaganda validity of restrictions on freedom of expression in the context. The results has been achieved using the following working methods - document analysis method, to analyze the research topic relevant national and regional legislation relevant judicial authorities in case law. Descriptive method proved existing rules defining the research object, compared of freedom of expression, the concept of restrictions in the European Convention on Human Rights and Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, propaganda concept in different authors works, criminal and administrative liability peculiarities when freedom of expression in the realization of the species concerned incurs responsibility. Based on their method formed conclusions. The hypothesis was made that the media propaganda restriction violates in the freedom of expression, which was confirmed in part. The research has led to the main conclusions: 1) Propaganda works systematically and forms public opinion about certain events, phenomena, persons or other objects. It was concluded that to certain actions that shape public opinion, acknowledge as propaganda actions – must be identified objective emotionally rather than rationally functioning society to the long-term impact on the results. Propaganda gets through public information sources, such as media, social networks, creative activities. 2) The right to freedom of expression is the foundation of most democratic countries. Freedom of expression is enshrined in the highest level of legislation, National legislation - the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, and international – European Court of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which shows that these values are provided to protect the constitutional and international guarantees. A significant role in the realization of freedom of expression carries out the media, which is the largest multipliers guaranteeing the provision of information to the public. It should be noted that the right to freedom of expression includes not only the dissemination of facts, but also subjective information or conveying ideas, for example through the creativity which is especially evident in the jurisprudence of Constitutional Court of Lithuania. 3) Like every right – freedom of expression is not absolute. Its restrictions are set in previously mentioned – Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the ECHR. Many of the restrictions in both documents are the same, but in Article 10 second part of the ECHR, restrictions set out generally, than Article 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, which accentuates the restriction to protect against discrimination and defamation and incitement to hatred of society. Restrictions fall into the following categories: 1) national regime, security and territorial integrity assurance; 2) public security; 3) protection of public morality; 4) The authority of the judiciary and the impartiality of protection. It should be noted that only relevant restriction is not a sufficient basis in accordance with the jurisprudence of the ECHR, every restriction must be clearly defined by law and its necessary in a democratic society. 4) Lithuania provides both criminal and administrative responsibility for relevant content spread of information in violation of the law protected by the Constitution or the legitimate public interest, in this way some extent limiting the freedom of expression. It should be noted that criminal and administrative liability for propaganda, as such, does not provide for dissemination. The media may be just a criminal act or a way to commit infringement. However, criminal liability for disseminating propaganda may occur if the actions are in line with The Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania provides for criminal offenses or violation of Lithuanian Republic Code of Administrative Offences composition. 4) Given the fact that the main propaganda tool for the dissemination is media, which is also necessary to measure the realization of freedom of expression, the main target through criminal or administrative liability becomes media. Criminal liability and actual punishment of imprisonment for journalists for crimes related to the inappropriate dissemination of information using methods of public information in violation of the principles of freedom of expression enshrined in Article 10 of the Convention. Criminal liability for journalists may only be granted in exceptional cases and should be avoided in the form of restriction of freedom of expression.Teisės fakultetasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta