Цомартова Ф.А_summery (Роль средств массовой информации в избирательном процессе совершенствование информационно-правового регулирования)

National Research UniversityHigher School of EconomicsTsomartova Fariza ArthurovnaTHE ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS:IMPROVING THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR MEDIA REGULATIONPhD Dissertation Summaryfor the purpose of obtainingPhilosophy Doctor in Law HSEAcademic supervisor:Shablinsky Ilya Georgievich,Doctor of Science, ProfessorMoscow – 20182  The thesis was completed at the Department of UNESCO on copyright andintellectual property law of the Faculty of Law of the National Research University‘Higher School of Economics’The text of the thesis is deposited and available on the website of the HigherSchool of Economics: https://www.hse.ru/sci/diss/12.00.13 – Information lawAcademic SecretaryDissertation Council in LawDoctor of Science, assistant professorIrina Alexandrovna Emelkina3  GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESEARCHRelevance of the research themeHolding regular fair and free elections is one of the fundamental conditionsfor existence of a democratic state.

Such a state gives an opportunity to candidatesand political parties to compete freely for the votes of electorate during electioncampaigns; it lets voters obtain information on candidates and parties and alsogives them access to materials containing critical analysis of candidates’performance.The chosen theme is particularly relevant nowadays when mass media playsthe key role in elections campaigns. It is crucial in creating public images of thecandidates and it can make or break the candidate’s political career. The outcomeof elections depends on the media technologies used over the course of acampaign.

Electoral legislation of the Russian Federation gives quite a detailedguideline for regulating the activity of mass media during an election campaign.Meanwhile, compliance of the electoral legislation with the international electoralstandards is one of the fundamental criteria for determining if the political regimeadheres to the democratic principles.Television has been the most influential kind of media during the past fewdecades; lately the internet-resources have become serious rivals of television. Thatsaid it is understandable that the discourse on regulating media influence onelections has been reinvigorated.One of the most pressing issues in this context is the problem of access tomedia resources (first of all television) for candidates who are in opposition to thepresent party in power, both on the regional and the federal level.It is important to mention that the actors involved in electoral processemphatically criticizing current policies of the Russian government (which is quitenatural for opposition), face certain obstacles designed by Russian legislation.

This4  is one of the factors that make the pool of candidates much less diverse than itpotentially could be on both the regional and the federal levels.We should also mention that equal representation of candidates in massmedia during election campaigns is one of the key conditions for the elections tobe recognized as legitimate.This aspect is most often emphasized by election observers who representpolitical parties and candidates, and it is often a major topic in the reports preparedby international election observers.That said it is crucial to perform researches that will lead to highlighting themost pressing problems related to the role of media platforms in elections and tomap out possible directions and options for solving them.Moreover it is necessary to learn from the experiences of other countries inregulating the involvement of mass media in the election process to apply thisexperience to solving respective problems in the Russian Federation.

We haveaddressed the relevant cases in the USA, the UK, France and some other states inour research.The degree of scientific elaborationTheoretical base of the research is built upon the works of authors who havestudied the issues of interaction of independent agents in a social system over thecourse of arranging and holding elections from the point of view of variousdisciplines: philosophy of law, theory of state and law, history of state and law,information law, constitution law.We have carefully studied the works of such researchers as: S.V.

Bolshakov,E.I. Kolushin, M.A. Fedotov, N.V. Khachaturov and others.The problem of determining the status of mass media organizations amongother actors of election process has been considered by authors like R.T.Biktagirov, Y.A.Vedeneev, J.A. Dmitriev, V.A. Ershov, V.B. Israelyan, S.D.Knyazev, K.V. Krasnov, N.N. Kovaleva, D.M. Miradzhanyan, D.M. Khudoley.5  The issues of election campaigning and informing voters via mass mediahave been covered by these Russian language authors: S.A. Avakyan, A.S.Avtonomov, M.V. Baglay, I.L.

Bachilo, A.A. Bezuglov, S.V. Bolshakov, N.S.Bondar, A.J. Buzin, J.A. Vedeneev, A.A. Veshnyakov, I.V. Vydrin, J.A. Dmitriev,V.A. Ershov, V.P. Zhuravlev, A.V. Ivanchenko, V.B. Israelyan, S.D. Knyazev,A.I. Kovler, Y.I. Kozlova, Y.I. Kolyushin, O.E. Kutafin, B.I.

Lysenko, A.E.Postnikov, S.A. Soldatov, L.V. Tumanova, M.A. Fedotov, T.J. Khabrieva, V.Y.Chirkin, I.G. Shablinsky, B.S. Ebzeev and others.The issues of legal status of mass media outlets have been covered by suchforeign authors as John Keane, James Clapper, Benjamin Cohen, Paul Lazarsfeld,Walter Lippmann and others.A number of postgraduate research studies have been written on the role ofmass media in election process. We can name such works as: Constitutional AndLegal Bases For The Participation Of The Mass Media In The Electoral Process InThe Russian Federation by M.A. Andrianova (Moscow, 2013); Constitutional AndLegal Bases For The Distinction Between Election Campaigning And InformingElectorate In The Elections In The Russian Federation by J.S. Belous (SaintPetersburg, 2009); Legal Regulation Of The Involvement Of Mass Media In TheElection Process by S.V.

Bolshakova (Moscow, 2002); Information Support OfThe Elections – The Institute Of Electoral Legislation Of The Russian Federationby T.V. Nechiporenko (Moscow, 2010); Information Support Of Elections As AGuarantee Of Implementation Of The Electoral Rights Of Citizens In The RussianFederation by A.P. Ukhanov (Petrozavodsk, 2015); The Right For ElectoralCampaigning. Legal Regulation And Characteristics Of Its Implementation byN.V. Khachaturov (Rostov-on-Don, 2004); Constitutional And Legal RegulationOf Electoral Campaigning In The Regions Of The Southern Federal District OfThe Russian Federation by P.S.

Chudov (Stavropol, 2005); Legal Status Of AMass Media Outlet As An Information Agent Of Electoral Legal Relations by G.S.Shaikhullin (Volgograd, 2003).6  Thus the theoretical base of the research has been established upon theworks of Russian and foreign authors specializing in philosophy of law, theory ofstate and law, information law, constitution law: J.S. Belous, R.T. Biktagirov,Y.A. Vedeneev, J.A. Dmitriev, V.A.

Ershov, V.B. Israelyan, S.D. Knyazev, K.V.Krasnov, N.N. Kovaleva, E.I. Kolushin, D.M. Miridzhanyan, M.A. Fedotov, D.M.Khudoley and others.Empirical base of the research is based on Russian and foreignjurisprudence, including judicial orders of the European Court of Human Rights,orders and decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation,judgments of the regional constitutional (statutory) courts of the RussianFederation, judgments and decisions of The Supreme Court of the RussianFederation, judgments of courts of the general jurisdiction of the RussianFederation, judgments of arbitration courts on the implementation of legal normsregulating the activity of entities managing mass media outlets in the electoralprocess.

Furthermore we have used statistical and analytical materials, includingmaterials of electoral commissions, publications in the press and data provided onvarious internet resources, and also analytical information obtained uponcontacting electoral complaints panels of a number of countries.The purpose of the research and particular research tasks.The overall purpose of the research is theoretical comprehension ofmodels allowing entities managing mass media outlets to participate in informationsupport in the electoral process.This purpose determines particular research tasks:1. To work out the status of entities managing mass media outlets among otheractors involved in electoral process2.

To study the legal status of the representatives of entities managing massmedia outlets as actors involved in electoral process according to thelegislation of the Russian Federation, including the limits of theircompetence in the electoral process; to provide classification7  3. To compare the concepts of informing the electorate and electoralcampaigning4.

To examine the loopholes and weak points of legal regulation of mass mediaactivity during electoral campaigns5. To consider the legal problem in the field of information law related to theregulation ofmedia access of candidates and political parties duringelection campaigns and to propose possible solutions6. To prove the necessity of finding the balance between freedom of mediaduring elections, on the one hand, and responsibility of the media in case ofits improper actions, on the other hand7.