IMI's legal advice service summarized: nearly 100 requests from journalists in 2024
In 2024, journalists and media oultets most often contacted the Institute of Mass Information legal advice hotline with questions related to their rights and freedom of speech (38 requests). In total, the IMI provided nearly 100 legal consultations last year.
The IMI's legal advice hotline for journalists achieved the following results in 2024.
The requests related to the rights of journalists included questions regarding:
- denial of access (in particular, to open court hearings);
- obstruction of filming (e.g. of making a cash payment at a gas station);
- filming in public places, on Russian shelling strike sites, etc.
Questions related to access to public information and accreditation ranked second (at 20 requests). Journalists were asked to add digital signatures to their emails, denied access without reason, and media outlets wanted to know how to contest a denial.
17 calls to the IMI hotline were for pre-publication proofreading, most of those coming from regional media outlets covering critical topics such as the heating situation in their city or investigating fraud related to municipal real estate. Pre-publication proofreading can cover different aspects such as checking for possible retraction claims or potential breaches of confidentiality.
Nine requests concerned complaints against journalists, demands to take down news stories in full or in part, remove a comment, change the headline, etc.
Eight more requests by media professionals were about correctly labelling advertisements in the media and asking for advice on advertising gambling businesses.
10 consultations can be categorized as “Other”. These included requests regarding the operation of media outlets as legal entities or individual entrepreneurs, as well as employment relations between journalists and editorial offices.
The abundance of requests for advice on journalists’ rights and access to public information can be explained by these areas becoming problematic during the full-scale invasion and with martial law being in effect, which significantly limited the possibilities of accessing information (both on legal grounds and otherwise) and caused many databases to become restricted to the public, even though the work of investigative journalists and anti-corruption activists continued.
The vast majority of requests to the IMI were received by email, a smaller part by phone and via Facebook Messenger.
In 2023, most requests were for pre-publication proofreading and about access to public information (see the 2023 overview here). In contrast, in 2024, the number of requests about media outlet registration and operation as a legal entity dropped significantly. This appears to be due to the fact that editorial offices made most of the necessary organizational changes to comply with the new Law of Ukraine “On Media” in 2023 and the transitional period allocated for this ended in 2024. At the same time, attention to the issues of personal data protection, privacy, and advertising regulation, which were not so relevant in 2023, has grown.
IMI legal advice hotline
The IMI's legal advice is limited to issues related to the media field. The Institute of Mass Information does not make arrangements for citizens' personal problems to be covered in the media and does not direct journalists to the scene of events.
To apply, media professionals can:
- fill in the form to contact the IMI's media lawyers here;
- email us at [email protected].
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