A training session “Protection of freedom of speech and the rights of media workers in wartime” was held in Chernihiv

The event for local journalists and activists was organized by the regional hub of the Institute of Mass Information “Mediabase Chernihiv” in partnership with the NGO “Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights”. The training expert was a leading Ukrainian media lawyer, member of the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting Oleksandr Burmagin.

During the training, the participants worked on a number of important topics:

• Responsibility for obstructing the lawful activities of journalists and unlawful influence on journalists;

• What a journalist should do if he or she is subjected to unlawful attacks while performing his or her professional duties;

• Features of the implementation and application of the law “On Media”

Oleksandr Burmagin

, in particular, shared with media professionals and activists tips on writing correct information requests, namely:

– information requests should be written to a legal entity (city military administration, city council, etc.), and not to a specific person (mayor, head of military administration, etc.);

– in one information request, conditionally do not ask more than three questions and make them more clearly formulated;

– if the authorities violate the rights of journalists to access information, you should write a complaint and go to court;

– in the decree of the Commander-in-Chief No. 73 there is a clear list of information that cannot be disclosed. All other information is subject to peacetime norms;

– the authority must refer to the three-part test before denying information to a journalist and clearly justify the reason for the refusal.

The trainer also suggested that those interested delve deeper into the legal aspects of the rights and obligations of journalists by reading the literature on the website “Human Rights Platform” at the link:

The activity is carried out within the framework of the project “The Bar and local media: building synergy for the Freedom of Speech”, which is implemented by the All-Ukrainian Coalition for Legal Aid with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.