The idea of self-regulation in the Internet: Pros and Cons

Second meeting of the experts on the issues of "public journalism," which became a continuation of the first meeting, held in May this year, took place in Vienna  on September19 at the headquarters of the OSCE.

New journalism, or the so-called People's journalism has become a phenomenon "of the Internet age", and has  a notable impact on reformatting the traditional understanding of journalism, leaving the information field by traditional media.

Development of social networks and their capabilities, the loss of exclusive rights for the production of professional journalism, information content, the rapid development of the institution bloggers, commentators, and  participation of discussions on the facebook - it is the reality about which  experts speak.

The debate about whether journalist is a blogger, or who can be considered  a journalist, and whether all the creators of information in Intrenet have universal rights and responsibilities, have shown controversial issue, even for experts in the field of journalist rights and education.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of Expression, Dunja Mijatovic, noting the need to protect the rights of all participants in the information society, based on the principle  of expression,  and recalled the liability of governments in the protection of freedom of speech. She, of course, said about the problems and costs incurred by the freedom of expression on the Internet, and in particular from non-professional producers of information products, such as bloggers, social media users.

But these and other questions,  according  to her, require interaction and discussion on the part of government and society, which, on the one hand, will have to eliminate the abuse of individuals, on the other hand, give opportunities for the free exchange of ideas and freedom of expression.

The are attempts by governments on the  OSCE to restrict under any pretext  the freedom of speech on the Internet. It is especially observed in the post-Soviet countries, such as Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan. In a number of countries  was introduced criminal responsibility for defamation.

The meeting participants voice the idea of ​​creating an intergovernmental, with the participation of society, structures for  harmonization answers to the challenges that carries Internet globalization. –0--