The research is devoted to the disclosure of the concept and features of citizen journalism as a modern institution aimed at ensuring the fulfilling of the right to information.
The content of the right to information, the influence of mass media and citizen journalism on the fulfillment of the right to information are determined in the work.
Existing restrictions on the freedom of traditional media to disseminate information about certain political and social conflicts, the dependence of the media on the influence of their owners and editorial changes, led to the formation of an independent institution of mass communication – citizen journalism as an open information resource.
It is substantiated that restrictions on the dissemination of information, which should be taken into account, including in the activities of citizen journalists, are public law (information concerning national security, state interests) and private law (information concerning individuals, including personal data, commercial, medical secrets, private life, etc.).
The public law aspect provides for restrictions on the collection and dissemination of information with limited circulation, which is a state secret and is important for national security, territorial integrity, democratic constitutional order and other national interests of Ukraine. Special legislative acts in this area are the Law of Ukraine "On State Secrets", "On National Security of Ukraine".
The private law aspect consists in securing for a person the right to restrictions on access to and dissemination of certain information about one and one’s private life. At the level of the Constitution of Ukraine, such rights and guarantees include, in particular, the right to privacy and family life, prohibitions on the collection, storage, use and dissemination of confidential information about a person without his or her consent, except as provided by law and only in the interests of national security, economic well-being and human rights, the right to secrecy of correspondence, telephone conversations, telegraph and other correspondence, the right to refuse to testify or explain about oneself, family members or close relatives by law. According to the Civil Code of Ukraine, there are also restrictions on the dissemination of information that contains secrets about an individual, including the right to secrecy about health, the fact of seeking medical care, diagnosis, as well as information obtained during medical examination, the confidentiality of the will. The Family Code of Ukraine defines the right to secrecy of adoption, the right to secrecy of the results of medical examination of brides, observance of secrecy of personal life of family members, their right to personal freedom and inadmissibility of arbitrary interference in family life.
The peculiarities of citizen journalism that distinguish it from traditional mass media are determined. Such differences include: subject composition (citizen journalists are persons who do not have special professional training, journalists who do not work in the media, but are independent); legal regulation of activity (absence of special legal regulation of activity of citizen journalists); purpose of activity (dissemination of socially important information, coverage of events that have important social, political, economic significance); interaction with the public (ensuring wider involvement of all stakeholders in the discussion of disseminated information, the opportunity to openly express positions, opinions on various issues); freedom of action (unlike traditional media, no restrictions on the content of the material, control by the editorial office or the founder of the media); sphere of distribution (citizen journalism was formed and developed on the World Wide Web).
The advantages of citizen journalism include: active involvement of a wide range of subjects in the discussion of issues relevant to society, economy, country; giving wide publicity to issues that are not covered in the official media due to the complexity of their solution, editorial censor; coverage of information from the original source, which allows to bring to the general public important data that can be not only socially useful, but also to warn of certain dangers, risks, etc.; promptness of proof of information, as well as reactions to it from readers; formation of a thematic field for journalistic investigations by representatives of the official media. The disadvantage of citizen journalism is the possibility of disseminating inaccurate information, because mass information flows are not subject to thorough scrutiny, there are many cases of dissemination of information that is not based on facts, research, or simply fictional.
