Dissemination of socially necessary information: legal uncertainties and potential risks for the media

The article is devoted to the legal aspects of exempting media and their employees from legal liability for disseminating restricted-access information that is recognized as socially necessary (socially significant). It reveals the regulatory basis for such exemption, particularly the provisions of Part 3 of Article 117 of the Law of Ukraine «On Media», as well as the related legal challenges faced by media entities and their employees in the course of fulfilling their professional duty to inform society about events, phenomena, facts, and circumstances that are significant for shaping public opinion, ensuring transparency of government activities, and exercising citizens’ right to information access. The article analyzes the legal nature of public interest as the basis for information recognition as socially necessary. It demonstrates that public interest possesses features of legitimacy and necessity, being formed under the influence of a system of values, beliefs, traditions, moral and psychological factors, as well as public opinion. At the same time, it is emphasized in the article that under conditions of legal uncertainty, journalists are compelled to assess the social significance of a publication independently without any guarantees that such information will later be recognized by a court as socially necessary. Attention to the fact that the legal liability exemption institution as well as the liability exclusion institution are different in nature is drawn. In disseminating socially necessary information, journalists engage in socially beneficial activity that is, by its nature, lawful. Therefore, in such cases, it is not a matter of exemption from liability but rather its exclusion. The article highlights the existence of a «gray zone» of liability, where the boundary between lawful exercise of the right to inform the public and a potential legal violation remains unclear. The presumption of lawfulness of a journalist’s conduct undertaken within the interests of society is emphasized. The necessity of transitioning from the model of «exemption» to the model of «exclusion» of liability is substantiated, reflecting the nature of lawful and socially beneficial activity that does not constitute an unlawful act.