Law on Freedom and Fairness in Information of 1962

Law on Freedom and Fairness in Information of 1962
Gylian Parliament
Date passed	16 May 1962
Date signed	16 May 1962
Date commenced	31 May 1962
Summary
Regulates Gylian media.
Status: Current legislation

The Law on Freedom and Fairness in Information of 1962 is a Gylian federal law that regulates Gylian journalism and the media.

The law was passed towards the end of the transition from the Free Territories to Gylias. Its stated principles and establishment of the Information Bureau to enforce them have fundamentally shaped the Gylian media, while at times controversial abroad.

Background

The dramatic social and economic transformation of the Free Territories, continued and extended through the Golden Revolution, had produced a thriving press and publishing industry. Access to greater media outlets with the end of the Liberation War made the preservation of its diversity and democratic character a priority.

Enacting a media law was debated throughout the Popular Assembly's term. The issue gained additional urgency from public revulsion at sensationalist coverage of several highly-publicised crimes in the late 1950s, and the fight against disinformation during the Golden Revolution.

Several laws were proposed in the Popular Assembly that separately touched on the economic and qualitative aspects of the issue, but did not reach passage.

The final Law on Freedom and Fairness in Information was drafted and passed by the Gylian Parliament, consolidating the separate strands into one law. It was one of the first notable contributions of the new Gylian Senate to the legislative process.

Text of the law

1. This law shall regulate the functioning of journalism in Gylias.
2. Journalism is reporting for the purpose of informing and remedying social ills.
3. All regulations rest on the fundamental principles of universal access to information, protection and strengthening democratic communities, fair coverage of matters in the public interest, independence, and diversity.
4. An Information Bureau is established to ensure accuracy of reports, corrections and retractions where necessary, and dissemination to the public.
5. A National Broadcasting Office is established to oversee broadcasting.
6. Misinformation, incitement to discrimination or hatred, attacks on democratic communities, or attacks on standards and ethics in the media are illegal.
7. Reporting and information shall be solely in the public interest.
8. Attacks on media diversity and independence through economic means are illegal.
9. Use of advertising space to support media outlets shall be restricted and firmly separated from reporting.
10. Press support is enacted to help protect the media in doing its duty of protecting and empowering the people.
11. Information and editorialising shall be cleanly separated.
12. Editorialising with no basis in information or wilful misinterpretation of information are illegal.
13. Unjustified sensationalism, hyperbole, attacks on public peace, and attacks on personal privacy are illegal.

Effects

The law presents a sweeping, elevated vision of the principles of journalism, anchored in historical experience of Alscia's activist media and the Free Territories. The definition of "journalism" in the law explicitly excludes tabloid journalism and junk food news, while privileging investigative journalism and watchdog journalism.

Much of the drafting process concentrated on refining the nuances of the law and protecting the press from both authoritarianism and concentration. The enactment of both stringent competition laws and press support serve as the main instruments of the law, bolstered by the cooperativisation of the media.

Although Parliament debated whether to ban advertising entirely, it ultimately approved a provision restricting advertising and separating it from reporting.

The mandate to separate "information" and "editorialising" was advocated by the left in order to prevent the political manipulation and misuse of information practised by corporate media.

The intention of the law is to explicitly codify the expected standards of journalism rather than have them be voluntarily observed norms. Operating from the perspective of human rights as universal but not absolute in society, several of its provisions have been controversial abroad as restrictions on freedom of the press, particularly the creation of the Information Bureau. Nevertheless, the law has had a defining impact on the development of the Gylian media, and is argued by proponents to guarantee greater freedom of the press through its economic provisions than capitalist countries with no safeguards against media concentration.