Law Section Report

At the IAMCR Conference (July 27-29, 1999 in Leipzig, Germany) there were three sessions of the Law Section.

At the first two sessions situation with the media law and the new media in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union was discussed. The following reports were presented: “Russian Communication Technology Policy as a Means of Overcoming Mass Media Crisis” — Yassen N. Zassoursky, Dean, Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University, Russia; “Public Policy and the New Media: Freedom of Access in the Era of Digital Interactive Communication” — Elena Vartanova, Associate Professor, Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University, Russia; “Russian Media in the Web Context” — Maria Loukina, Associate Professor, Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University; “Broadcasting and Telecommunications Regulation in the FSU Countries” — Andrei Richter, Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University, Russia; “Regionalization of the Media in Russia 1985-1999: Aspects of Content, Legislation and Control” — Jukka Pietilainen, University of Tampere, Finland; “Still a Criminal Offence — Libel in the Kyrgyz Republic” — David H. Mould, Ph.D., Professor of Telecommunications, School of Telecommunications, Ohio University; “Television Beyond the Iron Curtain: broadcasting policy in Bulgaria” — Assia L. Ivantcheva, Ph.D. candidate, School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC; “Restructuring Media in Transition: the Case of the Independent Media Commission in Bosnia” — David Goldberg, School of Law, University of Glasgow.

The third session was devoted to the development of a new regulatory framework for converging technologies. The following report was presented and discussed in details: “The Right to Communicate: Jurisdictions Both International and Virtual” — Susan Drucker, Hofstra University, Chair and Associate Professor, School of Communication, Hempstead, N.Y; Gary Gumpert, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Communication, Queens College of the City University of New York.

At the business meeting Bulgarian researcher Assia L. Ivantcheva, currently Ph.D. candidate at the School of International Service of the American University in Washington, D.C., was elected Section’s Vice-President. At the suggestion of David Goldberg a new avenue was open for research and discussion at the future sessions of the Law Section. The new theme concerns international community’s structures and mechanisms for regulating, and developing (democratising?) the media. These structures are already in place for two specific territories (Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo) and they constitute the empirical data for the research proposal.