Mass Media as a Factor for the Sense of Justice Formation in the Russian Society

The article is aimed to study the specifics of journalism functioning as one of the socially important institutions; to determine the status of the mass media within the system of state institutions as well as the factors of the mass media affecting the sense of justice of the citizens. The article describes the effect of the current country's state policy for the establishment of the legal culture of the society on the information policy of the modern print press. In this perspective, the article analyzes a number of federal laws and regulations aimed at establishing a communicative system in the legal sphere that unites the governmental institutions, the mass media, and the citizens of the Russian Federation. The article characterizes the phenomenon of the model of socio-political publications as a source of the legislative acts and the law-making initiatives. It also establishes the coordination with the national journalism along with the development of the current legislation.


Introduction 1.
The specifics of covering the legal issues by the mass media in the conditions of an open civil society determines the need to study the terms, trends, specific features, and problems of the mass media functioning in the post-Soviet space.The development of state policy in the sphere of increasing the level of the citizens' sense of justice, the policy of information openness of the state and municipal authorities, and the principle of the court trial publicity allow us to highlight the specifics of the public opinion formation in relation to various government institutions.
By considering various approaches to the determination of the functions and tasks of the modern journalism on the experience of the Russian and foreign professional teams and theorists, that develop the issues of the journalism functioning in the legal field, the article describes the role of the mass media within the system of the sociocultural relations.
The relevance of the study is to assess the effect of the mass media on the sense of justice.The necessity of the study is confirmed by the active discussion in the mass media of the questions concerning the enhancement of the legal culture of the Russian society as well as by the increasing interest in this subject matter within the scientific-journalistic, the socio-political, and the law-making aspects.

Methodology 2.
The key findings and conclusions are based on a synthesis of the comparative legal method and the method of content analysis of the press.A connection between the legislative framework and the content of the modern mass media is established.At the same time, there is provided a characteristic of the creative activity of a journalist as a carrier of the socio-political information.
Theoretically, this integrated approach will allow us to consider the process of functioning of the modern journalism that is commenting and analyzing various socially important processes and phenomena in the life of the state, and contributing to the establishment of the public sense of justice and to the stabilization of the public opinion for the purpose of protecting the society from the possible external effect.
The practical significance of this aspect of studying the journalistic space and interpretation of the legal phenomena in the texts of the mass media is to develop the new methodological and functional approaches characterizing the activity of the mass media.In this study direction, the integrated approach involves the selection of the analytical tools for analyzing the journalistic texts with the socially significant and legal subject matters.
When substantiating the need for the legal education of citizens through the texts of mass media, we should take into account the value of the educational function of journalism, which acquires its particular importance during the period of interpersonal conflicts and post-conflict reconstruction.We offer to use as a practical guide the classification of the functional responsibilities of journalists as proposed by both the Russian and foreign practices.In resolving disputes, it is suggested to be governed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, by the primary and secondary legislation, regulating various branches of law, as well as by the case decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.In our opinion, the most productive researches on the legal foundations of journalism and the specifics of its functioning are the works by Richter (the forms of the legal regulation of journalism), Solganik (the format and genre of the mass media), Rusina (the information policy in the condition of democracy), Randall (the media technologies and their illustration with the examples taken from the journalistic practice), etc.
This study is based on the fundamental Russian and foreign works in the field of the theory of state and law, in particular on the issues of the sense of justice, written by Il'in, Voplenko, Kouriisky-Augeven, Renbinder, etc.In this paper, we have applied the interdisciplinary approach that allows us to consider mass media as an integral part of the modern media space, and to analyze the media components that serve as the communicators of the educational process in the field of law.The cognitive, comparative, and contrastive approaches have been used.

3.
At the given stage of development of modern journalism, the use of mass media as a source of the legal information is acceptable for increasing the level of the sense of justice in the society.The most productive for the theoretical understanding is the official printed publication of federal significance "Rossiiskaia Gazeta" as well as the regional printed publications of the socio-political focus.Despite the fact that the Russian audience prefers television and interactive media, the advantage of the print media consists in the possibility of its detailed study in time and in the availability of the officially published legislative acts, and if necessary of the comments thereto.
According to the sociological researches of recent years, it can be noted that the role of the print media in the process of social communication has not decreased.The emergence of the new opportunities for developing the information space with the help of the modern mass media does not negate the need for a clear and comprehensible style of presenting the legal information, the analytical understanding of the new phenomena in the law-enforcement and law-making activities.In general, the ownership structure within the system of mass media is close to the worldwide average indicators, which are characterized by the prevalence of the private ownership of the press and of the public ownership of the audio-visual media.At the same time, according to the current legislation, the Russian press is protected from becoming a subject of the external manipulation.Therefore, along with the ban on the private information, which violates the constitutional rights of an individual or a group of individuals, the legislative bodies have determined a list of information, the access to which cannot be restricted.
Based on the pointed out theoretical and methodological attitudes, we can conclude that the mass media may participate in the formation of the sense of justice, which is one of the forms of the social consciousness, and is a special way of perfect reflection and spiritual acquisition of the legal reality.

The specifics of the mass media functioning in the modern society.
It is well known that a prerequisite for the proper functioning and development of a democratic state is the provision of freedom of the mass media: the freedom of access to information, the freedom of search and dissemination of information, and the freedom of expression.These conditions are the determining factors of a civil society, one of the main objectives of which is the observance of human rights.
The discussion of a special social status of journalists and the social function of journalism in general is associated with understanding of their role in the formation of general attitudes, culture, and sense of justice of citizens.
In one of his speeches on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, Koichiro Matsuura, the former UNESCO Director-General, said that "the understanding of the need for the right of the mass media to freedom, as enshrined in the Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is important to ensure the transparency of public processes and supremacy of the law.The observance of this law is important for both poor and rich countries, just as in times of peace, so in times of war" (Guseinova, 2006).
Meanwhile, it is widely believed that informativeness is the main task of journalism, by virtue whereof today we observe the boom of the "news journalism."Many representatives of this profession seem to believe that there is no need for the additional conceptual load of texts, the format of which they choose at their own discretion, being guided therein by the applicable law and often acting in disregard of the professional duty, ethics, and morality.Such behavior in legal science is defined as the marginal and law-abiding one when the fear of punishment is the dominant factor.That is, a journalist considers it acceptable not to infringe the fundamental truths, not to produce texts with defamations and least of all with slander, not to invade one's privacy, not to violate the family, medical, or any other secrecy protected by the law, and to take into account the restrictions in the use of personal data.And that is all that is necessary for the formula of success in the journalistic creativity.However, a strong civil position of each journalist, and at the same time, the clearly defined role of the mass media in the society solve the problems of the provision of the country's national security, the observance of the principles of ethics, and the establishment of the public institutions for prevention and control of the legal nihilism, external threats, racial intolerance, extremism, and terrorism.
It is quite explainable that the main Russian law, the Constitution of the Russian Federation, consolidates the concept of respecting the demands of justice and of the human dignity equal and the same for all; the right for freedom of thought, word, opinion, and belief; the ability to control information about oneself, to prevent the disclosure of the information of personal and intimate nature, and also the right to individually (or collectively) and professionally seek, receive, produce, and disseminate information."In Russia, the guarantee of freedom of the mass media information is of particular importance due to the fact that the first private mass media emerged about 20 years ago, and till now, the majority of the publishing and television companies are owned by the state or by the government-controlled enterprises" (Zor'kin, 2012).
The state takes into account that the information on the current legislation must not become the subject of the external manipulation, which is typical of the totalitarian regimes.Therefore, along with the ban on certain information, the law-making bodies have determined a list of the information, the access to which cannot be restricted: -the laws and regulations affecting the rights, freedoms, and duties of a person and a citizen as well as establishing the legal status of the organizations and the powers of the state bodies and the local selfgoverning authorities; -the information on the state of the environment; -the information on the activities of state bodies and the local self-governing authorities as well as on the use of the budgetary funds (except for the information constituting the state or official secrecy); -the information accumulated in the open funds of libraries, museums, and archives as well as the state, municipal, and other information systems established or intended for the provision of the citizens and organizations with such information; -the other information, the inadmissibility of the restriction of access to which is established by the federal laws.Thus, each journalist has the right to use and disseminate the information in his usual manner and within the limits determined by the laws of the country.
When referring to the European practice, it is appropriate to mention that in 1975, at the suggestion of the Commission on the Press Affairs of the Association of the Newspaper Publishers, the Union of Journalists, and the Swedish Radio Concern, the Swedish parliament (the Riksdag) adopted the review on the role and objectives of the country's mass media in the modern world.This review indicates the four major functions of the mass media in the democratic society: -The informational function: "The mass media must provide the information, which is necessary for the citizens of the country to determine their stance on the issues of public importance."-The commenting function: "The mass media, either being the voice of the organized public interests or presenting the completely independent interests, must comment on the events of the national or global importance."-The controlling function: "The mass media, representing the interests of the public, must check and monitor the work of the state authorities."-The connecting function: "The mass media must promote the communication within and between the political, trade union, and social organizations in the country" (Fichtelius, 2010).23, 1994 (Moscow), assigns to a journalist the obligation to "clearly represent in his messages the difference between the facts being told about and the facts constituting the opinions, versions, or suggestions."However, the Code states that "in his professional activity, he (a journalist) is not obliged to be neutral" (the Code of Professional Ethics of a Russian Journalist [CPERJ], 1994).At the same time, the comprehensive and objective coverage of the events solves the problem of greater significance than the provision of information.Even in the absence of an explicit author's assessment of an event, the interpretation of the same fact of the surrounding reality is always personified.Moreover, the choice of such a fact is also subjective in itself."The processes of establishing an information-oriented society and the globalization of informational relations actualize the function of the press and essentially update its functional models.The changes in the conditions of social life make it necessary to enrich the spiritual potential of the society, its scientific, aesthetic, axiological, ethical, and organizational components" (Shkondin and Resnianskaia, 2009).

Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences
Thus, the demand for the "civic journalism", which sets itself the task not to take anyone's side, but to try to explain the ongoing in the clear and plain language, remains doubtful.

Sense of justice as a form of legal socialization.
In this context, the legal education of citizens acquires particular importance.On the one hand, it is intended to inform on the changes occurring in the socio-political environment, to clarify the goals and objectives of the current state policy as well as to comment on the essence of the law-making initiatives and on the importance of the adopted bills and decisions.On the other hand, it serves to inform and explain on the rights and responsibilities of the citizens as the participants of various legal relations.
According to the professional code, a journalist shall be fully aware of the danger of restrictions, harassment, and violence, which can be triggered by his activities.Therefore, when carrying out one's professional duties, a journalist must oppose the restriction of civil rights on any grounds, including gender, race, language, religion, differences in political views, and social or national origin.
In some extent, the mass media becomes the source of interpretation of the legal standards.Wherein, it is important for the audience to understand that journalists not possessing the official law-making status, though being able to interpret these standards, still may provide their explanation in the form of recommendations and pieces of advice, but they have no binding legal value and are deprived of the authoritative juridical force.However, the existence of such copyrighted materials probably is as important as of the official laws and regulation, since they address the problem of legal consciousness of the citizens."If, for example, in the country, there are illiterate people who are not aware of the law existence as a whole, and of that each person has its own legal status, i.e., a certain range of legal powers, duties, and bans, then each of such persons still preserves this status with all its consequences.It may happen so, that all would forget about some legal standard, i.e. the citizens who have to observe it, and the state authorities that have to apply it, but the standard would still always remain the rule of conduct and preserve its essence and content, so that when people remember about it, they will make sure that the neglect did not manage to quench its objective value" (Il'in, 2013).

The mass media in the system of socio-legal communications.
The mass media are the most effective way of communication due to the wide coverage of audience, mobility, visibility, possibility of interpreting events through the variety of technical means and linguistic methods.The official publication of the Government of the Russian Federation is of exceptional nature.It is the weekly national newspaper "Rossiiskaia Gazeta," after publication in which state documents and acts come into force.According to the law on the procedure of entry into force of federal laws (Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 5-FZ "On the Procedure of Publication and Entry into Force of the Federal Constitutional Laws, Federal Laws, and Acts of the Federal Assembly" dated June 14, 1994), the first publication of a federal law in official publications such as the "Legislation Bulletin of the Russian Federation," "Rossiiskaia Gazeta," or "Parlamentskaia Gazeta" is considered to be its official publication.
The first issue of the daily newspaper "Rossiiskaia Gazeta" was released in 1990.Today, its authors establish an authoritative socio-political publication that in daily manner highlights the political and economic life of Russia and foreign countries.The special nature of the publication endows it with the specific functions as the major press organ among the mass media disseminating the legal information on the law-making and law-enforcement activity of the state authorities.The "Rossiiskaia Gazeta" newspaper is largely intended to resolve the problems associated with not only and not so much informing the citizens, as with commenting various processes of the social and political life of the state.
According to the data provided by the founders, the socio-political newsweekly has a large geographical distribution and the largest circulation among similar publications.The audience of the newspaper includes the readers of all ages, professions, and lifestyles.The subject matter of the publication is in a certain way comparable to the so-called age of social activity.However, it is possible to agree with the concept of Kouriisky-Augeven who states that "...the formation of the legal images and views of the world of people in childhood and adolescence, which constitute the deep basis of their legal representations already in the adult life, is of great importance" (Kouriisky, 1991).
The publication is distributed mainly by subscription.The main circulation is distributed among civil servants, military personnel, employees of state and municipal authorities, employees of the Ministry of Interior Affairs and National Security, veterans, and other persons.
The pages of the "Rossiiskaia Gazeta" newspaper are filled with numerous headings with the political, economic, cultural, legal, and sports content.In accordance with the generally accepted editorial page layout system, the publications are allocated by headings.The significant amount of materials (about 35 per cent of the total volume) are the publications of the socio-political orientation.Such headings as Events and Comments, Law, Government, Point of View, Parliament, Bill, etc. explore the legal topic, whereas from 30 to 44 per cent thereof are laws and regulations.
It should be noted that under the headings with more general titles such as Family, Project, Initiative, Region, Money, Wallet, etc., the authors also consider the issues on the enforcement of the rights of citizens to judicial protection, on the resolution of disputes through the courts, and on the additional social guarantees and benefits of certain groups of the population.Quite often, it turns out to be the highlighting of the burning issues that are of particular interest among the readers regardless of their belonging to certain social groups: The MPs suggest exempting kindergartens from income tax; contained in the bill, which the State Duma will review in the next week (Parents will Receive a Discount, RG No. 28 of February 12, 2015).
The publication containing an opinion of the Chairman of one of the dog clubs is more targeted: Each dog fancier is guided by his own considerations on the safety of animal while driving a car.On this subject, there is a variety of professional recommendations.Fortunately, there is still no legislative order.And not only in our country, -Kazantseva concludes (A Passenger without a Muzzle, RG No. 34 of February 19, 2015).

It also includes warnings against fraud and other illegal activities executed by both physical and legal persons:
One should not transfer any amounts to the unknown people "on parole" or as an advance payment for goods from Internet shops and especially from groups in social networks.It is necessary to avoid participating in suspicious lotteries and financial pyramids, and not to make any deposits even though they promise exorbitant incomes (Protection from Traps -Personal Caution. RG No. 31 of February 16, 2015).
The 'Document' heading regularly includes the information commenting the adopted laws and regulations.At a brief review of this periodical, it becomes obvious that according to the originality of content, it is intended to solve the problem of the public sense of justice.
The global significance of this objective is supported by many scientists practicing in the field of legal issues and mass media communications.For example, it has been found out that the legal consciousness, which is determined by the outcome of the legal socialization, is divergent, since "...it corresponds to the different individual emotions, the appropriate contrasting aspects of legal regulation of the social reality (e.g., such as a crime, property, or family).The legal consciousness cannot be separated from the culture, by means of which it is formed, and since it is alive, no culture can remain static" (Kouriisky-Augeven, 2007).
The other aspect of this phenomenon is assessed by jurists and defined as the "category of the theory of state and law and criminology that means the scope of social, group, and individual consciousness reflecting the law-significant phenomena and substantiated by the law-significant values and by the representation of the proper order.The sense of justice is determined by the socioeconomic conditions of the social life, by its cultural, legal, democratic, or authoritarian traditions" (The Great Law Dictionary [GLD], 2015).
Thus, the implementation of the integrated approach has revealed that the sense of justice is a "form of social consciousness, which is a special way of perfect reflection and spiritual acquisition of the legal reality" (Voplenko, 2000).
Taking into account that the given topic actualizes the important problems of the media communication and legal regulation, in this part, it will be appropriate to consider in detail the challenges faced by the editorial boards and their staff, who in practice are not limited only to the promptness, objectivity, and credibility of the journalistic materials, but on the contrary with increasing frequency make conscious attempts of misrepresentation, "warming" of facts, provocations, and well thought-out attacks.It should be noted that it is the participation of the famous personalities in an event, originality of facts, conflicts, and sensations that cause the increased public interest and are the best informational occasions reflecting the attitudes of the modern mass media to the expand of circulation and increase in the target audience.
In our opinion, the modern journalism requires a different approach in the description of reality, and professional journalists are capable of solving this problem.Sometimes, it is not easy for a journalist to interpret a certain event, especially if he is striving to give a legal assessment to the ongoing.But despite the difficulties in assessing the reality, in most cases the factual accuracy comes to the fore, and the ways of its presentation are of secondary importance.
The right of a journalist consists in recognition of the jurisdiction of his colleagues only, while observing the laws of his country and rejecting any attempts of pressure and interference from the side of the government or anyone else.However, mass media, in particular the ones that are a part of the state sector, cannot remain aloof from the reforms and programs conducted in the country, in particular from the program for implementation of the "Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Legal Literacy Development and the Sense of Justice of Citizens." An example of improving the legal culture of citizens with the help of mass media is demonstrated by numerous publications that explain the constitutional provisions and excerpts from the various branches of law: The labor law: The current Labor Code provides that certain categories of employees (and working women with young children also relate thereto) shall be granted a paid annual leave at their request and at a convenient time for them (Dad also Can. RG, #28 dated February 12, 2015).
The copyright law: The Ministry of Culture is promoting its own version of the implementation of a "global license."It will be applicable to the musical works and phonograms, audio-visual works and books.The implementation of the registry of all this intellectual products is planned to be delivered into the charge of a special organization for collective management of copyright (Click for Three Hundreds.RG, #37 dated February 24, 2015).
The criminal procedure law: The purpose of the criminal process is not to imprison a person by any means, but to learn the truth and to give a legal assessment of the actions performed by the accused person.In theory, everyone agrees with this.But in practice, sometimes one of the parties tries to hide the unpleasant truth (Protection from the Perspective of Strength. RG, #34 dated February 19, 2015).
Such examples are also frequent in the regional press, which similarly to the federal press publish not only legal information, but also local legislative acts that nevertheless are of local (regional) significance: The civil law: Now, let us turn to the civil cases.How can you quickly divide the property between former spouses?-Quickly, within one day, it is possible to settle a case using "writs."These are the indisputable recoveries, such as on tax evasion, on alimony exaction in shared order, if there is a claim based on a notarized transaction...In practice, the division of property of the spouses is quite a complicated and protracted case (Not to Convict, but to Judge.Krasnoe Znamia dated September 21, 2011).

The criminal law:
Mainly, the motivation of their criminal conduct is reduced to the commitment of a crime due to mischief, curiosity, the desire to establish oneself in the eyes of peers, and the strive for financial enrichment.Statistics show that more than half of the crimes is committed by groups of people, which significantly increases their social danger and criminal activity (You Should Like to Be Free and Independent.Koshekhabl'skie Vesti dated May 30, 2012).

4.5
The popularity rankings of the mass media as a condition for public trust.
Each state should be able to convey properly to its citizens the fact that "the sense of justice plays an important role in the society.Therefore, when determining the degree of public danger, it is important to follow the relevant rules.This shall be the decisive factor in applying the existing legal standards" (Renbinder, 1995).
The scope of the disseminated information is also important.Being the national publication, the newspaper takes into account various areas of distribution-the geographical factor.The headings Post of the "Union", the Crimea, the Kuban, the Northern Caucasus, etc. examine the features of the law-enforcement policy in these territories.For example, in one of the February issues of the newspaper, the headings Law, Right, Rule, and Wallet described the way the sick leaves were paid for the Belarusian people in Russia, how a Russian person could obtain free legal assistance in Belarus, and what was the procedure of paying for the transportation of goods to the neighboring countries.
It is the formation of a certain sense of justice in the society that gives hope for reducing the number of criminogenic factors and the level of criminality in the society due to the high degree of self-organization of each person and respectful attitude to the law."Though it would be foolish to deny that social learning plays an important role in the acquisition of the sense of justice, it is more likely to be involved in this process.If the children have acquired the perception of justice from their parents, then the children possess the same idea as their parents do, and thus, do not violate the law" (Dennis, 2015).
Mass media as a factor of the public confidence formation are able to affect the public opinion, to influence the attitudes, values, and self-consciousness of the audience.And though the contemporary assessments of the impact of press, radio, television, and online publications on the consciousness and conduct of people are very ambiguous, it is widely believed that the consciousness and behavior of people essentially depend on the information field created by journalists.At the same time, the level of trust to the mass media, which as a result also determines their state of being in demand of the audience, is the subject of the individual studies of many informational and research centers, agencies, and companies.
The data of a poll conducted in 2012 by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center have shown that television is the most popular among the Russian mass media: the information from the central television is obtained by 98% of respondents; from the regional television-by 88%.The second place is held by the press (the central press is read by 70%; the local-by 68%).The third source of the highest demand is the Internet (59%), which appeared to be more popular than the radio (central-53%, regional-46%).The least frequent source of information for the Russian people is foreign mass media (26%) (The All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, 2012).
According to the ranking researches that were conducted by TNS Gallup in more than 140 Russian cities with the population of more than 100,000 people older than 10 years of age (March -July and May -October, 2014), the television is the undisputed leader according to the audiences coverage: 93% of respondents watch TV, against the 66% of Internet users, 64% of radio listeners, and 36% of the newspaper and magazine readers.At the same time, this interest in the news, information-analytical and socio-political programs on TV is steadily growing, while the occurred in 2014 surge of interest of the Internet audience in the politics and international relations has died out.For the past two years, the printed mass media have been losing their readers.The statistics also record a stable, though not so fast growth of confidence in the radio among the young audience at the age of 16-19 and 25-34 years.On the air, they most often listen to the analytical comments to the news and political reviews (Monitoring and Analysis of the Mass Media [MAMM], 2014).According to the agency data, the last quarter of 2014 ended for the majority of the Title Popularity Ranking participants without any significant changes.All business and mass newspapers managed to preserve their ranks.The "Rossiiskaia Gazeta" newspaper won back a bit of its past losses, and in the IV quarter, expanded the audience coverage by 4%.According to the same audience data, it traditionally surpasses the "Izvestiia" newspaper (834,200 vs. 291,600).This allowed the official press body of the government to stay on the top line of its segment, despite the fact that its colleagues referred to the materials of the nearest competitor 1.5 times more frequently.

5.
In modern Russia, the mass media texts published mainly in the periodicals become the main means of enhancing the legal sense of justice.Over the past few years, despite the significant progress in the development of the technical tools and the new methods of communication, federal and regional socio-political periodicals retain their popularity.The sustainable positions of the mentioned varieties of the press can be explained by their high socio-political importance and skillful preparation of the copyright materials, comments, expert assessments, and analytic thesis.
The legal regulation of journalism provides the Russian mass media with the possibility to exercise their professional activities independently and legitimately, including those aimed at improving the legal culture and sense of justice among the citizens.
The reasons for distrust to the mass media, which is also typical for the global space, can be as follows: the use of The professional rights and responsibilities of a journalist.The Code of Professional Ethics of a Russian Journalist, as approved by the Congress of Journalists of Russia on June