Politics reporting is one of the 17 news fields listed in the Press Card Regulation for the titles of news manager, editor, sub-editor and chief.
The Basis in the Legislation
The text of the sub-paragraph: on condition of working in the fields of politics, home news, foreign news, current affairs, the economy, finance, celebrity news, education, sport, culture and the arts, tourism, the family, health, science and technology, the environment, exclusive news and new media news; the news manager or editor or sub-editor or chief.
| Type of publication | Sub-paragraph | The 17-field condition |
|---|---|---|
| Daily political newspapers | Art. 19/1-g | Yes |
| Weekly political newspapers and magazines | Art. 20/1-g | Yes |
| Non-political newspapers and magazines | Art. 21/1-g | No |
| Fortnightly and less frequent publications | Art. 22/1-e | Yes |
| News and photo agencies | Art. 24/1-d | Yes |
| Radio and television | Art. 26/1-g | Yes |
| Internet news sites | Art. 27/1-g | Yes — the coordinator is also added to the titles |
The Scope of the Field
The Regulation does not define the content of the fields; it only lists their names. For that reason we set out here the legal framework of the field.
The Constitutional Framework
Political reporting is under the guarantee of Art. 26 of the Constitution (freedom to express and disseminate thought) and Art. 28 (freedom of the press). It is at the same time subject to the regime of limitation in Art. 13. We covered the detail in the constitutional basis of press freedom.
Restrictions in Election Periods
Publishing activities are subject to special rules in election periods. We covered those arrangements in the ancillary legislation map.
The Right of Access to Information
One of the basic tools of political reporting is the Right of Access to Information Law No. 4982.
Source Protection
Art. 12 of Law No. 5187 governs the right not to disclose the source of news. We covered its limits in the limits of source protection.
The Press Ethics Principles
For publications publishing official announcements, the General Assembly Decision on the Press Ethics Principles based on Article 49 of Law No. 195 is binding. We covered the detail in what the press ethics principles are.
Its Relationship with the Reporter Title
The 17 fields are listed for the managerial titles. The title of reporter, by contrast, appears in every list in a separate sub-paragraph without a field condition (Art. 19/1-h and its equivalents). In practice the name of the field defines the reporter’s specialisation.
We covered the detail in who is a reporter: duties, rights and the press card and in the news manager: duties and the press card title.