Saint Petersburg, 7 April 2016. PenzaNews. The PenzaNews editor-in-chief described the questions he would have liked to ask the Russian President and All-Russian People’s Front leader Vladimir Putin during the “Truth and Justice” media forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday, April 7.

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The plenary meeting that acted as a conclusion for the media forum ended without any of the Penza region journalists getting an opportunity to ask questions to the head of state.

Pavel Polosin explained why he was unable to address his question to the APF leader.

“The audience was seated in several circling rows. I was lucky enough to get in the ‘first circle’ – I was only four seats away from the head of state, and together with Timofeeva, Minenko, Govorukhin, Brechalov and over 20 other participants. The journalists who asked questions were mainly in the second row and further. Only a single question was asked by a first row member, when the event moderator gave her an opportunity,” said the PenzaNews editor-in-chief.

According to Pavel Polosin, the first of the questions he intended to ask was related to the head of state’s opinion about the legal basis for online news sources.

“Lately, we’ve seen the emergence of very many websites that are not registered as media sources, yet demand from the authorities and the public the same rights as registered mass media. And even the littlest of websites dare to call themselves news agencies, misleading the public. Moreover, such websites usually have nonmoderated forums that are actively used to disseminate unproven facts and slander, as well as anonymous comments. Those websites have nothing in common with media sources and especially news agencies,” he stressed.

As PenzaNews editor-in-chief reminded, this topic recently became a point of discussion during the meeting with the head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov, who suggested to distinguish mass media sources from mass communication tools on a legal basis as they work in two entirely different legal frameworks.

“Moreover, he fully agreed with my point that there should be new legal conditions that would make it more advantageous to function as an officially registered media source. in my opinion, this can be achieved, first of all, through tax preferences, which must be provided in a bigger amount to the media and journalism long-timers who have a clean record with the regulators and supervision bodies, including Roskomnadzor,” the Penza journalist explained.

Another question that Pavel Polosin intended to ask the Russian President was related to protection of intellectual property; however, the question instead was asked by Valery Shagiev, general director of “Vostochny Express” TV channel.

“I liked the President’s words that Russia at present has no culture of respect for intellectual rights. After all, if we focus on photos, what photos are the first to be stolen? Not bad ones, but high-quality ones, beautiful, colorful, those that tell a story. It takes effort and money to produce such photos – not just singles, but whole series. It requires hard everyday work by the editorial staff,” he pointed out.

According to Pavel Polosin, an earlier discussion of the issue with the Center for Legal Support of Journalists resulted in a suggestion to give a copyright violator a chance to right the legal wrong.

“However, I explained that the law-breakers are numerous, while the copyright holder is usually just a single entity. The lawyers agreed that the violation must not be ignored regardless of whether it was rectified afterward or not, and such situations must be dealt with,” the PenzaNews editor-in-chief clarified.

He also pointed out that the people and organizations interested in using a certain photo in their work can always do so legally, including through purchasing the usage rights.

“If use of copyright objects is systematic and constant with the hope that they would not get punished for it, the perpetrators must be met with the harshest of measures. However, if a certain party uses texts, graphics, photos or videos in accordance with the terms of use set by the copyright holder, the situation is entirely different. In that case the entity in question at the very least shows respect to the original authors as an act of appreciation for the work,” Pavel Polosin concluded.