Issue 4 (14) 2011

6 THE RELATIONS OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATIONS

THE RELATIONS OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATIONS

A.B. Ektumaev

Perm State National Research University
15, Bukirev st., Perm, 614990
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This article examines the relations between freedom of speech and freedom of information, which is one of the most controversial points in the study of the constitutional law. Investigations in the relations of the constitutional right for freedom of expression to other constitutional rights allow determining how this right is placed among the other rights and freedoms, and to distinguish their scope, which, in particular, helps to identify more accurately the inherent limits of the right for freedom of speech, determined by the subject of its guarantee.

In response to the question posed the author of this article highlights the following main points. First. In relation to the right for freedom of speech the rights of information listed in Part 4 of Article 29 of the Constitution should be seen as complementary. They are, in fact, entitlements of the right for freedom of speech, namely: the entitlements to search, produce, transmit, distribute and receive messages containing not opinions, but some or other information that is amenable to verification.

Second. The rights named in Section 4 of Article 29 of the Constitution should be interpreted as separate entitlements, that, in summation, produce a constitutional right for freedom of information, which has a special legal content and serves as a guarantee for the information relations that are not related to communication in our understanding, i.e. characterized by no difference between information and message, and therefore not protected by the right for freedom of speech.

The third. The "entitlements bank", proposed by S.N. Sheverdyaev, can be represented as the interpretation for the future. The rights named in paragraph 4 of Article 29 of the Constitution, will be used in case of existing some new, unknown at the present time, information and communication relations. Considering the pace for development of both information and communication technologies and the appropriate development in public relations there is a high probability that in the nearest future the named entitlements – even, seemingly, duplicating the provisions of Part 1 of Article 29 – will store an important legal content.

Keywords: basic human rights; freedom of speech; freedom of information; freedom of the press; communication

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