Detective Investigative Journalism Investigations

[Детективное агентство. Украина. Харьков. Львов.]

of the content: “Offered services for conducting independent investigations”, “If fraudsters deceived you, your company loses money, you do not receive a loan, or everything in your family life is not all right, then you got to the right place. Entrust your problems to professionals in your field ”,“ A professional journalist is one of the few real advocates to the last who guard the interests of the customer. ” What is the catch here? On the one hand, we are talking about professional journalists, and on the other hand, notes of operational-search activity are clearly audible, which has no connection with journalism.

It turns out that we are talking about the so-called detective agencies, which are registered as mass media, because they have not been able to legislate the activities of private investigators for the past 10 years. Therefore, some detectives work, guided by the principle of "what is not prohibited is allowed." And in order not to give rise to inspections by regulatory authorities, private detectives resort to various tricks. They are detectives for clients, and journalists for the state. Detectives in some cases conduct a journalistic investigation to obtain information. Of course, the very status of a journalist does not increase the possibility of access to information, but their activity acquires at least some kind of legitimate character.

In this regard, I would like to note the following.

Indeed, many former law enforcement officers and simply “craftsmen”, including, unfortunately, journalists, get the post of journalist in such “offices”. In fact, such “journalists” are engaged in prohibited private detectives, conduct operational-search measures and even investigative actions, which, of course, is the prerogative of state bodies providing the rule of law.
But do not mix the concepts of journalistic investigation and detective investigation. The main criterion that distinguishes such, at first glance, similar concepts is a sign of general accessibility (publicity) of information. A sign of publicity is fundamental to the activities of a journalist. This is precisely what the norms of the legislation governing the activities of journalists of print media and television and radio journalists speak of. For example, Article 25 of the Law "On the Printed Media (Press) in Ukraine" defines a journalist as a creative worker who professionally collects, receives, creates, and prepares information for a publishing house. For example, Article 1 of the Law “On Television and Radio Broadcasting” defines a television and radio journalist as a full-time or freelance creative worker who professionally collects, receives, creates and prepares information for distribution. By the way, the Law of Ukraine “On State Support of the Mass Media and the Social Protection of Journalists” (Article 12) indicates the journalist’s socially significant activity, high social responsibility for his work and its results. In addition, it should be borne in mind that any journalist must act within the framework of the Law "On Information".
It is clear that private detectives (acting under the cover of journalists) up and down violate the provisions of the law.
The problem of legalization of private detective agencies has long been facing modern Ukrainian society. Many citizens need information about their loved ones, relatives. Contracting activities between large legal entities are unlikely to do without checking the reputation and status of the counterparty, including information on bank accounts, financial obligations, etc.
The problem of “to be or not to be Ukrainian private investigation” consists of two aspects: on one side of the balance - market requirements; on the other, the protection of the legal (constitutional) rights of citizens. Try to just imagine for a moment that you are being monitored around the clock, your telephone conversations are being tapped, email is being hacked, etc. What are your actions? Of course, you are contacting law enforcement agencies, demanding to stop violating your right to privacy of telephone conversations, correspondence, etc. However, the police (prosecutor's office) politely let you know, they say, I'm sorry, the relevant laws have been introduced in connection with the adoption of the law “On Private Detective Activity” amendments to the Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure.
In order to avoid such situations, such restrictions on the rights of citizens, the legislation of Ukraine provides for Article 162 of the Criminal Code “Violation of the inviolability of housing”, Article 163 of the Criminal Code “Violation of the secrecy of correspondence, telephone conversations, telegraphic or other correspondence transmitted by means of communication or via computer”. In addition, there are many laws protecting such rights of citizens (Law of Ukraine “On Information”, “On Telecommunications”, etc.).
It seems that in the foreseeable future, detective agencies of private ownership will not be in the legal field.
I believe that the activities of such firms are subject to termination (as illegal), the actions of false journalists can generally be classified as fraudulent, because named persons receive royalties (remuneration) from their customers by deceiving them, misleading about their activities. "

Svyatoslav Pogranichny
Chief Editor of the Judicial-Legal Newspaper
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[Матушкин Андрей Николаевич]

Thank!