International Legal Regulation of the Right to Freedom of Opinion in Journalists Professional Activities

The purpose of the article is to determine the scope of normative acts of international direction that regulate the professional activity of journalists; analysis of international legislation on the regulation of journalists’ professional activity, determination of priority directions of international regulation of professional activity of journalists and other media participants. The methodological toolkit consists of general scientific and special scientific research methods, which are selected according to the purpose and task, object and subject of research. The methodological basis of the article is the general dialectical method of scientific knowledge of legal phenomena, namely, the regulation of the professional activity of journalists in accordance with international law. General scientific methods: historical, synthesis and analysis. Special methods of research are: comparative legal method and method of system analysis. The scientific novelty of the publication is that today there is an increasing tendency to restrict freedom of expression, impede the free movement of journalists, and ban access to information. There is a large number of calls for statements made against the professional work of a journalist for coverage of information of public interest; the norms which restrict the professional activity of the journalist and other media participants are incorrectly fixed at the legislative level. Conclusions. Analyzing international law, we can identify the most important areas of international regulation of journalists’ professional activities, namely: protection and promotion of investigative journalism; protection of journalism and the safety of journalists and other media participants; protection of journalists under the conditions of conflict and pressure.