Abstract:

Introduction: The information society of the 21st century accelerates the development pace of human intellectual activity. Unique creative results in the fields of industry, science, literature, and art are being created. People receive knowledge of what is happening around the world mainly through the possibilities of the Internet. Digitalization helps the media industry to become the fastest growing industry in the world. The media world is being transformed and this process of change is increasingly being influenced by economy, technology, and social factors. The tendency for free use of journalistic materials in the digital space for commercial purposes is becoming more and more obscene. The outlined issue gathers relevance both at national and international levels, but research on intellectual-jurisprudence literacy in the media industry is lacking, explaining the actuality of the current report. The aim of the paper is to present main findings from the empirical study dedicated to the level of awareness among professional journalists on issues related to the intellectual-jurisprudence aspects of the media sector. Methodology: The following specific methods are used to achieve the purpose of the research and to solve the research tasks: statistical method, surveys, synthesis, graphic representation and tabular presentation of the processed and summarized information. Presentation: This paper presents a research on the awareness and attitude of professionals working in the media industry towards the use of copyrighted items in the Bulgarian media sector. An analysis of the results of the conducted survey is performed and summaries and recommendations for future development are created. For this purpose methodology and original questionnaire were developed. The analysis is the result of an online national survey on the attitude and awareness of professional journalists towards issues related to the organization and management of intellectual property in the media industry in Bulgaria, which took place between April 28 and June 26, 2018, outlining main trends, conclusions and recommendations. Results and Conclusion: The analysis of the results show that the intellectual-jurisprudence competency of the media workers is not at the required level, there is a real need for additional knowledge and training. The existing models and good practices in Europe and the world are not known in Bulgaria. The contemporary world imposes new requirements on the competencies and knowledge of journalists working in the media today, as well as for students trained in such professional fields. On their end, editorial offices and journalistic organizations have to create and enforce copyright policy as an important and necessary tool to bring clarity about copyright compliance in relation to emerging issues in the provision of journalistic products – both traditional and online. This requires a high copyright competency of media managers and owners. The incorporation of copyright education into university curriculums is natural and necessary. Further training of current journalists is needed. A change in the current legislative and regulatory framework is merited. Findings of the survey reveal that journalists are positive about raising awareness on the topic of intellectual-jurisprudence in the media industry.

Keywords:

Copyright, intellectual property, digitization, journalism, media industry, intellectual competence.