Printed matter

When printing products ( print media and ( with anglicism ) print media) classic printed information sources such as magazines, newspapers, books, catalogs, geographical maps and plans, as well as postcards, calendars, posters, leaflets, pamphlets, posters, etc. are referred to. Highly versatile and difficult to overlook is the group of advertising and the gray literature as well as the publications beyond books and magazine market, such as the university publications.

Printing process

Printed products are almost always made ​​on paper, the printing technology is rapidly changing and the digital printing technology getting more and more often occurs - for example, when print-on -demand or the corresponding book-on -Demand. Most print products are produced at the beginning of the third millennium with printing inks and printing equipment, today mostly in the offset printing process. In the area of the above " horror media," but is still the photocopy (named after the company Xerox, and now usually referred to as photocopy ) of great importance. Older methods such as screen printing still have their importance, but are declining.

Legal Aspects

Press law is governed by the state laws of the individual states. Legally, any public performance is already a publication, including a brochure, a poster, a leaflet or a single note on the bulletin board in the university cafeteria of the university, a concert or theater performance, a lecture, or even a solo in the pedestrian zone. For any publication in print form, there must be a responsible person; is usually the chief editor, with posters and leaflets (so-called flyer) responsibility of those who ( d P. V. i p ) is drawn as responsible according to press law in magazines and newspapers.

Both editors and managers in the context of press legislation civilly liable with their private assets and personally criminally if an offense is committed by the publication, and / or the rights of others are violated. By patent right has been here so far the protection of the person and of personal honor understood ( cf. the concept of human dignity in the German Basic Law ); whether this rule also applies to copyright infringement, (October 2004) is still controversial.

People who feel a false representation ( statement of fact ) attacked or discriminated against in an item, basically in Druckerzezugnissen the right to reply. Here, however, a number of criteria must be observed, the exact representation of the item of reply.

The imprint obligation prescribes the press regulatory law, in any periodical publication an imprint to be published. The purpose of a legal notice is that authorities, readers and advertisers can determine, among other things, Publishing House dates from which the publication and especially who. For the content, who is responsible for which part of the publication is Legal responsibility An imprint must include the so-called geographical indications, ie the publisher's address, business address and the name of the person responsible, and the name and address of the print shop. The printer address is important because it is needed to stop at injunctions to the pressure or the delivery. Also to be published the names of the Head of Department and Head of Advertising. Thus, victims of disputes, civil or criminal liability, identify those responsible and make them liable or her right to a reply, asserted at a factual statement.

Another typical duty of the writer's guild is the duty of care. Journalists, editors, etc. are required prior to the transmission of news these to control the content, origin and veracity, and thus to exercise care in their journalistic activities. This is to prevent incorrect or criminally relevant content is published.

In addition, editors, journalists, etc. have the right to refuse information on their informants, including to law enforcement agencies or in court - the so-called evidentiary privilege. The information gathering of journalists is protected from government interference, a part of the freedom of the press (Article 5 GG) is hereby guaranteed. This also means that documents from newsrooms may not be seized. In February 2007, the protection of whistleblowers and freedom of the press were strengthened by the so-called Cicero judgment by the Federal Constitutional Court. For details on the evidentiary privilege in the accompanying article.

Demarcation

In contrast to the print products, the new media will be provided, which today are predominantly present in the digitized form, so for example, CD -ROMs, DVDs, digital books ( " e-book" ) or web publications. By interconvertible media formats (see PDF ) and their increasingly common use of the transitions have become more fluent here.

Ground in the World Wide Web media landscape, the print output is often only the pendant to the electronic journal, previously published articles in the online edition of a magazine and the digital book dar. most cases, the paper issue covers more topics than the online version, while the the latter in particular to promote the printed products of the publisher. Because of the need for printing and distribution time, the print output is usually less current, but provides an important source of revenue in addition to the mostly obtained via Internet advertising and micropayments revenue for published on the internet publications for publishers dar.

The third media group is the group of volatile, one-time publications, either by the so-called broadcast media, publications, on radio and television, whether locally or on the Internet e- zine or blog, on an intranet, or through public performance ( speech, exhibition, theaters, concert ). Public here means that it is not just about a defined, in itself ' closed group ' of family, company, organization or society members, however, the boundaries are also blurred.