The aim of the article is to study the national legislation, the results of which evidence a certain disagreements between legal terminology and understanding of the role and functions of the state in mass media. Due to existence of certain reasons, both objective (complexity of regulatory and legislative procedures) and subjective (cumbersomeness of the state administration apparatus, excessive bureaucracy, in competency), the development of the state information policy is lagging behind changes in social development. In particular, it relates to the change of a model and review of the fundamental mechanisms of the state support of media in Ukraine. Most urgently this issue concerns the print media for local distribution markets.
