Week 6 Flashcards
Breach of confidence - what the court decide
The court will decide:
- Whether the material has the necessary ‘quality of confidence’
- Whether the information was originally communicated in circumstances imposing an ‘obligation of confidence’
- If there has been unauthorised use of information that is a detriment of the party who originally communicated it
Detriment includes financial loss, loss of business, loss of reputation
Breach of confidence
Breach of Confidence is a civil law (tort/wrong)
Remedies for confidentiality 5
- An injunction (court order banning publication) - a breach could be a fine or jail
- Court can order organisation to ‘deliver up’ the confidential information
- Court may order journalists to disclose the source of the information
- Damages - media to pay the owner of confidential information for loss
- Media may be ordered to state account of profits
Case Law Court of Appeal
Sun Printers v Westminster Press (Watford Observer) the Court of Appeal ruled that plans to make workers redundant had already been circulated widely
Article 10 ECHR
journalists should not be forced to reveal their sources unless in interests of justice, interests of national security or prevention of disorder and crime
S10 Contempt of Court Act 1981
‘Shield Law’
Shield Law
No journalist should be forced to reveal a source unless it is in the interests of justice, national security, prevention of disorder or crime
Case Law - revealing sources
Bill Goodwin v UK - Bill Goodwin was prosecuted for Contempt of Court for failing to reveal a source for a story. But he took the case to the European Court of Human Rights citing his right to freedom of speech (to impart and receive information) under Article 10 and WON!
Clause 14 of the Editor’s Code (sources) says
Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information
Clause 7.7 of the Ofcom Code (sources) says
Guarantees given to contributors for example relating to the content of a programme, confidentiality or anonymity should normally be honoured
Privacy
Comes under civil law - A tort or misuse of private information
Article 8 ECHR
Everyone has a right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence
How can privacy be breached 3
- By an intrusive act of gathering of private information
- By publication without their consent
- It can be breached ina public place if the person is upset, in grief, shock, distressed, mentally ill, etc
Remedies for Breach of Privacy
- An injunction can be imposed either to prevent a breach or prevent its repetition
- Damages
Where is there an expectation of privacy
- intimate personal relationships, including sexual relationships and adulterous ones, (Max Mosley case) and private correspondence and private communications
- The location of the event(s) may determine if there is a ‘reasonable expectation’ of privacy