This document discusses various issues relating to privacy, media ethics, and the law. It touches on topics such as death knocks, covering grief, privacy expectations of public figures vs. ordinary people, covert filming, regulating new media technologies, and the tension between privacy and the public's right to know. It also examines legal issues such as the Hosking tort for privacy breaches, the Official Information Act, and defenses available to media around privacy like public interest. Alternatives to the current self-regulatory system are debated.

1. 3/30/2010
I just want some privacy
Privacy & public places
Public interest, privacy &
secrecy
Is there a clause for that?
I think you'd first have to find journos JOURNZ
who knew there was a code of
ethics. Discussion list for
I seem to remember informal New Zealand
surveys that showed that many
journos didn't know we had a code journalists
or if they did where they could find it
and what it said. Responses to my
Might be a question worth asking questions about
again now.
death knocks and
the code of ethics
More on death knocks
A young off-duty police officer drowned
I've lost track of the number of
after trying to raft down a river while
times I've been ordered to
it was still in flood in the early 90s.
intrude on private
The morning they found his body,
grief. Refusal to so intrude would
Network demanded I contact his
have meant instant sacking.
grandparents, who he was living with at
So many of our brethren love the
the time.
Death Knock.
I refused and was told to front up or
The more tears, the better.
else. The cops hadn't given any direct
So much for ethics.
statements until then.
I phoned one of the friendly seniors,
The day I become comfortable explained my predicament, and he
with death knocks will be the day gave me a perfect 10 second sound
I stop doing bite for use in the next bulletin.
them. Until then I'll do them, but I Network filled the hole and moved on to
won't be enjoying it. the next headline and I was left with my
moral decision intact.
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2. 3/30/2010
Covering grief – never easy
Whether it's right or wrong, I hate
the way we cover grief, get right in Another way to cover
the face of people crying for a grief?
loved one, and film funerals in
churches. Find a spokesperson who is
I turn it off. not a direct relative
I'm no fan of death knocks. I hate
doing it. But sometimes there is Go through agency such as
value in them. police or church
I do remember one occasion
where the deceased's parents Timing – can you wait?
wanted to talk because they Express empathy, but
wanted their son to be
remembered as a person rather remember professional
than a statistic. distance
Privacy:
where ethics and law collide
Principles and politics of privacy
The legal framework
Recent cases and precedents
Surveillance
The techno-legal time gap
Privacy and the right-to-know
Common law privacy issues
Courts can decide issues
in relation to media
intrusions on privacy
(Hosking case 2005)
Is there a reasonable
expectation of privacy?
Would publication be
offensive to an ordinary
person?
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3. 3/30/2010
The general rule
Everyone has a
reasonable expectation
of privacy
Should not disclose
private facts if to do so
would be highly
offensive to a
reasonable person
Defence: public interest
test
Privacy principles
and the media
What’s generally covered:
Family court proceedings
tight restrictions on what’s reported
Interception of conversations
unless you have permission and/or you are
one party
Photography for private purposes
Intercepting mail
Lesser privacy
People in the public eye
have a lower expectation
of privacy
Public officials – held to
account
Celebrities – profit from
their fame
Prominent people in public
life
Serious criminals
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4. 3/30/2010
Privacy & fairness
BSA guidelines seem to
A picture of an
identifiable person
suggest there is a link between
leaving a brothel or a intrusions into privacy and a
Narcotics Anonymous
meeting is objectionable
report being “unfair” to the
because it demonstrates subject
that that person uses
prostitutes or has a drug Does the subject have a
addiction.
(Moreham 2010, p.6) “reasonable expectation” of
privacy
Identification is an issue, but so
intimacy
Is this fair…
…or this?
Naomi Campbell UK
case after 3 years of
legal action
Cost the Daily Mirror
more than $2 million in
costs (see case study)
This is a very good day for lying drug-
abusing prima donnas who want to have
their cake with the media, and the right to
then shamelessly guzzle it with their Cristal
champagne
Piers Morgan
Daily Mirror editor
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5. 3/30/2010
“Click” –
photography & privacy
Photography
Copyright Act – images for private
purpose are protected
Private facts which would be
offensive to publish
Hidden cameras – “intrusion into
solitude”
Trespass to photograph
Contempt of court & defamation
through image and/or caption
Law Commission report
Ch 6 focus on media & privacy
Recognises shifting political economy & material
conditions
“…there is an increasing merging of news and
entertainment…
…there is pressure to cut costs…
…citizen journalism…blogs, chatrooms and
sites like Facebook, Bebo and YouTube…”
(p.75)
Self-regulation of privacy issues
Press Council 6 complaints out of 43 in
2008 relate to privacy
BSA 2008-9: 17 out of 151 complaints
about privacy
Law Commission comment on anomalies
of regulation and self-regulation:
There has been much comment that it is difficult to understand why
broadcasters and the print media are dealt with so differently, the one by a
statutory body which can impose legal sanctions, and the other by a voluntary
body which cannot (p.77)…
There is, of course, a much wider issue…It is how, if at all, the internet can
be regulated. (p.78)
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6. 3/30/2010
Regulating privacy
BSA Press Council
Reasonable Privacy should not
expectation interfere with public
Offensive interest
Intrusive methods People in the news
Public information is can be identified –
not private public interest
Public place not a Authority cannot claim
defence all times the cloak of privacy
Be careful around
children
Privacy and dubious methods
Breaking and
Some criminal offences
involve conduct so clearly
entering a private
against the public interest dwelling house,
that it could not for a
moment be supposed that
intimate covert
the media should be filming,
exempt, however worthy
and demanding
their motives might be.
Law Commission with menaces
2010, p.79
…but
…it may at times be BSA principle 8
justifiable for the media allows exception for
to telephone a person
or accost a person in media to intrude on
the street on more than privacy for greater
one occasion if public interest
information of legitimate
public concern is being Hidden camera may
sought. also be justified on
Law Commission 2010, p.79
occasion
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7. 3/30/2010
Privacy
& the techno-legal time gap
BSA covers broadcasting
Press Council covers newspapers &
magazines
Privacy Commission cannot regulate
the “news media”
No on regulates privacy breaches via
the Internet
Solution…another dialectic
We wonder whether there may
be merit in amending the So Stuff.co.nz would
definition of “news medium” in
the Privacy Act to resolve this not be “news media”?
dilemma, perhaps by providing
that online publications which How many ways does
are not subject to any other
regulator are not “news media”
this not make sense?
and thus are subject to the
Privacy Commissioner’s What alternatives are
jurisdiction.
(Law Commission,
there?
2010, p.77)
Is the Internet really
free?
Covert filming
Media will have some defences which
allow covert filming of “interior of a
dwelling”:
it is a place of work or business
to protect health & safety
expose the commission of an offence
Cannot trespass, or break-in to install
surveillance devices
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8. 3/30/2010
Privacy and celebrity
Celebs live from the
exposure they get
Media makes money
from the exposure too
"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't read it What level of privacy
or watched the television and the
news. I've seen it, but I understand exists in the collision
that you guys [media] have a job to
do and me being a professional between their world
athlete, it's not just about what I do
on the field, it's off the field as well.
and ours?
Michael Clarke, NZ Herald 20-3-10
The Hosking tort
tort
Wrongful act, other than a breach of contract,
that injures another and for which the law
permits a civil (noncriminal) action to be
brought. Relief may be obtained in the form
of damages or an injunction.
Defence: “legitimate public
concern” protects media
against accusations of
unwarranted intrusion into
personal matters
[Burrows & Cheer 2005, p.247++]
Secrets and lies
It can be argued,(too,)that lying
and secrecy are basic to any
government; that it is only human
nature for political leaders to tend
to conceal the truth, hide their
mistakes or wrongdoing, and
mislead the public.
That easy rationale is not
acceptable, however, in a
democracy, which depends upon
an informed public.
David Wise, The politics of lying (1973) p.24
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9. 3/30/2010
Rights to official information
Official Information is any information held by the
Government
There are two Acts that govern access to official
information:
the Official Information Act 1982; and
the Local Government Official Information and Meetings
Act 1987.
The purpose of the law is to:
increase the availability of official information to promote
more effective public participation in the making and
administration of laws and policies;
Homework
Reading
BSA review of privacy decisions
Law Commission report, Ch6 (Tutorial worksheets)
Burrows and Cheer Media Law in New Zealand
excerpt on Hosking decision (e.reserve)
Price, Chs 5, 15, 20
Official Information Act – guidelines (online)
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