Does Privacy Matter for Journalists

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Does Privacy Matter for Journalists?

• By Stephen Lam Wattie Lo

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Media Ethics in Hong Kong

• Declining professional and ethical standards
• Severe competition has led the media to resort to
  sensationalism and increase in market share
• Numerous complaints against Apple Daily and
  Oriental Daily News
• Owner of Apple Daily Jimmy Lai once said that so
  long as such photos continue to stimulate sales,
  he would not cease using them

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What is Privacy? (1/2)

• The quality or state of being apart from company
  or observation
• (Friedman, W.H. (2004). Perspectives on
  Privacy. Journal of American Academy of
  Business. 4(1/2), p.244.)
• Freedom from unauthorised intrusion
• (Britannica, 1997)

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What is Privacy? (2/2)

• Privacy is a right of the individual to be free
  from secret surveillance (by scientific devices
  or other means) and from the disclosure to
  unauthorised persons of personal data, as
  accumulated in computer data banks.
• (Friedman, 2004)

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Why Do We Care About Privacy?

• Tranquillity
• Desire to avoid economic harm through, say,
  stealing of credit card numbers
• Desire to avoid job discrimination
• Desire to avoid unwanted contacts
• And more

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Invasion of Privacy

• Journalists using unlawful or unfair means to
  obtain information are no different from entering
  a house to carry something away without the
  owners prior consent

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Example (1/3)

• Victims of tragedy
• Wherever a crime or tragedy occurs, journalists
  will be there to take photographs and interview
  the individuals involved. Some may take pictures
  of victims who have been injured and are
  unwilling or not fit to give consent

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Example (2/3)

• Persons in grief
• When a father kills his daughter and commits
  suicide, the bereaved often feel disoriented and
  confused as to whether they want to be
  interviewed
• Journalists are often told to cover stories of
  this type of tragedy in-depth by talking to the
  bereaved family members, neighbours, relatives
  and friends

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Example (3/3)

• Celebrities
• Celebrities are pictured in public area without
  their consent
• Some journalists have been accused of infringing
  the privacy of celebrities

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Implications for Journalists

• Privacy is important not because its some sort
  of moral principle that everyone must buy into
  but because any attempt to violate this principle
  will have a material impact on people, business,
  and social normsthat is, the functioning of
  society as a whole

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Privacy vs. Press Freedom

• Two heavyweights.
• No hierarchy of values or rights ever
  successfully devised and accepted to settle the
  conflict.

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The strategy to resolve the conflict between
privacy press freedom

• The complementary thesis
• at most points the law of privacy and the law
  sustaining a free press do not contradict each
  other. On the contrary, they are mutually
  supportive, in that both are vital features of
  the basic system of individual rights. (Emerson,
  1979)
• Restatement (and criticism) of Raymond Wacks
  argument in his Privacy and Press Freedom,
  Chapter Two.

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The three critical questions

• 1. When privacy is balanced against free
  speech, what is meant by privacy?
• 2. How is free speech justified in
  circumstances when it appears to collide with
  privacy?
• 3. On what grounds is it thought that
  protecting individuals against the public
  disclosure of private information diminishes the
  freedom of the press?

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When privacy is balanced against free speech,
what is meant by privacy?

• Delimit the scope of privacy.
• Wacks claims that his conception of
  informational privacy is clear and objective
  the protected personal information are those
  facts, communications, or opinions that relate to
  the individual and which are of such a nature
  that it would be reasonable to expect him to
  regard as intimate or sensitive, and therefore to
  want to withhold or at least to restrict their
  collection, use, or circulation.
• Comment a clear definition is not necessarily a
  good definition if it is gained by narrowing the
  scope of protection.

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How is free speech justified in circumstances
when it appears to collide with privacy? (1)

• Eliminating the conflict by exposing the
  justification of free press. Two ways
• 1. Dissolving the conflict Some justifications
  are simply invalid, for example, we cannot
  justify press freedom in the name of the
  individual right of the speaker. Who are the
  speakers in press freedom? Reporters, editors,
  the publishers or the owner of the press?

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How is free speech justified in circumstances
when it appears to collide with privacy? (2)

• 2. The grounds of free press can also serve as
  the reasons for limiting the press. (e.g. The
  Fourth Estate justification Free press is for
  checking the Government)
• The implications for the protection of privacy of
  celebrities as public figures.

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On what grounds is it thought that protecting
individuals against the public disclosure of
private information diminishes press freedom?
(1)

• The complementary thesis
• (privacy and free press) do not contradict each
  other. On the contrary, they are mutually
  supportive, in that both are vital features of
  the basic system of individual rights.
• The formal structure of the Complementary Thesis
  A (press freedom) and B (privacy) do not
  contradict each other because they are both
  instrumental to some common goals C.

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On what grounds is it thought that protecting
individuals against the public disclosure of
private information diminishes press freedom?
(2)

• Note that the formulations of this Common Goal
  varies
• -- basic system of individual rights (Wacks?)
• -- a comprehensive scheme of social values and
  social goals. (Emerson)

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On what grounds is it thought that protecting
individuals against the public disclosure of
private information diminishes press freedom? (2)

• ---It can also be one of the justificatory
  grounds, see Consutation Paper 1.31.
• Freedom of expression is essential to the
  realisation of a persons character and
  potentialities as a human being...... But Alan
  Westin points out that privacy also contributes
  to the development of individuality. ...Freedom
  of speech and privacy therefore complement each
  other in working toward the same goal of
  individual self-fulfilment.

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Concluding reflections

• Complementary?
• To say that press freedom and privacy are not in
  conflict (from a cetain perspective) does not
  imply that they are complementary or mutually
  supportive. The opposite of no conflict is at
  best compatible.