Journalists — The key legal challenges that they face
Journalists play an important role in society as they are the front runners in gathering the information required in order for the rest of us to consume the news we do. Often described as a love/hate profession, the hunt for the next big story is always on the agenda. Do some of them cross boundaries? Of course. But how much of a legal challenge do they really face in their pursuit of the next big headline. We take a look.
Privacy
There are a multitude of laws surrounding the invasion of privacy. Privacy laws exist to prevent the lives of people being invaded to points that breach conduct. There is a difficult balance that journalists must be aware of when going about their newsgathering activities. The right to freedom of expression is a conflict of the privacy law. What news must be considered ‘newsworthy’ to the point that it overrides the privacy of an individual, event, group etc. there is a fine line, and the courts are ultimately the judges of whether such a line has been crossed, as there is no direct guideline to follow. This is a difficult aspect for a journalist to balance. Not only this, invasion of someone’s privacy is a subjective matter and many will have different views on it. The safety of a journalist can consequently be brought into question as one crossed line might have different implications for the individual on the subject at hand.
Defamation Law
Defamation law is a law put in place to protect people from unjust hatred and disrespect. If a journalist makes an article, a headline or story that damages the reputation and livelihood of a person and/or business, they could face legal battles against them. The one factor in their favour however, is that if they are deemed to be ‘telling the truth’, or it was in their ‘opinion’ it could be deemed in their favour.
On the whole, it is evident that journalists face a difficult battle in obliging with the law, as a lot of it could come down to subjective opinion. It is therefore essential journalists tread carefully, as it is evident that most are willing to take risks.
