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NCTJ Law and regulation confidence notes
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Lecture notes on NCTJ exam content for media law and regulation
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Law, ethics and regulationLecture 5
Confidence and confidentiality
UK does not have law of privacy
In a privacy case a judge will be looking to decide whether the claimant had REOP.
Can depend on nature of what happened, where it happened, who it happened to and
whether it is well publicised.
Public interest can be a defence.
Privacy law has evolved to protect people who are under investigation by the police or
official agency.
A media organisation or journalist who publishes a report identifying a person as being
under investigation could be sued for damages for misuse of private information if that
person is not charged with any offence.
Eg, if they’ve been searched or questioned
The person could seek an injunction.
Eg, Sir Cliff Richard and the BBC.
Case law is not clear yet on wether privacy law protects a person as regards publication of
an arrest.
If it was visible to the public, it is less likely to be ruled to intrude as there would be no REOP
unless there was an exceptional factor – arrested or mentally ill.
If police released identity for a legitimate purpose – that can be published safely.
Breach of confidence
A person given confidence should not take unfair advantage of it.
Breach of confidence is a civil matter – a tort
Cases are heard in county courts or the Queens bench division of the high court.
Risks – watch out for these in scenarios:
- Revealing commercial secrets
- Information gained in employment – protect commercially sensitive information eg,
market research , data/plans for new products
- Passing on details to a competitor could result in being sacked and being sued for
breach of confidence
- Competitor could also be sued if it is clear the information is of a confidential nature.
- Health details – hospitals
- Private details – families and relationships
- Key cases :
- Prince Albert v Strange (1848)- publication of private family etchings, Coco v AN
Clark (engineers)- mergarry test (moped design), A-G v Times Newspapers (1992)-
spycatcher case, Goodwin v UK (1996)- revealing a source, Cmpbell v Mirror Group
Newspapers (2004)- NA.
Three elements – MERGARRY TEST
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