Protecting private information of public interest: Campbell's great promise, unfulfilled. (3rd July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wragg, Paul
• Is Part Of: Journal of media law. Volume 7:Number 2(2015:Dec.)
• Page Start: 225
• Page End: 250
• Publication Date: 2015-07-03
• Subjects: privacy -- press freedom -- proportionality -- judicial reasoning -- public interest; Mass media -- Law and legislation -- Periodicals; Telecommunication -- Law and legislation -- Periodicals; 343.41099
• DOI: 10.1080/17577632.2015.1099844
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1757-7632

Abstract

Abstract : According to the House of Lords decision in Campbell v MGN Ltd, a misuse of private information claim may succeed even though public interest expression is at stake. The post-Campbell jurisprudence, however, does not reflect this central tenet. Cases are not determined by balancing the weight of each claim but by a binary approach in which claims succeed or fail depending on whether public interest expression is present or not. By charting this development, this article argues that a greater sense of proportionality would be achieved if cases were decided not by the quality of expression but by the harm caused by it. By re-imagining Campbell as a four-part test, it will show how the current paternalistic and idiosyncratic influences on decision-making may be reduced significantly.