A CASE AGAINST PRIVACY LEGISLATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE REGIONAL PRESS
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb024762 |
| Published date | 01 February 1992 |
| Pages | 147-154 |
| Date | 01 February 1992 |
| Author | KEITH PARKER |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
A CASE AGAINST PRIVACY LEGISLATION FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF THE REGIONAL PRESS
Received: 16th November, 1992.
KEITH PARKER
KEITH PARKER
IS CHAIRMAN OF THE
PARLIAMENTARY
AND
LEGAL COMMITTEE OF THE GUILD OK BRITISH
NEWSPAPER EDITORS. HE IS ALSO EDITOR OK
THE
EXPRESS
AND
STAR,
WOLVERHAMPTON,
CHAIRMAN AND PAST PRESIDENT
OK
THE
GUILD OK BRITISH NEWSPAPER EDITORS, A
MEMBER OK TOE PRESS COMPLAINTS
COMMISSION AND A MEMBER OK TOE
INDUSTRY'S CODE OK CONDUCT COMMITTEE.
ABSTRACT
The paper
sets
out
the
reasons for
the
oppo-
sition of
the
Guild of
British Newspaper
Editors to the imposition
of
privacy
legisla-
tion.
In doing so, it first
examines
five
recent stories
arguing that
the publication
of
each
in the
press can
be justified
as being
in
the
public
interest.
It then
considers
the
effect
of any
new privacy legislation
which
would in the view of
the
Guild not only
probably fail
to
prevent stories from being
released
but
also be
damaging
to the
work-
ing
of an
open
society.
INTRODUCTION
The Guild of British Newspaper
Editors, which has in its membership
nearly 250 editors of local and
regional newspaper titles throughout
the UK, strongly opposes the imposi-
tion of privacy legislation. Inevitably,
public attention in the debate has
been given to newspaper coverage of
controversies like those surrounding
Paddy Ashdown, the Royal family,
David Mellor and to a lesser extent,
Virginia Bottomley and Frank
Bough. All have claimed, or had
claimed on their
behalf,
press intru-
sion into their privacy. They have
become the cases on which present
political concern has been founded.
For what it is worth, an opinion
poll conducted by The Times (Sep-
tember 1992) shows some of these
stories have confirmed certain
public misgivings about press intru-
sion into private lives, though it indi-
cates fewer misgivings than two
years ago before the Press Com-
plaints Commission (PCC) was estab-
lished on 1st January, 1991. National
broadsheets, and to an even larger
147
To continue reading
Request your trial