Privacy has become a big issue in contemporary jurisprudence. The “right to privacy” is enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. But Article 8 is balanced by Article 10, which guarantees “free expression of opinion.” So what right has priority when they conflict?
Under what circumstances, for example, is it right to curtail press freedom in order to protect the right to privacy, or vice versa? The same balance is being sought between the right of citizens to data privacy and government demands for access to personal information to fight crime, terrorism, and so on.
Freedom of speech is a fundamental democratic liberty. It is a necessary protection against abuses of power and cover-ups of wrongdoing by public officials. It was never more effectively displayed than in the Watergate investigation, which brought down Richard Nixon in 1974.
So it is no surprise that press freedom is the freedom that authoritarian governments are keenest to curtail. Indeed, provided they can sufficiently muzzle the media they can even allow (relatively) free elections, as in Putin’s Russia. With the press heavily shackled in large parts of the world, freedom of speech is still a worthy slogan.
But one can have too much press freedom. Over the years, the tabloid press has become increasingly intrusive, claiming the right not just to expose corruption and incompetence in high places, but to titillate readers with scandalous revelations about the private lives of the famous. What started off as entertaining gossip about royalty and film stars has burgeoned into a massive assault on privacy, with newspapers claiming that any attempt to keep them out of the bedroom is an assault on free speech.
The issue has just been tested in Britain’s High Court. In March, Britain’s leading scandal sheet, The New of the World published an “exclusive” front page story, under the headline “F1 BOSS HAS SICK NAZI ORGY WITH 5 HOOKERS.” It told how Max Mosley, President of the Federation Internationale de 1’ Automobile (FIA, the body that oversees world motoring and racing) and son of the former British fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley, had, two days earlier, taken part in a sadomasochistic “orgy” with a “Nazi theme” in a private apartment in London. The story was accompanied by photographs taken clandestinely by one of the women in cooperation with the News of the World, which readers were invited to download from the paper’s Web site.
Max Mosley admitted participating in this (not illegal) happening, but sued the News of the World for breach of privacy; the newspaper argued that it was in the “public interest” that Mosley’s sexual activities be disclosed. The presiding judge, Mr Justice Eady, rejected the newspaper’s defense, and awarded Max Mosley £60,000 ($115,000) compensation for the invasion of his privacy, the highest damages so far given for a complaint brought under Article 8.
There is a curious aspect to Eady’s judgment. He rejected the News of the World’s “public interest” defense, because he found no evidence that the sadomasochistic party had a “Nazi theme.” This implies that had there been a Nazi theme, it could have been legitimate to publish it, given Mosley’s position as F IA president. But surely the particular nature of Mosley’s private fantasies is irrelevant to the case. It is hard to see why I am less entitled to privacy because I am turned on by a Nazi uniform than I would be if I were excited by a pair of knickers.
What Eady’s judgment did accomplish was to highlight the crucial distinction, necessary for all clear thinking about privacy, between what interests the public and what is in the public interest. So how can this distinction be made effective?
France has a privacy law that explicitly defines both the scope of privacy and the circumstances in which the law applies. By contrast, in Britain it is left to judges to decide what the “right to privacy” means. There is a natural fear that specific legislation designed to protect privacy would muzzle legitimate press inquiries. At the same time, it is widely acknowledged (except by most editors and journalists) that a great deal of media intrusion is simply an abuse of press freedom, with the sole aim of boosting circulation by feeding public prurience.
A law that curtails the abuse of press power while protecting its freedom to expose the abuse of political power would be difficult, but not impossible, to frame. The essential principle is that the media should not be allowed to pander to the public’s prurience under cover of protecting the public interest.
What famous people—indeed ordinary people, too—do in private should be off limits to the media unless they give permission for those activities to be reported, photographed, or filmed. The only exceptions would be if a newspaper has reasonable grounds for believing that the individuals concerned are breaking the law, or that, even if they are not breaking the law, they are behaving in such a way as to render them unfit to perform the duties expected of them.
Thus, a pop star’s consumption of illegal drugs may be reported, but not his or her sexual habits (if they are legal.) The private life of a politician may be revealed if it is expected to have consequences for the way the country is being governed; that of a top executive of a public company if it may affect the returns to shareholders.
This should be the only “public interest” defense available to a media outlet that is sued for invasion of privacy. The media might become a bit drearier, but public life would be far healthier.
Q1. Choose the best title for this passage.
(a) Public Interest vs. Interests of the Public.
(b) Freedom of Press vs. Freedom of Individuals.
(c) The Press vs. Privacy.
(d) The Press vs. Politicians.
(e) Freedom of speech vs. Privacy.
Q2. “So what right has priority when they conflict?”—The author would most probably give priority to which of the following when privacy and press freedom are in conflict?
(a) Freedom of speech.
(b) Freedom of press.
(c) Right to privacy.
(d) Public interest.
(e) None of the above.
Q3. It can be inferred from the passage that press freedom…
A. Becomes increasingly intrusive and cater to prurient interests.
B. Helps contain the authoritarian tendencies of the regime.
C. Is necessary to protect against abuses of power by public officials.
D. Is based on the assumption that any attempt to keep them out of the bedroom is an assault on free speech.
(a) All of the above.
(b) A and B
(c) B and C
(d) A and D
(e) A, B and C
Q4. The writer considers Eady’s judgment favouring Max Mosley under Article 8 ‘curious’ because…
(a) It awarded the highest damages ever for a complaint under Articles 8.
(b) It highlighted the difference between public interest and interest of the public.
(c) The incident did not have a “Nazi theme” which would have been relevant to the case.
(d) It considered the private fantasies of Max Mosley as being relevant to the case.
(e) The News of the world was legitimate within the bounds of press freedom to have published the story and the photographs of Max Mosley.
Q5. The writer believes that most editors and journalists.
(a) Would not agree that press freedom is abused to boost circulation.
(b) Would acknowledge that a great deal of media intrusion is an abuse of press freedom.
(c) Cannot decide what the ‘right to privacy’ means.
(d) Legislation to protect privacy would not interfere with press freedom.
(e) editors and journalists which would have been relevant
Q6. Which of the following is most nearly similar in meaning of the word jurisprudence as used in the passage?
(a) peculiar
(b) transgression
(c) act
(d) professor
(e) violation
Q7. Which of the following is most nearly similar in meaning of the word shackled as used in the passage?
(a) alone
(b) shaken
(c) release
(d) loosen
(e) restrain
Q8. Which of the following is most nearly similar in meaning of the word titillate as used in the passage?
(a) travel
(b) tilt
(c) repulse
(d) amuse
(e) disenchant
Q9. Which of the following is most nearly opposite in meaning of the word clandestinely as used in the passage?
(a) translate
(b) purpose
(c) surreptitiously
(d) destiny
(e) openly
Q10. Which of the following is most nearly opposite in meaning of the word invasion as used in the passage?
(a) breach
(b) deluge
(c) expropriation
(d) retreat
(e) capture
Directions (11-15): Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which a sentence has been deleted. Three statements are given , from which any number of statements can fit and provide coherent meaning to the paragraph. From the given options, choose the sentence that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Q11. India needs legislation on superstition, though what should go into it requires debate. Every superstition cannot be removed by the force of law. For that, a mental change is necessary. However, ____________________ need to be dealt with by a law that specifically addresses them.
(a)In both theocracies and some religious jurisdictions, conscientious objectors may cause religious offense.
(b)A critical component of religious liberty is the right of people of all faiths to participate fully in the benefits and privileges of society without facing discrimination based on their religion.
(c)superstitious practices that are utterly dehumanising, brutal and exploitative
(d)The rest of the country could learn from it.
(e) Narendra Dabholkar had to fight a relentless battle against them.
Q12. Over recent decades, around 800 women in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have been killed for practising witchcraft. Fortunately, _____________________ . Faith healers, on occasion, inflict physical injury to exorcise spirits or cure ailments. The supporters of the recent law in Karnataka that aims to prevent “inhuman evil practices and black magic” across religions cite other practices like branding children with heated objects and using spurious surgical methods to change the gender of a foetus. Lacking access to proper health care, it is the poor, it is argued, who fall victim to such methods. The new legislation also forbids made-snana, a ritual where devotees from across castes roll over the leftover food of Brahmins in certain temples to cure themselves of skin diseases.
(a) The superstitions of modern societies haven’t invited the same activist zeal.
(b) Is law the best means of addressing such practices?
(c) An anti-superstition law may seem necessary, but it cannot take cognisance of all realities.
(d) laws that aim to prevent this practice exist
(e) The initial draft of the bill was prepared by experts at the National Law School University, Bengaluru.
Q13. Studies in criminology have established that certainty of punishment curbs the rate of crime and not the type or the quantum of punishment.
We already have a reputation of having good laws but bad implementation. In legal parlance, it is known as ‘over-criminalisation’ — more laws but less ‘rule of law’. Therefore, ____________________________ . Enacting special laws for each set of crimes is no solution and makes the problem worse.
(a) Until 1965, only 12 countries had
expunged capital punishment and 11 effaced it for ordinary crimes during peacetime.
(b) the enforcement machinery needs a major overhaul to make criminal justice more accessible
(c) It will be in the fitness of the things to have a bare idea
(d) Firstly, that the reliability of statistics remains unverified.
(e) General deterrence is designed to
prevent crime in the general population
Q14. Bail in its essence is a fine balance between the right to liberty of the person accused of an offence and the interests of society at large. The Law Commission of India has urged the government to adapt the bail law according to the changing times, _________________ , and the arbitrariness shown by the judiciary in exercise of its discretion.
(a) Instead, the right to liberty acts as a substantive guarantee
(b) The Commission also highlights the need to minimise pretrial confinement of an accused.
(c) responsive criminal justice system in India.
(d)changing patterns of crimes
(e) Article 5 is not concerned with mere restrictions on freedom of movement
Q15 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is among the world’s largest regional intergovernmental organisations. Since its inception, the countries in the region have become more integrated through enhanced intraregional trade and connectivity. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), geographically proximate to ASEAN, started _______________ has failed to deliver. It has been unable to integrate the region through trade and connectivity and continues to be stuck in the quagmire of regional politics and rivalry and stagnates from historical distrust and old animosity.
(a) On the political and economic continuum
(b) its journey in 1985 with similar aspirations but over time
(c) On the other hand, trade amongst the SAARC members stands at 3.5% of their total volume of trade.
(d) to revitalise the regional body, it will continue to be what it always has been: a utopian idea existing only in summit documents.
(e) As a regional organisation, while ASEAN has grown from strength to strength.
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