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A recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) emphasises once more the importance of the protection of journalistic sources for press freedom. The ECtHR emphasises that a journalist’s protection under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) cannot automatically be removed by virtue of a source’s own conduct, and that the principle of protecting a source applies even when that source’s identity is known. The case concerns a journalist, Cecilie Langum Becker, working for DN.no, a Norwegian Internet-based newspaper. Ms Becker was ordered to give evidence in a...

In a case against Germany, two media companies - Axel Springer SE, a publishing house, and RTL, a broadcasting company - complained about a restriction on publishing pictures of the accused (S.) in a brutal murder case. S. was charged with killing his parents, dismembering their bodies, burning some of the parts, flushing others down the toilet and disposing of the rest by putting them in barrels. S. had already confessed to the police, while a psychiatric expert opinion ordered for the trial had concluded that S. was suffering from a schizoid personality disorder at the time when he had committed...

On 6 July 2017, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, DPA), published a draft decision on the lawfulness of personal data processing proposed by Dutch FilmWorks B.V. (DFW). DFW had notified the DPA last March of its intention to collect and further process personal data for the purpose of the online enforcement of DFW’s copyright. Because DFW plans to process data without informing data subjects, Article 31(1)(b) of the Dutch Data Protection Act requires prior investigation by the DPA. With its decision, the DPA plans to declare the proposed processing lawful (for a...

In a case against Austria, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) decided that a satirical report aired during a comedy show on television that allegedly tarnished the reputation of a high-ranking and controversial politician had not violated the politician’s right to private life, as guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECtHR is of the opinion that the Austrian courts struck a fair balance between the competing interests in the case, in finding that the broadcaster’s right to freedom of expression under Article 10 ECHR had outweighed the politician’s...

On 29 July 2017 President Vladimir Putin signed into law amendments to the Statute on the Mass Media that further detail registration procedures for media outlets. In particular they add to Article 7 a ban on establishing a media outlet for individuals who have been convicted for committing crimes involving the use of the media or telecommunications networks, such as the Internet, or for committing crimes related to extremist activities. An amendment to Article 19 establishes an identical ban in respect of editors-in-chief. Article 16 of the Statute on the Mass Media on the procedure for the issuance...