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According to media reports, in a ruling of 5 December 2012 (case no. 28 O 403/12), the Landgericht Köln (Cologne District Court) upheld a temporary injunction (decision of 13 September 2012) preventing a TV broadcaster from reporting on a drug test carried out by traffic police on a famous actor. The traffic police carried out the check because they had noticed that the actor’s eyes appeared to be red. They therefore conducted a drug test, which proved negative. The incident was reported in a TV programme, which mentioned the actor’s name. The court ruled that it was unlawful to identify the actor...

In a decision of 20 February 2013, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court - BVerwG) rejected a complaint by a journalist who had tried to assert the press’s legal right to information vis-à-vis the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service). He had requested information about the number of full-time and unofficial employees with a National Socialist past who had worked for the Federal Intelligence Service and its predecessor organisation during specific periods between 1950 and 1980. The BVerwG firstly stated that the press’s right to information under the press...

The 17^th chamber of the regional court in Paris and the audiovisual regulatory authority (Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel - CSA) have been referred to in turn on the matter of the use and broadcasting of the image of prisoners, who invoke their entitlement to privacy and the right to be forgotten. As part of the programme entitled Enquêtes Criminelles, the television channel W9 broadcast a report on a widely-reported case in 1991 in which four soldiers were given life sentences for a number of rapes and murders carried out in a particularly barbarous fashion. One of the men sentenced,...

Inquiries into the handling of two separate investigations into alleged child abuse by the BBC’s flagship programme Newsnight have found serious compliance and cultural problems. As a result of the second problem, the BBC’s Director-General was forced to resign. The first issue concerned the decision to drop an investigation into alleged child abuse by Jimmy Saville, a former disc jockey who had died on 29 October 2011. Newsnight commenced an investigation based on allegations by victims, including that the police had dropped their own investigation because of Saville’s age. However, the story...

In a judgment of 30 October 2012 (Case VI ZR 4/12) the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice - BGH) ruled that the retention of reports on suspected offenders in online archives is lawful. The plaintiff worked as a “special operations officer” for the Ministry of State Security in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). However, in civil proceedings he made a statutory declaration that he had never worked for that ministry. As a result of this false testimony, the public prosecutor’s office instituted criminal investigation proceedings against him, which were subsequently discontinued against...