Media Intrusion Into Private Life: Reconciling Freedom of Expression and the Right to Privacy in New Zealand and Germany

Abstract

In the past years, privacy rights have emerged to fundamental rights, leading to new approaches to protect privacy rights around the world. The battle between the media’s right to freedom of expression and the individual’s right to privacy is persistent and consequently, courts have been aiming at reconciling the two competing rights.

New Zealand has undergone a great turning point in the protection of privacy rights. In a landmark decision (Hosking v Runting) by the Court of Appeal, a tort of invasion of privacy has been recognised, giving people a legal right to sue infringements of their informational privacy rights.

In parallel, Germany has a sophisticated framework on the protection of the right to privacy and with the development of the “absolute figure of contemporary society par excellence” German courts have set a standard for the claim of privacy protection. With the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Caroline von Hannover v Germany, a landmark decision on the balancing act of press freedom and privacy rights has been established which deviates from the previous approach of the German courts and grants public figures an increased standard of privacy protection