LAURA J ING

3320170

H T T P: / / G R A Z I A . N I N E M S N . C O M . A U / B L O G . A S P X ? B L O G E N T R Y I D = 6 4 4 2 2 9 & S HO W C O M M E N T S = T R U E

Lara Bingle

Brief Background

March 1, 2010Lara Bingle 'caught in nude photo scandal'

March 2, 2010Lara Bingle will sue Brendan Fevola over raunchy nude photo

March 3, 2010Brendan Fevola says nude Lara Bingle

photo was on lost mobile phone

Lara Bingle could score $200,000 over nude picture scandal

March 8, 2010Exclusive: Lara Bingle - My side of the story

Is it ethically wrong to publish a nude photo?

Yes. It is wrong. It’s people’s privacy. Medias don’t have the right to intrude into private lives of people.

No. It’s common that being a celebrity might sacrifice their private lives exposed to the public.

How did the editor answer this question?

Womans' Day editor on 3AW

“It’s free publicity… It’s a photo being there for a long time…”

“It’s published by newspaper, on many websites, including…”

“I think the unreasonable intrusion is probably the photo is taken during shower…”

MEAA CODE OF ETHICS

APC STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES

PRIVACY

FREE PRESS

DEFAMATION ACT 2005

Codes of Practice & Legal and Regulatory

Issues

MEAA

• The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance / Australian Journalists’ Association

• The Alliance is the union and professional organisation which covers everyone in the media, entertainment, sports and arts industries. (Australian Journalists’ Association n.d.)

• Its ethics panel has actual disciplinary powers at its disposal for use against individual journalists who breach its Code of Ethics. (Pearson 2007, p.414)

Relevant MEAA Code of Ethics

2. Do not place unnecessary emphasis on personal characteristics, including race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, sexual orientation, family relationships, religious belief, or physical or intellectual disability.

11. Respect private grief and personal privacy. Journalists have the right to resist compulsion to intrude.

(Guidance clause)… Only substantial advancement of the public interest or risk of substantial harm to people allows any standard to overridden.

(Australian Journalists’ Association n.d.)

APC

• The Australian Press Council (non-profit organisation funded by newspaper publishers)

• Two main aims: to help preserve the traditional freedom of the press within Australia and ensure that the free press acts responsibly and ethically

• Objects: to promote freedom of speech through responsible and independent print media, and adherence to high journalistic and editorial standards

(Australian Press Council n.d.)

Relevant Statement of Principlesabout Privacy

4. News and comment should be presented honestly and fairly, and with respect for the privacy and sensibilities of individuals. However, the right to privacy is not to be interpreted as preventing publication of matters of public record or obvious or significant public interest. Rumor and unconfirmed reports should be identified as such.

Application:'public interest' is defined as involving a matter capable of

affecting the people at large so they might be legitimately interested in, or concerned about, what is going on, or what may happen to them or to others.

(Australian Press Council n.d.)

Relevant Statement of Principlesabout Privacy (cont.)

5. Information obtained by dishonest or unfair means, or the publication of which would involve a breach of confidence, should not be published unless there is an over-riding public interest.

Application:Public figures necessarily sacrifice their right to

privacy, where public scrutiny is in the public interest. However, public figures do not forfeit their right to privacy altogether. Intrusion into their right to privacy must be related to their public duties or activities.

(Australian Press Council n.d.)

Relevant Statement of Principlesabout Privacy (cont.)

7. Publications have a wide discretion in publishing material, but they should balance the public interest with the sensibilities of their readers, particularly when the material, such as photographs, could reasonably be expected to cause offence. (Australian Press Council n.d.)

Relevant Statement of Principlesabout Privacy (cont.)

8. Publications should not place any gratuitous emphasis on the race, religion, nationality, color, country of origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, illness, or age of an individual or group. Where it is relevant and in the public interest, publications may report and express opinions in these areas.

Application:Media organisations should not place any gratuitous

emphasis on the categories of sensitive personal information listed in Principle 8, except where it is relevant and in the public interest to report and express opinions in these areas.

(Australian Press Council n.d.)

Relevant Statement of Principlesabout Privacy (cont.)

Other Applications:

Personal information gathered by journalists and photographers should only be used for the purpose for which it was intended. A person who supplies personal information should have a reasonable expectation that it will be used for the purpose for which it was collected.

A media organisation should take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information it holds is protected from misuse, loss, or unauthorised access.

(Australian Press Council n.d.)

However, the press council has been criticised for the dual role it sets out to perform: trying to defend press freedom while also claiming to be a tribunal to hear complaints against the media it is defending. (Pearson 2007, p.413)

Privacy Law

In the past Australian law has not included a specific tort of privacy, most courts accepting the High Court's decision in Victoria Park Racing [1934] HCA 65; (1934) 52 CLR 9 as being authority for the proposition that there was no enforceable right to privacy in common law. 

In 1972 Australia became a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 17 of which provides for the protection of personal privacy.

(Australian Press Council n.d.)

Privacy Law (cont.)

Since Australia Law has not included a specific tort of privacy, defamation, negligence, passing off, copyright, contract, confidence, trade practices legislation and equitable remedies could all be used to defend privacy in certain circumstances. (Pearson 2007, p. 407)

Free Press

• Australia has no equivalent of the First Amendment to the US Constitution enshrining freedom of the press. (Pearson 2007, p.34)

• Australia is committed to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Declaration provides:

Everyone has the right of freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. (Australian Press Council n.d.)

Defamation Act 2005

In all jurisdictions, the legislation is now known as the Defamation Act 2005.

Reformed Laws Objects:• To ensure defamation laws do not place ‘unreasonable

limits on freedom of public interest and importance’• To ‘provide effective and fair remedies for persons

whose reputations are harmed by the publication of defamatory matter’

• To ‘promote speedy and non-litigious methods of resolving disputes about the publication of defamatory matter’

(Pearson 2007, p.178-179)

Defamation Act 2005 (cont.)

If the publisher carries out the terms of an offer to make amends (including payment of any compensation under the offer) that is accepted, the aggrieved person cannot assert, continue or enforce an action for defamation against the publisher in relation to the matter in question even if the offer was limited to any particular defamatory imputations. (Defamation Act 2005 No 77 Section 17 Resolution of civil disputes without litigation Part 3)

What about the $200,000 interview payment?

…But the target would be Fevola, not the magazine that published the picture.

While most legal commentators talked openly of the unlikeliness of Bingle winning such a defamation case, many were asking why it was that the model wasn't suing the magazine that published the photo.

By week's end that had become crystal clear - the magazine in question was right in the bidding war for Bingle's side of the story.

By week's end Woman's Day had stumped up the required $200,000.

(Annette Sharp, 2010)

Press Freedom vs. Related Ethics

So, if you are the editor of Woman’s Day, what would you do?

what does Dirt say？

References

Annette Sharp 2010 ， The Daily Telegraph, 15 August 2010,<http

://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/where-the-bloody-hell-did-brand-bingle-go-wrong/story-e6frewz0-1225837508216>

Andrew Hamilton 2010, The Courier-Mail, 15 August 2010,<

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/brendan-fevola-says-nude-lara-bingle-photo-was-on-lost-mobile-phone/story-e6frep5o-1225836750170>

Andrew Hamilton 2010, The Courier-Mail, 15 August 2010,<

http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/confidential/lara-bingle-could-score-200000-over-nude-picture-scandal/story-e6freq7o-1225836778911>

Australian Journalists’ Association n.d., Media Alliance Code of Ethics, Alliance Online, 15 August 2010,

<http://www.alliance.org.au/code-of-ethics.html >Australian Journalists’ Association 2010, What is the Alliance?, Alliance Online,

accessed 15 August 2010,<

http://www.alliance.org.au/option,com_simplefaq/task,display/Itemid,27/catid,13/>

Australian Press Council n.d., About the Council, 15 August 2010,<http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/apc.html>

Australian Press Council n.d., Charter of a free press, 15 August 2010,<http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/fop/charter.html> Australian Press Council n.d., Privacy Standards, 15 August 2010,<http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/complaints/priv_stand.html> Australian Press Council n.d., Statement of Principles, 15 August 2010,<http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/complaints/sop.html> Fiona Byrne 2010, Herald Sun, 15 August 2010,<

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/bingle-will-sue-brendan-fevola-over-raunchy-nude-photos/story-e6frex0r-1225835813601>

<http://grazia.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=644229&showcomments=true>Pearson, M 2007, The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law, 3rd edn, Allen & Unwin, NSW.News Digital Media 2010, 15 August 2010, <

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/brendan-fevola-blamed-for-nude-lara-bingle-pic-being-circulated/story-e6frfmqi-1225835491896>

Radio 3AW 2010, 15 August 2010,<

http://www.3aw.com.au/displayPopUpPlayerAction.action?&url=http://media.mytalk.com.au/3AW/AUDIO/020310_Womans_Day_Editor.mp3>

Woman’s Day 2010, 15 August 2010,<

http://womansday.ninemsn.com.au/celebrityheadlines/1020955/exclusive-lara-bingle-my-side-of-the-story>