Shocking treatment of Lenihan family breaches letter and spirit of media privacy codes

Posted by Bronwen Maher on December 29, 2009 at 09:53 AM

The shocking treatment of Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan and his family in the context of media reports into the Minister’s health is a ‘clear and disturbing breach’ of the Broadcasting Commissions of Ireland’s Code of Programme Standards and the Press Ombudsman’s Privacy Code, according to Labour MEP, Nessa Childers.
 
“Even a cursory reading of the relevant sections of these Codes shows that the media outlets who went public with the revelations about the Minister’s health status drove a coach and four through the letter and spirit of the frameworks governing print and broadcast media standards in Ireland.
 
“In fact, I would also be concerned that this unwarranted intrusion into a public figure’s private life may even be in contravention of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which provides a right to respect for one's ‘private and family life.’
 
“The way in which the privacy of the Lenihan family has been trampled on begs a number of important questions in relation to the future operation and regulation of the media in Ireland. The voluntary press codes are predicated on the notion that the media acts in good faith and in the wider public interest in the pursuit and publication of a story.
 
“When the fundamental tenets of an agreed, voluntary code have been so severely transgressed as to bring the codes themselves into disrepute, then the government, the Press Council, the Press Ombudsman, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and other relevant stakeholders must revisit this whole area as a matter of urgency in order to assert, protect and defend the right to dignity and respect for the individual under a more robust and certain legal framework.
 
Nessa Childers added, “The circumstances surrounding the media speculation around Brian Lenihan's health condition should cause all of us to imagine what it would be like for our families to be faced with an unwarranted intrusion like this. Already there would be a great deal of fear and worry. Both parents would be struggling with their own feelings as well as having to talk about the unthinkable with their children.
 
“In the middle of all of this anxiety, a disturbing and intrusive phone call appears to have been made telling the family that the ‘story’ will enter the public sphere in a matter of a couple of days. This deadline imposed by another has effectively robbed a family of the courtesy and dignity of addressing this most personal of matters at a time which best suits them.
 
“The voluntary, or at least the laissez-faire operation and enforcement of codes of conduct in this country have hopelessly failed in the financial sector and now we see the same here.
 
“There is every likelihood that at some point in the near future the Privacy Bill will be brought into law. This has been resisted until now on the basis that the voluntary nature of the code is working for everyone. The events of the last couple of days ask serious questions about this assertion.
 
“In addition to the suffering caused to individuals, repeated violations and intrusions into people’s private space have the potential to make politics a more fearful and less attractive profession for people of ability to be involved in."

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