Media Law

“Countryland” is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights. Countryland is a modern democracy which retains a constitutional role for its monarchy that carries out various official, ceremonial, and diplomatic duties. Prince Mark Francis is very shy and prefers to avoid public engagements where possible. While the rest of the royal family attended Countryland’s Summer Games, Mark Francis decided to go to a music festival with friends. A journalist, named Jonah, recognised Mark Francis and used his phone to film the Prince smoking what Jonah recognised as marijuana. Jonah tweeted the photograph to his thousands of followers on Twitter with the caption: “Just caught our Prince getting high! Is this the royal prerogative? The Queen won’t be amused!” Legal counsel for the royal family immediately issued proceedings under Countryland’s Privacy Act. The domestic court found that the journalist breached Mark Francis’ right to privacy and awarded damages against Jonah of €500,000. Jonah took the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) arguing that this was an unreasonable restriction of his free expression rights. The ECtHR recognised that the right to privacy and the right to free expression were in tension in this case. The ECtHR stated that it would have to consider the “fair balance” between the two rights in the circumstances. Based on your understanding of the case law, identify the criteria the ECtHR should use and demonstrate how the ECtHR should apply the criteria in order to determine the fair balance in this case. Indicate whether you believe Jonah likely to be successful in his complaint.    

Sample Solution