Data protection law safeguards personal information stored on computers and filing systems. There are three ways in which this law affects journalists:
- Using underhand methods to gain access to personal data can lead to prosecution unless journalists can be protected under the public interest defence
- Institutions sometimes misunderstand data protection law when claiming it stops them releasing information to the media
- Journalists create and store data so we must be lawful in how they process and publish sensitive data to avoid court cases
A data controller determines the purposes and manner for which any personal data is processed. Media organisations and freelance journalists are data controllers and must be on a public register. A data subject is a person about whom the information is held.
Data handlers must comply with principles under the 1998 Act, for example data must be:
- Fairly and lawfully processed
- Processed for limited purposes (provided for a specific purpose)
- Processed in accordance with the data subject’s rights
- Secure
Section 55 states that ‘a person must not knowingly or recklessly, without the consent of the data controller’ obtain or disclose personal data or provide the disclosure to another person.
‘Blagging’ by a journalist to gain personal data could be an offence under this section and it might also be an offence to persuade or pay someone to leak personal data.
Defences are available to those who act in the reasonable belief that they would have obtained permission from the data controller for their actions including the public interest clause and that obtaining the information was necessary for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime. A conviction under section 55 can impose a £5000 fine or up to two years imprisonment.
Data is only personal if it can lead to an individual being identified.
Requests to the police can be made to withhold information from the media; this can be treated on a case-by-case basis. However, victims, witnesses or next of kin are not entitled to ask for information not to be released.
Guidance for court staff in regards to the Data Protection Act states that legislation ‘must not be used as a blanket excuse for withholding information’.
The Act provides particular privacy protection for sensitive personal data, including information about:
- Racial or ethnic origin
- Political opinions
- Religion
- Trade union membership
- Physical or mental health or condition
- Sexual life
- Criminal offences and any proceedings for an offence alleged to have been committed
Sensitive personal data can only usually be processed lawfully if two conditions are met: there must be explicit consent or the data subject has deliberately made the information public; or the purpose of information was necessary for the administration of justice.
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