Media Responsibility Public Interest Broadcasting and the judgment in Richard v BBC

The recent decision in Sir Cliff Richard’s privacy action against the BBC and South Yorkshire Police has excited a good deal of moral and legal debate concerning the legitimate expectations of well-known individuals and the limits of media freedom. This article analyses the decision in the context of existing domestic and European case law concerning the balance between privacy on the one hand and freedom of expression and the public right to receive information on the other. It argues that given the level of intrusion into the claimant’s private life, and the tactics employed by the BBC in gathering and broadcasting the story, the case was probably decided correctly on the facts. However it is argued that the judgment, and its potential impact on the future of case law in this area, may be damaging to media freedom and the public right to receive information; specifically with reference to media reporting of police investigations