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Consultation Paper on the Regulation of Media Intrusion

25 November 1999


The Secretary
The Privacy Sub-committee
The Law Reform Commission
20^th Floor
Harcourt House
39 Gloucester Road
Wanchai
Hong Kong

Dear Sir,

Consultation Paper on the Regulation of Media Intrusion

With reference to the Law Reform Commission – Privacy Sub-committee’s consultation paper on the regulation of media intrusion, the Hong Kong Democratic Foundation is pleased to attach its response to this.

We hope our comments are of help to the Commission.

Yours sincerely,
Hong Kong Democratic Foundation

G W H Cautherley
Vice-Chairman

The Hong Kong Democratic Foundation (HKDF) is of the strong opinion that the issue of unwarranted and unjustifiable intrusion into the privacy of citizens is best dealt with through a combination of improvements to and more effective enforcement of existing legislative mechanisms and self-regulation by the media.

The Foundation would like to particularly emphasize that it sees no place for any Government appointed regulatory body, no matter how indirect a role the Government might play in its appointment. Irrespective of the Government’s intentions, such a body would always be perceived as a constraint and possible threat to the operation of freedom of speech in the media.

With certain modifications, the present Privacy Ordinance, libel laws and legislation on obscene publications and the possible addition of further legislation on wider aspects of privacy should offer sufficient protection to citizens without impeding the media from fulfilling its functions. However, we do believe the Commission should review the issue of affordability of seeking redress through the law courts in instances of media intrusion for the average citizen. Awards of damages in libel cases are frequently insufficient to even cover the legal costs involved and legal aid is not available for actions for defamation.

HKDF Comments & Recommendations

1. We support improvements in the present Privacy Ordinance as set out in Recommendation 1 of the Commission’s report.
2. We support Recommendations 2 & 3 of the Commission’s report in respect of expanding the Broadcasting Authority’s Codes of Practice.
3. We recommend the establishment by the media of its own Press Council, broadly along the lines of self-regulating bodies established in other jurisdictions, such as the UK Press Complaints Commission.
4. We recommend that responsibility for forming a Hong Kong Press Council we jointly assumed by the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Journalists Association.
5. We recommend that such a Hong Kong Press Council establish a code of professional standards and ethics and that journalists be provided with contractual protection from forced contravention of these standards and ethics by their editors and proprietors.
6. Additionally, we recommend that the terms of reference of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data be expanded to encompass the issue of privacy as a whole and that the scope of the present ordinance be expanded to cover issues of privacy protection in general.