Harvesting social media for journalistic purposes in the UK: The balance between privacy rights and freedom of expression

Gross, Bernhard

Abstract

Social media have been shown to have the potential to broaden the scope of public communication and public sphere processes. In repressive societies or contexts, they can function as an alternative public sphere challenging the mainstream; but it also allows citizens in open, democratic societies to participate more actively in these processes. At the same time, established mainstream media institutions retain a dominant position in the public sphere. This paper explores the relationship between editorial policies, guidelines and regulations in the UK, with a special focus on the use of social media as sources in domestic local news coverage. These codes govern everyday journalistic practice and hence shape individual journalists’ behaviour in relation to sourcing. A tension arises out of the juxta positioning of a journalist’s right to freedom of expression and an individual’s expectation of privacy.

• Online Publication Date: Apr 4, 2017
• Publication Date: Mar 31, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jan 31, 2018
• Journal: Privacy, Data Protection and Cybersecurity in Europe
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 31-42
• Book Title: Privacy, Data Protection and Cybersecurity in Europe
• ISBN: 9783319536330
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53634-7_3
• Keywords: social media, journalism, news media, ethics, privacy, press regulation, media regulation, Ofcom, BBC, IPSO
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/902120
• Publisher URL: https://www.springer.com/gb/book/9783319536330
• Contract Date: Jan 31, 2018