Take Two
The Information Commissioner first published guidance for individuals and entitles processing personal data for the special purpose of journalism, ‘Data protection and journalism: a guide for the media’, in 2014 when the processing of personal data for the purpose of journalism was governed by s.32 Data Protection Act 1998.
The Data Protection Act 2018 brought with it a number of new obligations on the Information Commissioner in connection with its oversight of the processing of personal data for the special purpose of journalism, including to publish guidance on how data subjects may seek redress against media organisations for breaches of data protection legislation (s.177), to conduct a review of processing of personal data for the purposes of journalism (s.178) and to prepare a statutory code of practice containing practical guidance in relation to the processing of personal data for the purposes of journalism in accordance with the requirements of the data protection legislation or otherwise appropriate to promote good practice (s.124). Such a statutory code is admissible in evidence in court, and courts, tribunals and the Commissioner would be required to have regard to it.
In May 2019, the Information Commissioner issued a call for views on a data protection and journalism code of practice, which elicited responses from media organisations, trade bodies, academics, media regulators, international data protection regulators, and cyber security professionals.
In January 2022, the Information Commissioner published a consultation on its draft ‘Journalism code of practice’. Handley Gill Limited submitted a response to the consultation, and this was published by the Information Commissioner in September 2022 together with those of other respondents, and the Information Commissioner’s summary of responses.
As a consequence of the feedback provided, it was necessary for the ICO to make “substantial changes” to the draft code. This led to the publication of the Information Commissioner’s second consultation on its draft ‘Data protection and journalism code’ in September 2022. That consultation closed on 23 November 2022.
Handley Gill submitted a response to the consultation on the revised draft Data protection and journalism code and its supporting documents. Regrettably, we consider that the draft code continues to be unwieldy, inaccessible, lacking in clarity as to when compliance with the data protection principles and other requirements of the data protection legislation can be dispensed with in reliance on the exemption for processing for the special purposes, to unnecessarily and inappropriately conflate the requirements of data protection legislation with the law of defamation and the tort of misuse of private information, and demonstrates on behalf of the Information Commissioner either a misunderstanding of or disregard for the protections afforded to the fundamental right to freedom of expression and information. Copies are available to download by clicking below.