The Changing Face of Media Freedom Under the ECHR
Bar Review, April 2008
11 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2011
Date Written: 2008
Abstract
This article considers the changing approach of the European Court of Human Rights to freedom of expression. It reviews the Court's decisions in Pfeifer v. Austria and Stoll v. Switzerland and concludes that they represent an increasingly narrow view of freedom of expression on the part of the Court.
The article also considers the Court's expansion of the scope of Article 8 and its increasing tendency to examine journalistic expression on grounds of journalistic process, language or presentation.
It concludes that the recent trend of these decisions has been away from the robust defence of freedom of expression traditionally associated with the Court's Article 10 jurisprudence.
Keywords: European Convention on Human Rights, ECHR, Article 10, Article 8, freedom of expression, privacy, reputation, Pfeifer, Stoll
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