Eker v. Turkey: The Right of Reply Under the European Convention

Abstract

In Eker v. Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights held that a court-ordered publication of a reply, which included "criticism” of a journalist, including “implicit insinuations as to his professional integrity” and “allusions which could be derogatory” to the journalist, did not violate Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This article discusses (a) how the Court did not seem to take adequate note of the Council of Europe instruments on the right of reply; (b) how the Court did not apply more fully the judgment in Melnychuk, which had held that a newspaper had been entitled, consistently with the right of reply, to refuse to publish a reply, and (c) whether the right of reply flows from Article 10’s guarantee of the right to freedom of expression, or whether it flows from Article 8’s guarantee of the right to respect for private life.

Keywords: freedom of expression, right of reply, media freedom