Cliff Richard judgment - Press setback

THE decision by an English judge to award Cliff Richard damages against the BBC over its coverage of a police raid on his home represents the biggest setback for press freedom in Britain for decades.

While the distress caused to the singer by being wrongly accused of sexual abuse was considerable, the BBC journalists who covered the story were not the wrongdoers.

English High Court judgments obviously do not set any precedent in Ireland, but they occasionally have persuasive force. There is no right to privacy at common law but there is under the European Convention on Human Rights. An unspecified right to family privacy is also recognised under the personal rights section of the Irish Constitution.

The judge in the case clearly found the extensive nature of the BBC coverage of the raid distasteful but it is a huge leap from that to making the naming of anyone under investigation, famous or not, unlawful — which is what the decision amounts to.

Let’s hope wiser judgment prevails in this jurisdiction.