The Public's Right to know vs The Individual's Right to Privacy

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The Oscar Pistorius murder trial has brought to light the ever-present tensions between an individual’s right to privacy, especially when they are a public figure and the media’s right to freedom of expression especially when the information is in the public interest. South Africa as a country with a history of discrimination always strives to uphold all the rights of its citizens so in a case such as Pistorius’ where there are two rights in contrast, it is never clear which one should be wavered in favour of the other. Everyone, be he public figure or not, is entitled to some form of privacy; the aim then for the media, and the courts is to find out how far the privacy of individuals can be breached in the name of public interest. Another important issue that must be taken into account is whether the information is of public interest or if it is information that the public will find interesting to know; in other words, one must discern whether the information is of public interest and newsworthy or if it is simply newsworthy.
During Oscar Pistorius’ bail hearing, broadcasting and recording media were not allowed to record information. The hearing was reported to the public as tweets, still pictures and written articles. Before the trial started, some media companies in South Africa applied to broadcast the trial. The results of the application were positive. The media were allowed to record the proceedings of the trial but they were to have certain constraints so as to assure a fair trial for Pistorius. Some of the restrictions were that:
The presiding judge, Thokozile Masipa, will specifically direct when recording should start and when it should stop. No recordings of personal legal discussions and private conversations are all...

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...rest and just how far they can push into someone’s private life even if that someone is a public figure.

So far there has been no illegal or unethical gathering of information pertaining to the Pistorius trial. Even the publications regarding his iPad browsing history were ethical, because the history was not stolen as it was displayed in the court. Journalists were doing as they had been doing since the trial commenced, reporting the events that had occurred in court as they had.
Public interest is another topic of great discussion because who decides what public interest is. There is a very thin line between news that is of ‘public interest’ and news that would be, simply, interesting for the public to know.
(SA Constitution: 19). The South African Press Code
By ruling in favour of the media, Mhlambo was trying to satisfy bothe the media’s right to freedom of

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