data-protection-and-journalism-a-guide-for-the-media-draft

Data protection and journalism
In practice
The DPA gives more protection to some sensitive categories of
information. In particular, you should ensure you have a particularly
compelling public interest justification before collecting information about
someone’s health, sex life or allegations of criminal activity.
Although there is a broad exemption for public interest journalism from
many provisions of the DPA, this does not exempt you from prosecution
under section 55. It is an offence if you knowingly or recklessly obtain
personal data from another organisation without its consent (eg by
blagging, hacking or other underhand methods). There is a public interest
defence, but currently this holds you to a stricter standard than the usual
exemption for journalism. You should therefore be very clear about your
public interest justification before using such methods.
Other organisations must also comply with the DPA, and may occasionally
be reluctant to disclose information to you for this reason. However, in
our view the DPA does not prevent genuine public interest disclosures to
journalists.
Other organisations can generally provide you with information about
someone without breaching the DPA if they are satisfied that the
disclosure is justified in the public interest. If the public interest
justification is sufficiently compelling, this would mean that the disclosure
would be fair and meet the ‘legitimate interests’ condition (see page 16),
and would not breach the first principle. If the information in question is
sensitive personal data, there is a specific condition to allow a public
interest disclosure to journalists if it is related to wrongdoing or
incompetence (see page 17). And, in our view, a genuine public interest
disclosure to a journalist would generally not be incompatible with an
organisation’s purposes, and so would not breach the second principle.
Of course, the issue may really be that the organisation in question does
not agree with your view of the public interest, or in fact has other
overriding legal, professional or reputational reasons to refuse to disclose
the information. They must satisfy themselves that the disclosure would
be fair and lawful, and the DPA cannot oblige them to supply you with
information if they have doubts.
DRAFT 35