public vs. private pt 2

Lord Wakeham, Chairman of the UK Press Complaints Commission, suggested seven questions editors should ask themselves when questions of a possible invasion of privacy arise. I think we could all do to have a read through these and keep them in mind when (if in the future) we are ever faced with this moral and ethical dilemma:

1. Is there a genuine public interest involved in invading someone's privacy as defined by Clause 18 of the Code - detecting or exposing crime, protecting public health, preventing the public from being misled - or is this simply a story which interests the public?
   
   
2. If there is indeed a genuine public interest, have you considered whether there are ways to disclose it which minimise the invasion into the private life of the individual concerned?
   
   
3. If you are using photographs as part of the story, which will have to be, or have already been, obtained by clandestine means and therefore compound the invasion of privacy, does the public interest require their automatic publication or are they simply illustrative?
   
   
4. If there is a genuine public interest which cannot be exposed in any other way than intrusion - and possibly the obtaining and publication of photographs - have you considered whether there is any way to minimise the impact on the innocent and vulnerable relatives of the individual concerned, and in particular the children?
   
   
5. If you are intending to run a story about someone connected or related to a person in the public eye in order to illustrate a story about that public figure, are you satisfied that the connection is not too remote and that there is a genuine public interest in mentioning that connection?
   
   
6. Where you are preparing to publish a story seeking to contrast what a public figure has said or done in the past with his or her current statements or behaviour, have you satisfied yourself that it is fair to make such a comparison and that the original behaviour or statement was recent enough to justify publication in the public interest?
   
   
7. If you are intending to run a story about the private life of an individual where there used to be a public interest, have you applied each of these guidelines afresh in case such a defence no longer exists?