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Definition Of Media Freedom Of Expression Under Article 10 Of The Human Rights Act And The European Convention On

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Chapter 3 - Explanation of Media Freedom of Expression under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights

On the 2nd October 2000, the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force as the most important privacy statute to further strengthen the UK domestic law by affording the rights introduced by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The HRA 1998 have been introduced with a wide and comprehensive scope as it applies to most domestic public authorities and bodies including:
“a court or tribunal, and any person certain of whose function or of a public nature, but does not include either House of Parliament or a person exercising functions in connection with proceedings in Parliament.”
The aim is to ensure …show more content…

Article 10 (1) states that:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. The right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television and cinema enterprises.”

Additionally, Article 19 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees that such right is available to everyone. Therefore, taken into account that the scope of Article 10 is vaguely broad expanding to nearly any activity that can considered to be “expression” in the literal meaning of the word , the real difficulty was to examine and establish lawful conditions under which any restriction of freedom of expression is lawful. Due to the absolute meaning of the guarantee under Article 19(2) such limitation and restriction of the right was required, excluding certain ways of expression from under its protection. However, it has not been interpreted as a freedom of information guarantee it is rather a right of “freedom to receive information” representing, where a voluntary speaker is interfered with in exercising any of the protected expressive activities, then both the speaker and the potential receiving audience is prima facie deprived from this right. This

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