The relationship of the information from the private sphere with the public activity as the circumstance legalizing the breaching of the privacy of public persons. Judicial decisions analysis

Abstract

Transparency of public life and the right to information on the authorities connected with it as well as the persons performing public functions constitute one of the foundations of democracy and the state under the rule of law. Media and journalists who are facing many questions connected with the range of sharing information on a daily basis, play the special role in the realization of these values. One of the more essential questions is the limits of interference in the privacy of the public persons. The existing law allows the publication of the news from the personal life only then when it happens with the consent of the concerned subject or the news has the direct connection with his/her public activity. The analysis of the case law leads to the conclusion that the existence of the relation between the public and private sphere is understood in two ways. Firstly, the relationship between the behaviour of the given person in the sphere of the public activity and his/her behaviour in the private sphere takes place at the time, when the information has the direct repercussions on the performed activity (narrower understanding). Secondly, the private information affects the assessment of the moral competence of a given person for conducting such activity (broader understanding).