Bloomberg loses privacy case in United Kingdom

Bloomberg News has lost a privacy case at the UK’s highest court, which ruled on Wednesday that suspects in a criminal investigation have the right not to be named by media organizations until charges are brought, reports Jane Croft of The Financial Times.

Croft reports, “The Bloomberg case centred around an unnamed businessman, known only as ZXC, and his employer who were being investigated by a UK law enforcement agency.

“The UK agency sent a confidential letter to a foreign state asking for information and documents relating to the businessman. Bloomberg obtained a copy of the letter, and named the man in an article as well as detailing the subject of the investigation.

“The businessman had sued Bloomberg for misuse of private information and the High Court and Court of Appeal both found that Bloomberg had breached the businessman’s Article 8 rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. The media organisation appealed the decisions to the Supreme Court.

“Lawyers say the Supreme Court ruling could affect the ability of media organisations to report the early stages of a police investigation.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.