The media publishes a huge amount of news every day. Some are entertaining, others are informative and some are infringing. Negative reporting about a person, a company or a product can have a massively damaging effect on a person’s reputation. A positive image that has been built up and well maintained over many years can simply disappear overnight. Defending your own reputation is therefore very important. It requires an effective strategy and experience in crisis communication.
Our advisory services in press law
- Examination of the legal admissibility of statements
- Taking action against negative or false reporting through warnings and interim injunctions
- Enforcement of claims for injunctive relief, counterstatement, revocation, correction, damages and compensation for pain and suffering
Frequently Asked Questions about Press Law
Press law deals with the legal framework of the press and media. In particular, it regulates the admissibility of statements in traditional and new media. These can, for example, violate personal rights or the right to one’s own image and are therefore inadmissible.
The press includes all products intended and suitable for distribution to the public. These include newspapers, books, radio, and television reports. Internet articles and blogs can also be press if they are aimed at the public.
It always depends on the individual case. The two sides have to be weighed up. On the one hand there is freedom of opinion and freedom of the press, on the other hand there is the personal rights of the person concerned. This must always be weighed up between freedom of opinion and freedom of the press under Article 5 of the Basic Law and the general personal rights or corporate personal rights or the right to the image of the person concerned. This can often be the case if the factual content of the statements is defamatory or untrue.
The press’s obligation to balance interests means that the public’s interest always outweighs the individual’s right to privacy. The more sensitive and inaccessible the information, the greater the weight of the individual’s right to privacy. A person’s private sphere is fundamentally inviolable.
Public sphere: This includes information that is generally accessible to the public. For this reason, it is less worthy of protection. The public interest usually outweighs
Private sphere: Includes information that comes up within close family circles or in one’s own house or apartment. Only in exceptional cases does the public interest prevail here.
Privacy: Includes highly personal information such as a person’s health or sex life. In principle, this may not be interfered with, so personal rights prevail.
The actions of the press have their origin in Article 5 of the Basic Law. This gives the press a large number of freedoms. However, this freedom is not completely unrestricted. Article 5 II of the Basic Law restricts these freedoms to protect young people, the right to personal honor and through laws. For this reason, the press is subject to journalistic due diligence obligations. These are intended to oblige journalists to conduct thorough research, ensure that information is complete and to choose appropriate words.
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Your lawyer for press law in Hamburg
Dr. David Slopek has more than 10 years of intensive practical experience gained in Germany and abroad. After completing his studies, obtaining a Master of Laws and a doctorate at Heinrich-Heine-University-Düsseldorf, he was admitted to the bar by the Düsseldorf Bar Association in 2012. He learned his legal craft from scratch in a leading international law firm, for which he worked for around seven years in Alicante and Hamburg. In 2016, the Hanseatic Bar Association of Hamburg awarded him the title of specialist lawyer for intellectual property law. In addition to his professional qualifications, he has also published extensively, with over 80 specialist publications. He and his team will advise you with expertise and experience in all matters of trademark law.