New Reuters Institute Report on privacy and the public interest receives widespread media attention

The report `Privacy, probity and public interest` by Stephen Whittle, Visiting Fellow at the RISJ and former BBC Controller of Editorial Policy, and Glenda Cooper, former Visiting Fellow at the RISJ, highlights the right to a private life and the need for a more robust definition of `public interest`.

The Report identified two main characteristics of `public interest`. First, citizens in a democracy have an interest in having access to information about the government, its institutions and its officials, both elected and appointed, an interest which extends to private corporations and to voluntary organizations that require the public`s trust. Second, such individuals should be judged for their public acts, not private ones.

The findings are summarized here http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/13/phone-hacking-public-interest-privacy

Stephen Whittle was interviewed about the Report on BBC radio Oxford, to listen please follow the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p003nn86/Bill_Heine_13_07_2009/