Balance The Conflict Between The Right Of Privacy And The Freedom Of Press

Freedom of the press and the right of privacy are basic civil rights. They both playan important role in the progress of social civilizationFreedom of the press is one of the fundamental rights of the citizens. The so-called"citizens have the right to know those things they should be aware of." Once freedom ofthe press is fully realized, it means “the rights of knowing” of public’ has achieved. Italso can provide an effective channel for people can participation in national affairs,supervised the government and so on In a word, freedom of press can play asignificant part in build the mechanisms of democracy and a homoerotic society. On theother side, the right of privacy is saying that a person can enjoy the peace time in hisprivate space，and keep his information of secret in accordance with the law areprotected. After a hundred years of development, the right of privacy has already beenuniversal acknowledged. Protect the right of privacy is worthy, because it reflects thepersonal self-determination, respect for individuality and personality development value.In fact, due to the different of protection object and value orientations，Freedom ofpress and right of privacy are naturally incompatible. In practice, conflict between thetwo rights is exploding frequently. On one side, the main expression is“Press Torts”，on the other side, when the right of privacy has been overexpansion, it’s easy to rejectthe freedom of press. This thesis includes three parts:The first part is an overview of the two concepts. Includes the concept, the socialbackground of privacy theory and the definition of its connotation；as well as theintroduce of the freedom of the press, the famous "fourth power","social responsibility"theory, and then discussed the value of freedom of the press.The second part is about conflicts between the two rights. Include manifestationmode of the conflicts, the various reason of the conflicts and defense reason of the press.The third part was written on the basis of previous analysis. It’s try to find the wayto balance the two right and resolve the problems. It is contains two aspects: the legalsolve mechanism and the cultural mechanism. For example, to adjust legal system, tostrengthening the self-regulation mechanism of news industry, to promote the judiciallevel, to enhance citizens’ awareness of privacy protection.