European court ruling upholds media freedoms

[February 07, 2012]  PARIS (AP) -- Europe's human rights court has issued a potentially ground-breaking ruling that upholds the media's right to report on celebrities and rejects an invasion-of-privacy complaint by Princess Caroline of Monaco.

The ruling by the court in the eastern French city of Strasbourg looks at the often-tricky balance between the media's right to expression and the individual's right to privacy.

Tuesday's ruling upheld media rights in two German cases that were rolled into one at the European Court of Human Rights. It sets a benchmark for all members of the 47-country Council of Europe.

One case involved news reports about a German TV star accused of using cocaine. The other had to do with the 2002 publication of a photo of Princess Caroline and her husband during a skiing holiday.

[Associated Press]

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