Privacy Across the Globe

By Alexandria Seay

After studying American journalism for four years, it was quite easy to get wrapped up in the culture of the Missouri School of Journalism and to seemingly forget that media can be different in other parts of the world.  The Europe Tour provided thought-provoking presentations that illustrated the various ways the government plays a role in journalism and advertising overseas.  The presentation I found to be most interesting was that of Peter Gumbel, the Director of Communications for Sciences Po. He showed an intriguing multimedia presentation that highlighted differences between French and American privacy laws and their portrayal in the media.  What I once considered to be social norms were not so normal in France.  

Many of the topics covered in the lecture stemmed from the French Civil Code.  Article 9 of the French Civil Code states “everyone has the right to respect for his or her private life” and goes on to define one’s private life as including “his or her love life, friendships, family circumstances, leisure activities, political opinions, trade union or religious affiliation and state of health.”  These French privacy lawss are enforced regardless of whether a person is a public figure or private individual.  As one can gather from this section of Article 9, French privacy laws have a few substantial differences from American privacy laws.  In many cases, the French privacy laws are stricter than those of Americans.

In America, the notion of newsworthiness is a large factor for journalists.  We believe we have a responsibility to inform the people.  Therefore, with this responsibility we often see the exposing of public figures in American media.  However, based on France’s stance on this matter, it is apparent that the idea of newsworthiness prevailing is not a universal truth. Gumbel spoke of the respect for citizen’s private lives, an idea highlighted in the Civil Code.  He gave an example of a public figure running for governmental office, claiming to be a devout Catholic, but having an affair.  There was knowledge of his infidelity amongst journalists, but no one would report on it because this dealt with his private life.  After learning this information, many of the students on the tour had questions.

France vs. United States: Privacy Laws and Celebrity Scandal

By Ellen Brummer

Katy Perry is Married to a Crazy Man! 
Gingrich Asks Wife for Open Marriage! 
Will and Kate Ready for a Baby! 

While these headlines seem like average celebrity headlines to us Americans, our French counterparts would be hard-pressed to find similar news stories lining their newsstands. On a recent trip to Paris, I learned that celebrity news coverage is handled very differently in France as compared to the United States. In America, generally speaking, we feel that celebrities’ lives are for us to write about, read about, gossip about, and then blog about. Their placement in our social hierarchy gives us permission to pry into their lives, or so most people believe. The intimate details of their lives become headlines on Us Weekly and People Magazine. The French, however, approach celebrity coverage very differently.

You Don't Say...Censorship in the European Media

By Tayler Overschmidt

Our recent two-week adventure through Europe was an eye opening experience regarding European media practices and styles. As we toured Prague, Paris, Brussels and Rome, we also toured new perspectives regarding journalism ethics.

Prague's Astronomical Clock. (Tayler Overschmidt)

In Prague, we visited McCann-Erickson, where we saw some examples of some famous—or infamous—advertising campaigns in the Czech Republic. A representative from the company presented information for us regarding some of the most well known advertising campaigns in the country and other information on the “Czechness.”

During the presentation, I asked what campaign from McCann-Erickson made the representative the most proud. His answer was a commercial for a dessert called Fidorkas. In this commercial, a little girl hits a car with her doll and makes the airbags inflate. Then she steals the dessert right out of the car passenger’s hand. The thing is, this commercial had a very short time on the air because it was banned.