Public figures factor female criminal related information was exposed, leading to heated discussions, experts believe

　　Privacy protection should be based on the needs of the case

　　□ Trainee reporter Liu Ziwei

　　□ Reporter Chen Lei

　　□ Ye Li, editor of "Media Tea Party"

　　In recent years, the children of some officials and celebrities have been involved in criminal cases from time to time. The public's attention has gradually extended from the case to the family background of the suspect, especially the situation of his parents, which has triggered a wider audience and heated discussion. .

　　Then, when the children of public figures such as officials and celebrities are suspected of committing crimes, should the privacy of officials and celebrities themselves be protected by law?

Where is the boundary between the public’s right to know and the public figure’s right to privacy?

　　Experts interviewed by reporters from the Rule of Law Daily believe that in criminal cases, the criminal suspect and his parents or other family members are independent legal entities. The suspect’s parents are not suspected of committing a crime and therefore enjoy the right to privacy in accordance with the law. ; But as public figures, officials and celebrities also need to be restricted by citizens’ right to supervise and to know.

　　Children involved in crime have nothing to do with their parents

　　Parents have the right to privacy in accordance with the law

　　Up to now, the case of "a female college student who lost contact in Nanjing was murdered by her boyfriend and others" is being processed according to judicial procedures. It is foreseeable that multiple criminal suspects in this case will be prosecuted.

　　On July 18 this year, the police in Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province received a report from the Qixia Branch of the Nanjing Public Security Bureau of Jiangsu Province, stating that Li, a student from a university, was unaccounted for after arriving in Menghai from Nanjing. In a state of disconnection.

　　On August 4 this year, the Menghai police issued a report on the case of Li’s loss of association, stating that after careful investigation, it was found that Li’s boyfriend, Hong, was suspected of committing a major crime.

　　"The murder of a female college student in Nanjing by her boyfriend" was reported by the media and aroused widespread public concern.

Then, information such as the identity and "background" of the criminal suspect Hong began to spread on the Internet, including information such as Hong's parents' names and work units.

　　Since Hong's father was a local official in Nanjing, for a while, this incident caused the public to have "sitting" accusations and "privilege" conjectures.

　　On September 11, the Menghai County People’s Procuratorate issued a notice stating: On September 1, the Menghai County Public Security Bureau transferred the suspects Hong and Cao to the Menghai County Procuratorate for review and arrest on suspicion of intentional murder and theft. .

After the procuratorate accepted it, on September 4, the prosecutor approved the arrest of the criminal suspect Hong on suspicion of intentional homicide and theft; the arrest of the suspects Cao and Zhang on suspicion of intentional homicide; and the arrest of the suspect Qi Certain approved the arrest on suspicion of theft.

　　At present, the case is still being processed further.

　　Different from the disclosure of the identity information of the suspect’s parents in the “Nanjing Female University Student Killed by Boyfriend”, which triggered heated discussions, on May 28, 2019, the website of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection released a notice on the progress of the Yunnan Sun Xiaoguo case. In the notification, the personal information and work units of Sun Xiaoguo's main family members were voluntarily disclosed.

　　The children of the same officials are involved in criminal cases. Why is the personal information of Sun Xiaoguo's parents disclosed in detail, while the situation of Hong's parents is not publicly notified?

　　In this regard, Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that Sun Xiaoguo’s case itself has serious problems in the judicial process, and it is necessary to dig deeper into the case, the entire process, and related persons involved. In this process, the relevant identities of the persons involved in the case need to be exposed.

　　In Zhu Wei's view, this is a process of reverse inference and reverse investigation, because the case has problems and the media has discovered problems. In the process of tracking, the relevant information of the parties is exposed to reverse the cause, which can avoid this situation. Happen once again.

　　Article 1032 of the Civil Code stipulates that natural persons have the right to privacy.

No organization or individual may infringe the privacy rights of others by spying, harassing, divulging, disclosing, etc.

　　Zheng Ning, director of the Law Department of the School of Cultural Industry Management of Communication University of China, told the reporter of Rule of Law Daily that if the suspect’s parents are not involved in the crime, they also enjoy the right to privacy in accordance with the law.

　　Public figures assume the duty of tolerance

　　Human dignity should not be violated

　　So, is it not possible to disclose the information of public figures involved in the children's case under any circumstances?

　　In this regard, Zheng Ning explained that the right to privacy is not absolute and is restricted by citizens' right to supervise and to know.

Article 999 of the Civil Code stipulates that the names, titles, portraits, and personal information of civil subjects may be used in a reasonable manner when conducting news reports, public opinion supervision, etc. for the public interest.

Officials’ names, portraits, work experience, academic background and professional abilities, ethics, integrity, and cases involved are important contents of public supervision, and in principle they must be actively disclosed.

　　Zheng Ning believes that the children of public figures are involved in criminal cases, and the relevant information is no longer just private. Such information involves judicial justice and social ethics. It often becomes the focus of public attention. It is closely related to public interests and will be directly criminalized by the public. The case is closely linked to the identity of the "public figure" for judgment.

Therefore, in these news reports, the privacy rights of the parties should be greatly restricted, so as to satisfy the public's right to know.

　　Zhu Wei observed that at present, when it is determined in advance that the public figure has a certain relationship with the criminal case involved in the child, the public often speculates and exposes the family situation of the person involved.

Some people believe that "deep digging" of public figures whose children are involved in criminal cases and the interpretation or exposure of their identities is a right of judicial supervision.

　　Zhu Wei stated that this is not the supervision of judicial acts, but a kind of pre-judgmental supervision of possible illegal or improper acts in the judiciary, and this kind of pre-judgmental supervision has exceeded the scope of the law. .

　　Zhu Wei believes that if after the children are suspected of committing a crime, officials do have related issues such as failing to report, participating in crimes, and interfering in justice, which affect fairness and publicity, then there is no problem with the media's exposure and disclosure of relevant information during and after the incident.

However, in the case of unsure whether the parents are related to the case of the child involved, exposing the privacy of the parents of the person involved in the case in advance does indeed "affect the pond fish".

　　In Zheng Ning's view, although public figures need to bear certain tolerance obligations when facing public interests, the premise of their assumption of tolerance obligations is that their personal dignity is not violated.

The news media or the public also have a legal obligation to respect the human dignity of others when exercising their right to supervise public opinion.

　Only available when necessary and needed

　　Be responsible for exceeding the limit

　　In recent years, with the rapid development of self-media, everyone can be called a publisher and disseminator of information.

An ensuing question is, where is the boundary between the public’s right to know and the privacy of public figures?

　　“Peeping selfish desires, coupled with the psychology of hating the rich and the officials, can easily lead to a series of problems, which will not only adversely affect the families of both parties involved, but also affect the process of the rule of law.” Zhu Wei said, including from the media, the media should Regarding communication ethics as the bottom line, media without a bottom line should be severely punished.

　　Xinhua News Agency’s New Media Center reporter Feng Songling believes that when a party is involved in a criminal case, when the media reports information about criminal suspects and victims’ family members, especially officials, celebrities and other socially influential figures, they should pay attention to satisfying the public’s right to know. "Balance" with humanistic care.

In order to attract the audience’s attention or satisfy the audience’s curiosity, the media should not conduct excessive reporting or “speculative” “labeled” reporting.

　　In Zheng Ning's view, the media must uphold the principle of relevance, protection of human dignity and authenticity when exposing the identity and family background of the officials and celebrities involved in the children's case.

　　"The principle of relevance is whether it is related to public interests." Zheng Ning said, "In areas that do not involve public interest, even public figures themselves still have the right to privacy. If news media or the general public makes follow-up reports, detailed disclosures or If the public figures publish false information irresponsibly, the perpetrator can be held accountable for infringement."

　　Zheng Ning believes that there are three ways to regulate the behavior of speculating on the various information of officials and celebrities involved in the children’s case without standard operations: according to civil laws, because these behaviors may constitute an infringement of privacy, the parties Civil lawsuits can be filed; relevant regulatory authorities strengthen supervision and impose sanctions on self-media that have not fulfilled their reasonable review obligations; strengthen ethics and morality, and guide the self-discipline of news media and the Internet industry.

　　In Zhu Wei's view, my country's communication legal system is quite complete, but there are problems with the implementation of the law afterwards.

If the children of public figures such as officials and celebrities are involved in a case, they should pay attention to the principle of proportionality and the principle of necessity when disclosing parental information.

　　"In accordance with the basic principle of necessity and proportionality, disclosure is only adopted when the case is really needed and necessary, and there is also a principle of proportionality, which should not be unlimited disclosure." Zhu Wei said.

　　Zheng Ning emphasized that the news media should strictly restore the truth of the incident when reporting the news, focus on the behavior of the children of public figures, and cannot deliberately exaggerate the facts in order to attract the attention of the audience, nor expose the personal privacy of unrelated persons.