Mediating human rights

Mediating Human Rights

Drawing on social-legal, cultural and media theory, this book is one of the

fi rst to examine the media politics of human rights. Lieve explores how the media

construct the story of human rights, investigating what lies behind the apparent

media hostility to human rights and what has become of the original ambition to

establish a human rights culture.

The human rights regime has been high on the political agenda ever since

the Human Rights Act 1998 was enacted. Often maligned in sections of the

press, the legislation has entered popular folklore as shorthand for an over￾bearing government, an overzealous judiciary and exploitative claimants. This

book examines a range of signifi cant factors in the mediation of human rights,

including: Euroscepticism, the war on terror, the digital reordering of the media

landscape, press concerns about an emerging privacy law and civil liberties.

Mediating Human Rights is a timely exploration of the relationship between

law, politics and the media. It will be of immense interest to those studying and

researching across Law, Media Studies, Human Rights and Politics.

Lieve Gies is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communication

at the University of Leicester. Her main research interests are in the area of

media representations of the law. She is author of Law and the Media: The Future

of an Uneasy Relationship, Routledge 2008.

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Mediating Human Rights

Media, Culture and

Human Rights Law

Lieve Gies

First published 2015

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

a GlassHouse Book

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2015 Lieve Gies

The right of Lieve Gies to be identified as author of this work has

been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or

reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,

or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including

photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or

retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or

registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and

explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gies, Lieve, author.

Mediating human rights : culture, media and the human rights act /

Lieve Gies.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-415-60152-8 (hardback)—ISBN 978-1-315-86306-1

(ebk) 1. Human rights—Social aspects—Great Britain. I. Title.

KD4080.G54 2014

342.4108'5—dc23 2014001681

ISBN: 978-0-415-60152-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-86306-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Galliard

by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton

For Didier and Clara.

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Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Table of cases xi

List of abbreviations xiii

1. Introduction 1

2. A villains’ charter? Human rights and news framing 18

3. Liberty versus rights: mapping the fault lines in

Britain’s human rights polemic 35

4. The press, privacy and the Human Rights Act 53

5. Extradition, human rights abuse and the sufferer nearby 72

6. Mediating the human rights message 91

7. Human rights and promotional governance 110

8. Identity and human rights culture 125

9. A human rights culture of some sorts? 147

Notes 151

Bibliography 155

Index 175

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Davina Cooper, Tsachi Keren-Paz, Mirca Madianou, Danny

Nicol and Thomas O’Malley for taking the time to comment on earlier drafts

of several of the chapters. Their comments have been extremely helpful in

fi ne-tuning the arguments presented in this book, although I should emphasise

that any errors are entirely mine. I am also grateful to Rebekah Jenkins and

Colin Perrin for their editorial support; to staff and students at Broadway School

(Perry Barr, Birmingham) for collaborating with the research underpinning

Chapter 8; and to Bob Satchwell and Adam Wagner for granting me an interview.

I would like to thank Didier Meert for his love, friendship and endless patience

and for contributing his amazing IT skills and helping me to maintain a sense

of calm.

An earlier version of Chapter 2 was published as ‘A villains’ charter?: the press

and the Human Rights Act’, Crime, Media, Culture (2011) 7 (2): 1–17. Materials

from Chapter 7 were previously published in ‘The hard sell: promoting human

rights’, International Journal for the Semiotics of Law (2011) 24 (4): 405–422.

Chapter 8 is a revised version of ‘“The burqa is just like a maxi dress”: a Muslim

adolescent perspective on human rights’, Journal of Human Rights Practice

(2013) 5 (1): 125–152.

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Table of cases

UK

A v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] UKHL 56. p30

Beatty v. Gillbanks (1882) 9 QBD 308. p46

Campbell v. Mirror Group Newspapers [2004] UKHL 22. p62

CTB v. News Group Newspapers and Imogen Thomas [2011] EWHC 1232

(QB). p61

Douglas v. Hello! Magazine Ltd [2001] QB 967. p61

HRH Prince of Wales v. Associated Newspapers Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 1776.

p182n

Kaye v. Robertson [1991] FSR 62. p60, 61

LNS v. Persons Unknown [2010] EWHC 119 (QB). p152n

McKinnon v. Government of the United States and Another [2008] UKHL 59.

p74

Mosley v. News Group Newspapers Ltd [2008] EWHC 687. p67

Murray v. Express Newspapers Plc [2008] EWCA Civ 446. p152n

R (Begum) v. Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High School [2006]

UKHL 15. p132

R (Ford) v. Press Complaints Commission [2001] EWHC 683 (Admin). p65

xii Table of cases

R (McKinnon) v. Secretary of State for Home Affairs [2009] EWHC 2021

(Admin). p74, 80

R (Playfoot) v. Millais School Governing Body [2007] HRLR 34. p154n

R (Prolife Alliance) v. BBC [2003] UKHL 23. p152n

R (X) v. Headteachers and Governors of Y School [2007] EWHC 298 (Admin).

p152n

Theakston v. MGN Ltd [2002] EMLR 22. p62

Wainwright v. Home Offi ce [2004] 2 AC 406. p63

European Court of Human Rights

Greens and MT v. UK [2010] ECHR 1826. p44

Hirst v. UK (No. 2) (2006) 42 EHRR 41. p44

Mosley v. UK [2011] ECHR 774. p44

Scoppola v. Italy (No. 3) [2012] ECHR 868. p44

von Hannover v. Germany (No. 1) (2005) 40 EHRR 1. p62

von Hannover v. Germany (No. 2) [2012] ECHR 228. p152n

List of abbreviations

ATCSA Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001

CBE Commander of the British Empire

CBR Commission on a Bill of Rights

ECHR European Convention on Human Rights

ECtHR European Court of Human Rights

EHRC Equality and Human Rights Commission

EU European Union

HRA Human Rights Act 1998

JCHR Joint Committee on Human Rights

MP Member of Parliament

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NGO Non-governmental Organisation

NHS National Health Service

NOW News of the World

OFSTED Offi ce of Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills

PCC Press Complaints Commission

PTA Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005

TPIMS Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures

UK United Kingdom

UKHRB UK Human Rights Blog

UN United Nations

US United States

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