Agency privilege
The agency privilege is a liability privilege in German press law that allows journalists to include agency reports in press coverage without checking each individual piece of information for accuracy.
In principle, journalists are obliged to carefully check information and, if necessary, to research it. However, if the information received comes from a privileged source, such as a reputable news and press agency , the reports may be adopted without further verification. Only if a journalist has specific doubts about the accuracy of an agency report is he obliged to do further research before publication. The Hamburg Regional Court , however, limits in a decision of 2011 that if only circulated by a press agency, a newspaper article and this will also made it clear grab for this notification, the Agency privilege is not one.
The privilege exempts journalists from liability for the dissemination of untrue factual assertions if these were contained in an adopted agency report. This privilege is intended to ensure the functioning of the press, in particular with regard to national reports. The agency privilege is thus an expression of the institute's guarantee , which results from the protection of the freedom of the press in Article 5, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law .
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Individual evidence
- ↑ KG Berlin, June 7, 2007, Az. 10 U 247/06 , in: GRUR-RR 2007, 374.
- ^ LG Hamburg, decision of November 11, 2011 (Az. 324 S 8/11)
