Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T09:17:02.217Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Is Fox News a Breach of Human Rights?’: The News Media’s Immunity from the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2016

Sarah JOSEPH
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The business and human rights debate has essentially bypassed the media industry. This article addresses that gap in the debate by applying the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to the media. Application of human rights responsibilities to the media in accordance with the Guiding Principles is significantly complicated by the existence of media rights of freedom of expression. It is argued that the application of the Guiding Principles to the media industry leaves significant scope for it to be involved with serious and systemic human rights violations. This conclusion indicates that the Guiding Principles are an inadequately theorised tool for dealing with human rights responsibilities of the media. It may reveal deeper flaws in the Guiding Principles, which extend to industries other than the media. At the least, a dialogue between the human rights community and the media industry must commence in order to work out how human rights might apply in the context of the responsibilities of one of the world’s most important and powerful industries.

Keywords

freedom of expressionGuiding Principles on Business and Human Rightsjournalismmedianews
Type
Articles
Information
Business and Human Rights Journal , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , July 2016 , pp. 229 - 253
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Professor and Director, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash University, Melbourne. I would like to thank Associate Professor Surya Deva, Dr Joanna Kyriakakis, and Associate Professor Adam McBeth for their feedback on earlier drafts, and Adam Fletcher for research assistance.

References

1 This article focuses on the news media rather the media in general, so for example the movie industry is excluded from consideration in this article. However, it may be noted that many of the same issues arise with regard to the ‘non-news’ media. This article focuses only on ‘free’ media, rather than media which is de facto or de jure controlled by the state.

2 See Hakimi, Monika, ‘The Media as Participants in the International Legal Process’ (2006) 16 Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law 1 Google Scholar.

3 See Schudson, Michael, Why Democracies Need an Unloveable Press (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008) 12 Google Scholar.

4 As ‘freedom of expression’ is sometimes referred to as ‘freedom of speech’, the two terms will be used interchangeably in this article.

5 A high profile example was the paparazzi car chase of Princess Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed, which ended in the crash that killed them in Paris in 1997.

6 Human Rights Council, ‘Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework’ (Guiding Principles), A/HRC/17/31 (21 March 2011).

7 In contrast, the debate has placed a heavy focus on particular types of industry, such as extractive, garment, information technology, internet, and pharmaceutical.

8 Guiding Principles, note 6, Principle 1.

9 Ibid, Commentary on Principle 11.

10 See Joseph, Sarah and Castan, Melissa, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Cases Materials and Commentary, 3rd edn. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) 536–537 Google Scholar.

11 UK Government Stationery Office, ‘An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press: Report’ (Leveson) (29 November 2012), http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc1213/hc07/0780/0780_i.asp (accessed 1 February 2016).

12 Ibid, Part F, Chapter 3.

13 Ibid.

14 Amis, Lucy, ‘Coming to the Table – A Time for Media firms to Respect Human Rights’ (26 October 2011), http://www.dayassociates.org.uk/our_blog_10.html Google Scholar (accessed 1 February 2016).

15 See also Kurier Zeitungsverlag and Druckerei GmbH (No 2) v Austria, Application 1593/06, Judgment of 19 June 2012 and Krone Verlag GmbH v Austria, Application 27306/07, Judgment of 19 June 2012.

16 For example, the singer Lily Allen was in a car accident after paparazzi went through a red light chasing her, and was photographed getting out of her damaged car. Leveson, note 11, Part F, Chapter 6, para 5.6.

17 Leveson commented scathingly on the treatment by the British press of the Dowler family after the murder of the young girl, Milly Dowler, and the McCann family after the disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann. The Dowlers were ‘treated as little more than a commodity in which the press had an unrestricted interest’. Leveson, note 11, Part F, Chapter 5, para 1.7. The McCanns became ‘a news item, a commodity, almost a piece of public property where the public’s right to know possessed few, if any, boundaries’. Ibid, para 3.4.

18 See, e.g., Venables and Thompson v News Group Newspapers Ltd and others [2001] 2 WLR 1038, where the media was prohibited from publishing the details of two child killers who had been released, as they were at risk from vigilantes.

19 See, e.g., Prosecutor v Nahima, Barayagwiza and Ngeze, Case No. ICTR-99-52-T, Judgement and Sentence, (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) 3 December 2003.

20 See, e.g., Jones, Sam, ‘Refugee rhetoric echoes 1938 before Holocaust, UN official warns’, Guardian (14 October 2015)Google Scholar, http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/oct/14/refugee-rhetoric-echoes-1938-summit-before-holocaust-un-official-warns (accessed 2 February 2016).

21 See, e.g., Meredith, Charlotte, ‘Daily Express and Mail Celebrate the End of Human Rights, A Horrified Twitter Despairs’, Huffington Post (13 May 2015)Google Scholar, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/03/daily-mail-daily-express-human-rights-twitter-reaction_n_5925540.html (accessed 2 February 2016), on how some British papers support the repeal of the UK Human Rights Act. Such a repeal will breach the right to a remedy unless the statute is adequately replaced.

22 Former British Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke MP has asserted that ‘if the tone of the newspapers [over the issue of law and order] had been different for the last 15 years, we’d probably have 20,000 fewer prisoners in prison’. Leveson, note 11, Part I, Chapter 7, para 5.4. Clarke conceded that the figure ‘was not a scientific estimate’.

23 Harsh austerity measures can breach economic social and cultural rights.

24 It is conceded that it is sometimes unclear whether a particular policy is human rights compliant or not. However, sometimes the human rights violative nature of a policy is clear: it is submitted that the examples given above fall into this category.

25 See, e.g., van Aelst, Peter and Walgrave, Stefaan, ‘Minimal or Massive? The Political Agenda-Setting Power of the Mass Media According to Different Methods’ (2011) 16 The International Journal of Press/Politics 295 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also, for a discussion of the power of the newspapers in Australia, Australian Government Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Independent Media Inquiry Report (Finkelstein) (28 February 2012), http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/1205_finkelstein.pdf (accessed 3 February 2016), paras 4.43–4.55.

26 de Botton, Alain, The News (New York: Vintage International, 2014) 11 Google Scholar.

27 For ease of analysis in this article, I will focus only on complicity in government abuses, even though the media can also be complicit in human rights abuses by non-government bodies.

28 Guiding Principles, note 6, Commentary on Principle 17.

29 Legal aid in some circumstances is guaranteed under article 14(3)(d) of the ICCPR. See John Prescott, ‘Legal Aid Bill: Why the Media’s Silence?’, Guardian (31 January 2012), http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jan/30/media-backing-legal-aid-bill (accessed 3 February 2016).

30 See, e.g., McKelvey, Tara, ‘Media Coverage of the Drone Program’, Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Discussion Paper Series, #D-77, February 2013, http://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/D-77-McKelvey.pdf Google Scholar (accessed 13 January 2016).

31 See Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises, ‘Clarifying the Concepts of “Sphere of Influence” and “Complicity”’ (Complicity Report) A/HRC/8/16 (15 May 2008), paras 35 and 58.

32 Ibid, para 30.

33 See, e.g., Christos Tsiolkas on the media demonization of asylum seekers in Australia, ‘Why Australia Hates Asylum-Seekers’, The Monthly (September 2013), https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/september/1377957600/christos-tsiolkas/why-australia-hates-asylum-seekers (accessed 2 February 2016).

34 Such an intention might be easier to establish on the part of publisher if the relevant articles are not balanced by other articles with opposing viewpoints.

35 For the purposes of international criminal law, a UN report has found that it is not necessary for the relevant assistance (or act of complicity) to ‘be a necessary contribution to the commission of the crime. In other words, it does not have to be shown that the crime would not have happened without the contribution’. Complicity Report, note 31, para 37.

36 There are notable instances of a lack of media influence. Note, for example, that voters in the Greek referendum on EU austerity measures in early 2015 voted overwhelmingly against the outcome ostensibly preferred by mainstream Greek media.

37 Guiding Principles, note 6, Commentary on Principle 17.

38 Complicity Report, note 31, para 54.

39 Guiding Principles, note 6, Commentary on Principle 17 (emphasis added).

40 Complicity Report, note 31, para 70.

41 Guiding Principles, note 6, Commentary on Principle 11.

42 Human Rights Committee, ‘General Comment 34 – Article 19: Freedoms of Opinion and Expression’ (General Comment 34) CCPR/C/GC/34 (12 September 2011) para 13.

43 Ibid, para 45. See also Goodwin v UK (1996) 22 EHRR 123.

44 See, e.g., Joseph, Sarah and Fletcher, Adam, ‘Scope of Application’ in Daniel Moeckli, Sangeeta Shah and Sandesh Sivakumaran (eds.), International Human Rights Law, 2nd edn. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014) 122–123 Google Scholar.

45 See Najafazida, Enayet and Nordland, Rob, ‘Afghans Avenge Florida Koran Burning, Killing 12’, New York Times (1 April 2011), http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/world/asia/02afghanistan.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Google Scholar (accessed 3 February 2016).

46 President Obama had requested Terry Jones not to burn a Koran when the plan was first publicized in 2010, partly due to the dangers that the action might pose to US military personnel serving abroad. See ‘US President Obama condemns plans to burn the Koran’, BBC (9 September 2010), http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-11243711 (accessed 13 January 2016).

47 White, Aidan, ‘Ethical Journalism and Human Rights’ in Council of Europe (ed.), Human Rights and a Changing Media Landscape (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2011) 65 Google Scholar. See also Jersild v Denmark (1994) 19 EHRR 1, where Denmark’s prosecution of a journalist who had broadcast racist statements from interviewees was found to breach article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of expression.

48 Leveson, note 11, Part F, Chapter 6, Section 8.

49 See, e.g., Pidd, Helen, ‘Lucy Meadows Coroner Tells Press: “Shame on You”’, Guardian (29 May 2013), http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/28/lucy-meadows-coroner-press-shame Google Scholar (accessed 3 February 2016) reporting a coroner’s scathing comments during an inquiry into the suicide of a transgender teacher who had been the subject of a derogatory column in the Daily Mail.

50 Greenawalt, Kent, ‘Free Speech Justifications’ (1989) 89 Columbia Law Review 119 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

51 Ibid, 130.

52 Ibid, quoting Mill, 131 (notes 29–30).

53 See Abrams v US (1919) 250 US 616, 630.

54 Greenawalt, note 50, 153.

55 Ibid, 135.

56 Kovach, Bill and Rosenstiel, Tom, The Elements of Journalism, 2nd edn. (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007)Google Scholar Chapters 2 and 4.

57 Ibid, 80–1.

58 Leveson, note 11, Part F, Chapter 6, para 9.76.

59 Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll, ‘What You Know Depends on What You Watch: Current Events Knowledge Across Popular News Sources’ (3 May 2012), at http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2012/confirmed/final.pdf (accessed 11 June 2013). In 2010, a University of Maryland study also found that Fox News was a leading source of misinformation: Clay Ramsay, Steven Kull, Evan Lewis and Stefan Subias, WorldPublicOpinion.org, ‘Misinformation and the 2010 Election: A Study of the US Electorate’ (10 December 2010), http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/dec10/Misinformation_Dec10_rpt.pdf (accessed 11 June 2013), 20.

60 Truth and falsity are relevant under the law of defamation, which helps to protect a person’s right to honour and reputation.

61 Greenawalt, note 50, 141–2.

62 Ibid, 143–4. See also ‘General Comment 34’, note 42, para 2.

63 See also Barron, Jerome A, ‘Access to the Press: A New First Amendment Right’ (1966-67) 80 Harvard Law Review 1641 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 1661–3.

64 Gardbaum, Stephen, ‘A Reply to “The Right of Reply”’ (2008) George Washington Law Review 1065 Google Scholar, 1071.

65 De Botton, note 26, 73.

66 State duties regarding media diversity are elaborated in Part V.

67 Greenawalt, note 50, 142–3. See also ‘General Comment 34’, note 42, para 3.

68 Holding power to account does not necessitate constant criticism: successful and effective exercises of power must also be covered. Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 144.

69 Farhi, Paul, ‘On Iraq, Journalists didn’t Fail. They Just didn’t Succeed’, Washington Post (22 March 2013), https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/on-iraq-journalists-didnt-fail-they-just-didnt-succeed/2013/03/22/0ca6cee6-9186-11e2-9abd-e4c5c9dc5e90_story.html Google Scholar (accessed 3 February 2016).

70 Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 142.

71 See Leveson, note 11, Part F, Chapter 2, para 2.35.

72 Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 31. See also text at notes 136–8.

73 Fiss, Owen, ‘Why the State?’ (1986–87) 100 Harvard Law Review 781 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 786.

74 Greenawalt, note 50, 145–6. See also Meiklejohn, Alexander, Political freedom: The Constitutional Powers of the People (New York: Harper, 1960)Google Scholar; Castells v Spain (1992) 14 EHRR 445, para 43; Observer and Guardian v UK (1992) 14 EHRR 153, para 59.

75 In this respect, Kovach and Rosenstiel note that the US political weeklies Time and Newsweek were seven times more likely to have the same cover story as the US entertainment weekly, People, in 1997 compared to 1977. Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 193.

76 See Leveson, note 11, Part F, Chapter 2, paras 1.14–1.18.

77 Finkelstein, note 25, para 3.96.

78 Bollinger, Lee, The Tolerant Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986)Google Scholar.

79 Kovach and Rosenstiel bemoan the increasing use by media outlets of a ‘new pundit class that is untethered to any professional responsibility’, and the simplification of important debates by uncompromising polarized opinions. Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 174–5.

80 Greenawalt, note 50, 147–50.

81 Ibid, 150–2. See also ‘General Comment 34’, note 42, para 2.

82 Dworkin, Ronald, A Matter of Principle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985) 353 Google Scholar.

83 Greenawalt, note 50, 152–3. See also ‘General Comment 34’, note 42, para 2.

84 Greenawalt, note 50, 152–3.

85 Finkelstein, note 25, paras 2.35–2.37.

86 See, e.g., Nike v Kasky 27 Cal 4th 939, 947 (SCt Cal 2002).

87 Von Hannover v Germany (No 2) (2012) 55 EHRR 15, para 114. See also Mosley v UK (2011) 53 EHRR 30, para 114.

88 White, note 47, 54. See also Jersild v Denmark (1994) 19 EHRR 1.

89 See, e.g., Von Hannover v Germany (No 2) (2012) 55 EHRR 15.

90 See, e.g., Von Hannover v Germany (No 1) (2005) 40 EHRR 1.

91 Ballantyne, Davidson and McIntyre v Canada, CCPR/C/47/D/359/1989 and 385/1989/Rev.1 (5 May 1993), where restrictions in Quebec on English language commercial signage were found to breach Article 19 despite arguments that English signage undermined French minority cultural rights.

92 Only an extreme libertarian view, which is intrinsically hostile to almost all state regulation, is opposed to state duties to foster a pluralistic media. Neither international human rights law nor the Guiding Principles reflect a philosophy of extreme libertarianism.

93 Difficulties arise in drawing precise boundaries around the meanings of ‘hate speech’ and ‘war propaganda’, which are beyond the scope of this article.

94 White, note 47, 60.

95 The Obama administration has classified photos depicting US torture in Afghani prisons on the basis that their release would prompt attacks on US troops abroad. See, e.g., Walker, Lauren, ‘US Moves to Block Graphic Photos of Detainee Abuse, Again’, Newsweek (22 December 2014)Google Scholar, http://www.newsweek.com/us-moves-block-graphic-photos-detainee-abuse-again-293995 (accessed 3 February 2016).

96 Under the ECHR, states have a margin of appreciation, which occupies a ‘zone’ between clear violation and clear non-violation of a right, where states have a discretion as to whether or not to restrict a particular ECHR right. Many ‘grey zones’ fall within this margin of appreciation. The doctrine of the margin of appreciation is not adopted by the UN human rights bodies.

97 Of course, in reality, it is problematic to rely on states to prevent complicity by others in their own abuses.

98 I am grateful to Frank Garcia for this marvelous metaphor: Garcia, Frank, Trade, Inequality, and Justice: Toward a Liberal Theory of Just Trade (New York: Transnational Publishers, 2003) 17 Google Scholar.

99 Special rules for broadcasters were once justified by broadcast spectrum scarcity, which no longer exists due to digitization and satellites. See generally, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Australia), The Convergence Review (2011), http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/1339_convergence.pdf (accessed 3 February 2016).

100 See, on the ‘fairness doctrine’ applied by the US Federal Communication Commission to US broadcasters, a policy abandoned in 1987, Kathleen Anne Ruane, ‘Fairness Doctrine: History and Constitutional Issues’, Congressional Research Service (13 July 2011), https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40009.pdf (accessed 3 February 2016).

101 For example, scientific opinion overwhelmingly favours the assertion that human-induced climate change exists. Hence, a debate between two protagonists, one ‘for’ and one ‘against’, which implies that both views are equally supported in the scientific community, is arguably misleading. See Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 46 and 88.

102 Ibid, 102.

103 ‘General Comment 34’, note 42, para 14.

104 Ibid, para 40.

105 See also the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression 2005.

106 ‘General Comment 34’, note 42, para 15.

107 See Boev, Boyko, ‘Public Service Media and Human Rights’ in Council of Europe (ed.), note 47, 133 Google Scholar. For example, Australia’s public SBS broadcasting network provides content of particular relevance to the country’s various migrant communities.

108 European Commission, ‘Guidelines on market analysis and the assessment of significant marketpower under the Community regulatory framework for electronic communications, networks and services’ (2002/C/165/03), para 75.

109 See, e.g., Finkelstein, note 25, paras 3.6–3.9 on the Australian market.

110 UNESCO, World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development (Paris: UNESCO, 2014) 46–47 Google Scholar. An exception applies in those countries where state media monopolies have been dismantled, so diversity has necessarily increased.

111 Leveson, note 11, Part C, Chapter 4, para 2.5.

112 Barron, note 63, 1646 and 1661.

113 Gardbaum, note 64, 1071.

114 Haider v Austria, Appl. No. 25060/94, decision of 18 October 1995 (European Commission on Human Rights), para 3 of the Law Section.

115 See Haraszti, Miklós, ‘Media Pluralism and Human Rights’ in Council of Europe (ed.), note 47, 101 Google Scholar, 111 and 131.

116 Ibid, 131–2. See, for a contemporary controversy over net neutrality, Saritha Rai, ‘In India, Fierce Opposition Builds Against Facebook’s Free Basics’, Forbes Asia (4 January 2016), http://www.forbes.com/sites/saritharai/2016/01/04/in-india-fierce-opposition-builds-against-facebooks-free-basics/#5c6e52287619 (accessed 3 February 2016).

117 Guiding Principles, note 6, Commentary on Principle 11.

118 Ibid.

119 See Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 230.

120 Finkelstein, note 25, para 8.62.

121 See, for an illustration of the typical matters raised in such codes, the IFJ (International Federation of Journalists) Declaration of Principles on the Conduct of Journalists 1954 (amended 1986) at http://www.ifj.org/about-ifj/ifj-code-of-principles/ (accessed 2 January 2016).

122 Media Standards Trust, The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO): An Assessment (November 2013), http://mediastandardstrust.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/11/MST-IPSO-Analysis-15-11-13.pdf (accessed 22 February 2016).

123 See, e.g., Ungar, Rick, ‘The Dirtiest Presidential Campaign Ever? Not even Close!’, Forbes (20 August 2012), http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/08/20/the-dirtiest-presidential-campaign-ever-not-even-close/#c15ed63fea2e Google Scholar (accessed 3 February 2016), on the partisan nature of the press coverage of the 1800 US presidential election.

124 See, e.g., how ‘yellow journalism’ was one factor which pushed the US into war with Spain in Cuba and the Philippines in the late nineteenth century. ‘US Department of State, Office of the Historian, US Diplomacy and Yellow Journalism’, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/yellow-journalism (accessed 3 February 2016).

125 See, e.g., Williams, Kevin, ‘Free Press, Free Market?’ (2014) 64/1 History Today, http://www.historytoday.com/kevin-williams/free-press-free-market (accessed 3 February 2016)Google Scholar, on the history of the ‘popular press’ in the UK.

126 See Nugruho, Yanuar, Putri, Dinita Andriani and Laksmi, Shita, Mapping the Landscape of the Media Industry in Contemporary Indonesia (Manchester: CIPG, Hivos, and Manchester Business School, Ford Foundation, 2012)Google Scholar.

127 Leveson, note 11, Part B, Chapter 4, para 3.5.

128 Guiding Principle 16 recommends that companies adopt human rights policies. But the widely respected and utilized business-humanrights.org website does not list one media company in its ‘updated list of companies with human rights policies’: http://business-humanrights.org/en/company-policy-statements-on-human-rights (accessed 14 Dec 2015).

129 This observation is made after a comprehensive investigation of the material on the business-humanrights.org website. A rare exception is Christine Bader, ‘2015: Will the Media Shine a Light on its Own Corporate Responsibility?’, Guardian (29 December 2014), http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/dec/29/2015-will-media-shine-a-light-on-its-own-corporate-responsibility (accessed 3 February 2016).

130 These remedies are often expensive, and are rarely pursued by people other than the very rich. Such remedies seem insufficiently accessible to satisfy Pillar 3.

131 Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 3.

132 Scott, CP, 1846–1932: The making of the Manchester Guardian, (London: F Muller, 1946) 161 Google Scholar, quoted in Finkelstein, note 25, para 2.52.

133 Hamilton is quoted in Siebert, Fred S, Peterson, Theodore and Schramm, Wilbur, Four Theories of the Press: The Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility and Soviet Concepts of What the Press Should Be and Do (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1956) 73 Google Scholar.

134 See, e.g., Starr, Paul, ‘An Unexpected Crisis: the News Media in Postindustrial Democracies’ (2012) 17/2 The International Journal of Press/Politics 234 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

135 Paul Dacre, editor of the rival Daily Mail, suggested that Tony Blair’s government could not have proceeded with its decision to invade Iraq in 2003 ‘without the support received through Mr Murdoch’s newspapers’. Leveson, note 11, Part C, Chapter 2, para 3.15.

136 Kovach and Rosenstiel note that the American ABC News represented less than 2 per cent of parent company Disney’s profits. Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 30.

137 Ibid, 27. See also White, note 47, 51–2.

138 Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 30.

139 See generally Craig, Robert L, ‘Advertising, Democracy and Censorship’ (2004) 22:2 The Public 49 Google Scholar. See also Steinem, Gloria, ‘Sex Lies and Advertising’, Ms (July/August 1990) 18–28 Google Scholar.

140 See, e.g., Warner, KE, Goldenhar, LM, McLaughlin, CG, ‘Cigarette Advertising and Magazine Coverage of the Health Hazards of Smoking: A Statistical Analysis’ (January 1992) New England Journal of Medicine 326 Google ScholarPubMed.

141 A 1992 survey in the US revealed high levels of attempted and successful advertiser interference in some newspaper content. Soley, Lawrence C and Craig, Robert L, ‘Advertising Pressures on Newspapers: A Survey’ (1992) 21:4 Journal of Advertising 1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 10.

142 Regarding allegations by a journalist that the Telegraph’s owners suppressed adverse reports about HSBC due to fears of losing advertising revenue, see Sherwin, Adam, ‘Peter Oborne Resignation: Senior Writer Quits Telegraph Dramatically over HSBC Allegations’, Independent (18 February 2015)Google Scholar, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/peter-oborne-resignation-senior-writer-dramatically-quits-telegraph-over-hsbc-allegations-10052314.html (accessed 3 February 2016).

143 See, e.g., Finkelstein, note 25, paras 4.14 and 4.75.

144 Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 2–3.

145 The US has long recognized that companies have constitutional rights. Controversy in this regard was reinvigorated by the US Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v Federal Electoral Commission 558 US 310 (2008).

146 Foreign investors already make frequent property rights claims under investment treaties. See, e.g., Joseph, Sarah, ‘Trade Law and Investment Law’ in Dinah Shelton (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of International Human Rights Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) 841 Google Scholar.

147 Kovach and Rosenstiel, note 56, 31.

148 White, note 47, 50.

149 International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP), Journalism, Media and the Challenge of Human Rights Reporting (Versoix: ICHRP, 2002) 7 Google Scholar.