European rights court rules to protect press sources

(STRASBOURG) - Five media companies won a ruling at the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday recognising the right of journalists to protect anonymous sources.

Four British daily newspapers -- the Financial Times (FT), the Independent, the Guardian and the Times -- and Reuters news agency appealed to Strasbourg after British courts ordered them to hand over documents to Belgian brewing firm Interbrew.

The documents would have allowed Interbrew to identify the source of a leak to the press about a planned takeover bid for South African Breweries (SAB).

The Strasbourg judges ruled unanimously that the order to hand over the documents amounted to a violation of the media companies' right to freedom of expression, under article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In its judgment, the court stressed the "chilling effect" of journalists being seen to help in the identification of anonymous sources.

On November 27, 2001, an FT journalist received a copy of a leaked document from an anonymous source concerning Interbrew's possible takeover move for SAB, and published an article about the bid on the newspaper's website that evening.

The Times, the Guardian, the Independent and Reuters all published stories referring to the same document in the following days, prompting a sudden rise in the number of SAB shares traded -- from two million to 44 million in two days.

Interbrew brought proceedings at the High Court in London as it sought to identify the source of the leak.

In December 2001 the High Court ruled in favour of Interbrew and ordered the documents to be handed over, judging the protection of the source to be less important than the company's right to seek justice against the source.

This decision was upheld on appeal by another British court, but the Strasbourg judges found against the British authorities and awarded 160,000 euros (234,000 dollars) in costs, though they did not award damages.

Court of Human Rights Judgement