Reporting on Günther Jauch's adoptive daughters permitted

The Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) has decided: The daughters of Günther Jauch must accept repeated naming with indication of their age in the press.

Before the BVerfG, the adoptive daughters of the well-known television presenter brought constitutional complaints against the publication of their names and their age in the press.

The occasion for the constitutional complaints were magazine articles about the Jauch family from 2011. These also named the two daughters, whom Günther Jauch and his wife had adopted in 1997 and 2000 from a Siberian orphanage, by name and with indication of their age.

With their constitutional complaints, the children essentially challenged a violation of their right to informational self-determination.

The decision of the BVerfG on Günther Jauch's adoptive daughters

WithBeschluss vom 28.07.2016 – Az. 1 BvR 335/14the BVerfG denied a violation of these rights.

The right to informational self-determination encompasses the authority of a person to decide in principle for themselves whether, when and within what limits personal life circumstances are disclosed. In this regard, children and young persons are particularly in need of protection, especially when the children of prominent parents have neither exposed themselves to the public through their own conduct nor through their parents.

However, informational self-determination is limited by freedom of opinion and freedom of the press. The BVerfG confirmed a preceding judgment of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), in which the latter gave priority to freedom of the press.

In addition to the fact that the information had already been published in several unchallenged articles, the BVerfG established that the mere mention of first name, parentage and age without a photograph was not suitable to make the children visually recognisable to the public.

Conclusion

In balancing the right to privacy and freedom of the press, consideration must also be given to whether the relevant information has already been published and whether action has already been taken against it.