Prohibition of publication of recordings

BS-35975/2020-HJR
Order made on 28 September 2021

Anne Engdal Stig Christensen
vs.
Municipality of Aarhus

Danish broadcasters TV2 had used a hidden camera to record footage of an elderly woman with dementia in her home for approx. 16 days. The recordings were made by agreement with the woman’s relatives, and parts of the recordings were subsequently to be included in a TV programme. The recordings showed, among other things, the woman in very intimate situations in her home, and her identity was not hidden.

The Supreme Court found that the recordings included in the programme dealt with issues of major importance to society. However, the recordings were of such a nature that broadcasting them constituted gross violations of the woman’s right to respect for her private life.

The relatives accepting publication did not justify grossly violating the demented woman’s right to respect for her private life for the purpose of uncovering the criticisable conditions at her nursing home. In addition, the Supreme Court found that it had to be considered to have been possible to shed light on the criticisable conditions without bringing footage of the woman where her identity was not hidden.

The Supreme Court thus affirmed the order of the High Court.