Visiting scholar Dr. Costas Stratilatis

School of Political Science have the honour of inviting you to the lecture of our visiting scholar

Dr. Costas Stratilatis

University of Nicosia, Cyprus

The right of journalists not to disclose their sources under the European Convention on Human Rights and in the USA: A comparative perspective

Monday 22 April, 16:30 – 19:30 at room 3A

The lecture will first introduce basic concepts which are relevant with the topic. Then, it will analyse the significance of the right of journalists not to disclose their sources (reporter’s privilege) for the right of the public to be informed and for the right of citizens to control the Government in a democratic society. The lecture will then compare the different approaches of the Supreme Court of the USA (SCOTUS) and of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as regards the status of the reporter’s privilege as a fundamental right. We will see how one and the same logic (“the chilling effect doctrine”) was proven to be an adequate basis for the ECtHR to recognize the protection of the reporter’s privilege as a fundamental right under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), while it was insufficient for the majority in Branzburg, which declined to recognize the constitutional status of the reporter’s privilege under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the USA. In the last part, the lecture will analyse the relevant jurisprudence of the ECtHR (which should be followed by all member states of the Council of Europe), and it will provide a broad image as regards the protection of the reporter’s privilege at state level in the USA.

Dr Costas Stratilatis is an Associate Professor of Public Law at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. He has previously taught in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Since 2015 he has been participating as a national expert for Cyprus in the Media Pluralism Monitor, a European Commission project being run by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom – Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies – European University Institute, Florence, Italy. His current research interests include constitutional theory and media-related human rights. He has several publications in Greek as well as in international outlets.

Lecture open to the public. All welcome!