사생활 언론보도에 의한 인권침해의 사법적 판단기준: 유럽인권재판소의 ‘카롤린 공녀’ 관련 판결례를 중심으로

The European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) decided whether the tabloid coverage of the private life of the applicant, Princess Caroline of Monaco, violated her right to privacy enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights(“the Convention”), in its three consecutive rulings. This article aims to examine what legal criteria the Court has adopted in order to balance two conflicting rights of the Convention in cases where a media coverage of one’s private life is disputed; the right to privacy and the freedom of press (or the right to expression). The Court introduces two strands of private-public divide as its major criteria; firstly, regarding the ‘subjective’ private-public divide, the Court points that if the person whose private life has been covered by media does not hold an official title or position in a state, that person is not a public but private figure, thus requiring a stronger protection for one’s right to privacy. Secondly, regarding the ‘objective’ private-public divide, the Court asks whether that media coverage can contribute to a debate of public interests; if the article was written solely for the sake of the public’s entertainment, the Court can rule that it is not entitled to a higher level of protection of the freedom of press. Such legal criteria suggested by the Court have their own pros and cons, and they constitute a factor that should be considered while seeking the proper balance between two conflicting rights. Likewise, the South Korean courts have offered various yet similar criteria in cases where a media coverage of certain person’s private life is at issue; therefore, the critical analysis and reference of the Court’s jurisprudence including the Caroline cases are recommended to improve the coherence and clarity of such criteria adopted by the Korean courts as well.