Personal misinformation in the press and the right to honor and good name; Freedom of the press and journalistic responsibility

Diana Sofía Nitola Viancha (on behalf of Raquel Lucía Pereira) v. Newspaper Boyacá Seven Days

Date: 08/31/2020

Judge-Rapporteur: Alejandro Linares Cantillo

Facts.  The plaintiff claimed that the newspaper violated her client´s rights to honor and good name by refusing to correct the information printed in the journal.  The questioned information was related to acts of domestic violence in which the plaintiff was a victim.  In her opinion, the daily suggested that those acts were faked and that the offender was found non-guilty, which contradicts all that really happened. 

Issue: If wrong information is given by the mass media, should it be corrected not to transgress the rights to honor and good name of the persons involved?

Ruling and reasoning.  Yes.  The Court considered that the newspaper did violate constitutional guarantees by making wrong affirmations such as “according to the investigations, the victim apparently had invented an injury that caused a wrist fracture”.  This led the reader to wrongly conclude that the petitioner had not suffered any type of injury or that she even harmed herself to accuse her former husband. For the Court, the journal failed to comply with its duty to provide accurate and unambiguous information on the matter it was reporting.

Consequently, the protection invoked was GRANTED and the correction of the wrong information is ordered.  Likewise, it warned the media to refrain from engaging in acts that may be caused by gender discrimination that has led many women to be afraid of accusing their aggressors.