A liberdade de expressão e informação frente ao direito à honra: a ética na imprensa

Abstract

The present work analyzes the current behavior of the press which sometimes doesn't act in an ethical way, publishing information which hurt people’s rights, as the right to the honor. As well as it observes the imposed limits not only for Law, but also for the norms and ethical precepts of the New Code of Ethics of the Brazilian Journalists, to the press professionals' performance, that have been assuring their liberty of expression and information, but not in a full way, unrestricted and absolute (in fact, any right, although fundamental, can’t be considered full, unrestricted and absolute). Such liberty has to be relative when get on conflict with other fundamental right of same constitutional hierarchy, as the right to the honor. By the way, it is exactly that sets down the §lst, of the Sec. 220, of Magna Charta, when foreseeing full liberty for journalistic information, assuming, however, to observe the right to the people's honor. The above-mentioned ethics code disposes, in your Sec. 6th, VIII, that is duty of every journalist to respect the citizens' honor. Therefore, the no-violation of the people's honor can have as a limit juridical and ethical to the full liberty of expression and information of the press. So, it is analyzed the conflict between two fundamental rights. And, to solve such conflict, it is not possible to apply the traditional criteria of interpretation (hierarchical, chronological and of the specialty), even because the norms that assure fundamental rights are norm-principles, and not norm-rules. An eventual conflict between the liberty of expression and information of the press and the right to the people's honor can be solved with the use of the Principle of the Proportionality, which orders that the judge, considering the analysis of the specific case, solve conflict bringing balance among those rights, prevailing one or the other, in that specific case, without the exclusion of the norm which holds the right that has the smaller value. That conflict is solved through the harmonization of those rights, adapting them to the democratic precepts of the Rule of Law, contributing for an ethical journalism and committed with the public interest. Respecting the constitutionally foreseen Principles as fundamental for the Federative Republic of Brazil, especially, the Dignity of the Human Person.