Press Intrusion and Unwanted Media Contact
Unwanted media attention can be debilitating, especially when you're going through a stressful, tragic, or difficult time.
Contact from reporters on a regular basis, visits to your home or place of business, or continuous photography can easily become upsetting and intrusive. Everyone has an underlying right to privacy.
Rightfully, reporters are permitted to intrude on an individual’s private life where there is a public interest basis for doing so, and their actions are proportionate. But often, the targets of press intrusion are ordinary people who have done nothing wrong, and just been caught up in newsworthy - and often tragic or traumatic - events.
The Press Justice Project supports people experiencing intrusive or unwanted media behaviour. We provide confidential guidance to help you understand your rights, set boundaries, and decide what action, if any, you want to take.
What counts as press intrusion?
Press intrusion or unwanted media contact can include:
Persistent phone calls, emails, or messages from journalists
Doorstepping at your home, workplace, or places connected to you
Repeated filming or photography without consent
Publication of private or sensitive personal information
Continued approaches after you have asked for privacy
Ongoing coverage that ignores clear requests to stop
Intrusion is often about the pattern of behaviour rather than a single incident. Repeated contact over days or weeks can cause significant stress and disruption.
RESPONDING TO PRESS HARASSMENT
You are not obliged to speak to journalists or respond to media enquiries.
You have the right to say no — or not to respond at all.
The Press Justice Project can help you:
Understand when press behaviour crosses regulatory lines
Offer legal referral where press behaviour may have been unlawful
Decide when and how to respond
Support you in raising concerns or formal complaints
Signpost further options if intrusion continues
If you are experiencing unwanted media attention
If journalists are repeatedly contacting you, visiting you, or publishing information about you in ways that feel intrusive, you do not have to face it alone.
The Press Justice Project can help you understand your options and decide what to do next.
Further reading
The Daily Mail continues to show complete disrespect for grieving families