Journalists and editors should get higher fines or end up in jail when they cross the line, the Venstre-led opposition proposed in today's Berlingske in light of the illegal methods that have used by gossip rag Se & Hør.
The proposal was penned out by Jan E Jørgensen, a Venstre member of parliament’s justice council, Folketingets Retsudvalg, who said media are going too far in their hunt for stories.
"We just have to realise that some journalists and editors are not bound by the same morals as the rest of us," he told Berlingske.
"If you want to make them behave so even celebrities and politicians can get some privacy, we have to raise the fines and make prison sentences a real risk."
Journalists do jail time
But there's already a range of prison penalties for illegal journalism, Justice Minister Karen Hækkerup said at a parliamentary hearing today.
She didn't want to discuss tougher punishment before the police investigation had been concluded.
"New suspects are being interrogated every day and I think we should wait until we know more about what really happened," Hækkerup told DR.
"Some people could potentially be facing very long prison sentences, so we have to wait and see what's going to happen next."
Biggest media scandal
Se & Hør has been accused of blackmailing its way to credit card transactions of celebrities and royalties.
Several suspects have already been arrested in what is known as Denmark's biggest media scandal, but it's uncertain if they will face charges connected to the privacy violations.
The investigation follows allegations in a book by journalist Ken B Rasmussen, whose disclosures led to his own arrest yesterday.
