A human rights bill being prepared to, in part, protect individuals from excessive media coverage will apply to freelance reporters working in all media -- including the Internet -- as well as reporters employed by news organizations, the government said Tuesday.
Any individual or corporate body engaged in news reporting will be included in media organizations stipulated under the bill, the government said in a written response to Etsuko Kawada, an independent member of the Lower House.
Under the bill, a human rights panel to be established under the jurisdiction of the Justice Ministry would act to prevent human rights and privacy violations, such as the hounding of crime victims to get an interview.