Why is privacy probably one of the most difficult ethical area for journalists to define?

Why is privacy probably the most important and difficult ethical area for journalists to define? Ethical principals are hard to define because moral judgements are essentially the decision of each individual. Broadly defined ethical codes may be useful to some journalists but responsibility falls on personal conscience. Also, Frost tells us: "There are too many variables around the circumstances of each invasion of privacy to allow for hard-and-fast rules." There is little dispute that the …

…defining the importance privacy issues. In the UK, it remains to be seen whether applications under the Human Rights Act or regulation under OFCOM will improve this position. As a self-regulatory body, the enforcement powers of the Press Complains Commission (PCC) are limited. This means that there is no authoritative set of clear-cut rules on the issue of privacy. Therefore this remains one of the most important and difficult ethical areas for journalists to define.