• data protection
• free speech
• journalism

Data protection and freedom of expression have an inescapably tense relationship. As the right to data protection became increasingly relevant for EU law, this tension became more evident. GDPR deals with this tension through the journalistic exemption, although it does not offer a clear answer about how to treat it in specific cases. On the contrary, it delegates this task to member states. Most of the literature focused either on the words of the GDPR and its origins in the DPD or on how member states have interpreted its words in different contexts. The journalistic exemption, however, has also been interpreted by the ECJ and the ECtHR. While almost every work on the journalistic exemption has incorporated this dimension as offering guidelines for interpreting it, there are no extensive critical analyses of this case law. This dissertation will focus on the distinctions the case law on the journalistic exemption draws upon. It will argue that they are conceptually weak, either due to their coherence or an outdated conception of the public sphere, which leads to misconceptions of the right to freedom of expression.