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(Includes full text with pictures and interactive works cited) =)
Journalism is a field of work that requires an individual to balance
the ethical aspects of invading another person’s privacy with getting
the information they need to cover a specific story. It is becoming
increasingly common to find out what a certain celebrity has said or
done yesterday in today’s newspaper and magazine tabloids. Our society
has become so fixated in watching and reading about others, that
sometimes we forget that celebrities should have some privacy of their
own. Stories in the headlines can range from what a certain celebrity
orders from a fast food restaurant to information concerning a divorce
settlement between a couple. Every solitary move a famous individual
makes in his or her life is documented in a photograph, editorial, or
headline on a TV show dedicated to exposing their life. If famous
celebrities cannot receive any amount of privacy, why should
individuals like ourselves be guaranteed that our personal lives are
not exposed to the world? Should not all human beings be able to keep
certain aspects of their life personal? Journalists and photographers
should realize that celebrities are human beings that would like to
keep certain parts of their lives to themselves, and not have their
lives consumed with photographs and editorials devoted to exposing all
details of their life, good or bad.
Although numerous
individuals think that being famous means being in the public eye on a
daily basis, people do not understand how far some photographers and
journalists will go to get a juicy story. Being famous does come with
life altering changes that celebrities have to learn to accept no
matter how drastic. Celebrities start to become familiar with people
watching their every move from the minute they wake up to the time they
will go back to bed. Journalists and photographers will literally stalk
famous individuals down to simply get a juicy story or photograph that
they can write about in the next editorial. Photographers seem to be
the worst people when it comes to stalking celebrities with their
cameras. Simply going out to run errands can turn into the biggest
nightmare for celebrities. For instance, in a picture found
on the NPR website about stalking celebrities, the caption for the
photograph reads, “Ben Affleck hides his face from paparazzi as he
enters the CNN building in Los Angeles for an appearance on Larry King
Live” (Brand). As a result of being bombarded with cameras, the actor
was forced to hide his face with his jacket and hands blocking the
photographers from taking pictures of him. What some individuals fail
to realize is that interviews and appearances are actual jobs for
celebrities. In an interview about paparazzi, a celebrity publicist,
Ken Sunshine, says, “It is crazy to have packs of people, whose
full-time, quote, job, is to get the most embarrassing photo they can
of a celebrity. How would you like to have a camera two inches away
from your face, where the...the stalkerazzi is daring you to push...be
pushed away” (“Why Paparazzi Are Wrong”). How would anyone feel if when
going to work they were surrounded with cameras and light-bulb flashes
constantly?
With the amount of attention numerous celebrities
receive from the media, invading their privacy is just another part of
a journalist’s job description. Such actions as going through another
individual’s trash can lead to the next big headline on tomorrow’s
magazine. Some journalists will ultimately dedicate their life to
exposing someone else’s in magazine editorials and articles. The media
is certainly abusing the rights they are given by exposing details of
famous individual’s lives. Anything
from celebrity scandals and breakups to private matters like divorce
are always shown on TV shows featured on E News, which show the latest
and most up to date stories. These shows will provide viewers with hard
evidence including paper documents and photographs that depict a
certain story. Stories dealing with breakups, for instance, the popular
divorce between Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston after seven years of
marriage, are sold to specific magazines for a large amount of money.
In an article from ABC News about celebrity media going out of control,
the authors make a valid argument when stating “...beyond the personal
tragedy of one couple's struggles lies an industry poised to reap
hundreds of millions of dollars from misfortunes such as theirs”
(Tapper and Morris). Even though paparazzi are most famous for selling
juicy photographs to TV shows and magazines for thousands of dollars,
celebrities can sometimes benefit from the situation as well.
Tabloids
are probably most famous for exposing the dirty secrets and scandals of
celebrities, true or not. This fast-paced industry has had a major
influence on what the media shows to our society. The tactics used in
more authoritative newspapers such as the New York Times are extremely
different from the tactics used in celebrity gossip magazines like Star
Magazine
or the National Enquirer. Facts written in highly regarded newspapers
are checked multiple times for credibility, whereas tabloids will say
just about anything to get a juicy story. In an informative website
about tabloids, the author explains the way tabloid writers come up
with the material for articles and headlines as, “The key to tabloid
story writing is that something doesn’t have to be true to
print—someone just has to have said it was true” (Grabianowski). In
essence, almost anything can be written about celebrities' as long as
someone has said it is true. Although some stories and headlines may
seem like they are true, almost anything can be made up to get people
to buy and believe what the media is showing. Why should celebrities'
be the target of tabloids? Why not expose regular individual's secrets
to the world instead? Our society is not interested in everyday
people's lives because they put celebrities' on a pedestal, desiring to
know about their favorite celebrities’ daily actions through magazines,
photographs, TV shows, etc.
Photography is a subcategory under
journalism that focuses on the visual aspects of informing others about
a specific story in the news. Many photographers will often stalk
celebrities down on a daily basis by hiding out somewhere nearby and
keeping a very close watch to their every move. In
some extreme cases, some photographers will be so aggressive with
celebrities that it often results in verbal abuse, car accidents, and
ultimately death. The most famous example of violent photographers in
action is the accident of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed. Jason Fraser,
a prominent press photographer remains acknowledged for his attempts of
getting images of Princess Diana and her newfound lover when the
relationship first began. However, when things got out of control one
night in the tunnel of Pont d’Alma, one selfish act to get photographs
of the couple turned out to be the night that ended their lives
forever. It is said that the photographer, Fraser, “is reported to have
earned more than [pound]1m from a series of pictures taken this time”
(Brown). Paparazzi must realize that even though pictures can be worth
such an extreme amount of money, celebrities are people too, and such
extreme cases like death can become reality if the situation becomes
dangerous enough.
With fame comes its share of attention, no
matter how much in amount or in what form exactly. All celebrities
understand that when he or she becomes famous, people will become
dedicated to watching their every move throughout their daily lives.
Although celebrities expect what comes with fame, every single detail
of their life should not be exposed in the next tabloid or magazine
article. Celebrities should be able to keep some of their private
information to themselves and not have to read it or hear about it the
next day. However, what does that ultimately say about our society in
itself? Our society is so interested in reading and watching about
others’ that we forget that they should have some privacy of their own.
Human beings should be guaranteed some limit of privacy no matter how
famous they are. After all, if every solitary detail of our lives as
regular individuals was exposed in the next magazine article published
worldwide, no one would ever be happy.
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