We are living
in a celebrity obsessed world where everything that famous people do or say
makes headlines. If media publishes stories about the private lives of the rich
and the famous, that is because there is an audience for them. People want to
know what celebrities do, say, wear, eat and drink. Media merely satisfies this
need because it makes sound business sense for them.
Public
personalities also have a private life that they want to shield from others.
Just because they are famous, the media doesn’t have the right to publish all
sorts of personal information about them. It has now become fashionable to
publish photos and stories that are demeaning to famous people. This trend must
be condemned. Everybody has flaws; however, when a celebrity exhibits them it
becomes news. People get some weird pleasure from knowing that these famous men
and women that they admire are not perfect.
On
the flip side, there is a symbiotic relationship between celebrities and the
media. One depends on the other for their existence. Celebrities need media
exposure to remain celebrities. They are desperate to stay in the news. They
need media attention to build their career. They become conscious of their
right to privacy only after they have established themselves in the industry.
At that stage, however, they can’t expect the media, which fuelled their
growth, to stop writing about them.
To
conclude, as long as people want to know about the private lives of famous
personalities, media will oblige them with photos and stories. However, I
believe that public personalities also have a right to privacy. Although I
wouldn’t say that media should stop writing about famous people, I do believe
that they should draw a line. Media must resist the temptation to publish
stories that can destroy lives and careers.
(303 words)
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