Topps
Marisa Topps
Professor Brody
English 093
1 May 2013
Does the Public have the right to know about Celebrities’ private life?
The right of privacy was developed to protect against four main types of invasions: (1) intrusion into solitude, (2) public disclosure of private facts, (3) depiction in a false light, and (4) commercial exploitation of a person's name or likeness, also called appropriation.7. (Findlaw 3) Millions of dollars are made by celebrities and public figures yearly. It appears that everyone including myself is just in awed by the lives of public figures; we want to know what they are doing and who they are doing it with. The media has increased are curiosity and literally feeds off of us wanting to know the most intimate details of their lives who they are with romantically, where they go on vacations, down to how Celebrities children look and dress like. Does the public have the right to know all of these intimate details?
Topps
The media makes money off of Celebrities every move they make, they stake out where they live where they frequent even their friends and relatives houses. A Photographer can make anywhere from 5,000 to almost 2 million dollars off of just one photo of the right public figure doing the wrong thing. Society's relationship with public figures is very complicated, says Bonnie Bucqueroux, assistant coordinator of the Victims and the Media Program at Michigan State University. "We have a love-hate relationship with public figures," she said”. "We envy them and resent them." (Peck) Politicians are considered celebrities and are expected to be the image of perfection. I think this is why the press is always ready to dig up any piece of dirt they can about them. We seem to insist upon them being family orientated, living in a happy home, having never erred in their past. This is not only an unreasonable request, but it is not beneficial or representative to the majority of society, But does the legitimate interest in knowing more about a politician extend to details about personal relations?” It is hard to draw a line of principle around any area and determine if knowledge of it will provide relevant information about a politician's moral character”. (Sandler) Topps
Some reporters say public figures bring this media attention upon themselves by placing their lives in the limelight. "By the very nature of being a public figure, the public person is going to search out the press," said Bill McWhirter, contributing editor for Time magazine. "They will try all kinds of things to be seen favorably. The public person will be the first to complain he or she doesn't have a private life. The question is: Why is society so fascinated by celebrity stories Celebrities chose to be publicized. Some even purposely tell paparazzi where they will be going so that they can be photographed there. Also, the paparazzi have a right to the freedom of the press. Of course there should be some limits, but there are already laws in place for that. However, they have the right to do whatever it is they want to as long as it abides by the laws that are already in place. Like the celebrities, the paparazzi are people as well and should have the same consequences for breaking laws, but they still have the right to freedom of the press.
The media attention that celebrities get from being in the public eye is how they stay relevant, and make the money that they do, it can also be a double edged sword. American poet Emily Dickinson once wrote, “Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent.” (Sandler) Without relevance they can’t make the big bucks that they’re after. Many celebrities embrace the media attention Topps using it to their advantage while
