This increases the press intrusion into their lives. Generally, other celebrities – such as politicians – are not targeted as much because, at the end of the day, the newspapers and magazines want to sell their product and it tends to be the superstar content that makes it that added bit easier.
I believe that when someone chooses to enter any aspect of public life, they need to accept the responsibility and added baggage that comes with such a life. I also think that there should be clearer guidelines for the press to follow in regards to dealing with celebrities in their publication. If they should stray from these rules in any way, there should be a significant and ridiculing fine so that such things don’t appear in the press to start with.
For example, when it comes to children, the law should be very specific. Unless the celebrity in question has given explicit permission for their child to be photographed or included in an article, they should not be brought into the piece. They say that you can’t choose your parents and so it could in fact cause damage to the future wellbeing of a child should they be featured.
Newspapers and magazines should also not be allowed to dig up previous stories and refer to them unless there is an obvious connection. The reason that such things exist is because if an individual has lived in the spotlight for a considerable period of time, nearly everything they have done is documented. Many of these things occur in “normal” people’s lives which go unnoticed. But for some reason, celebrities are looked upon as different and as role models. This is right to a certain extent – for example, if someone that is a direct influence to children is found smoking in public, it could send out a negative message to their fans. In some cases celebrities should only do something in a certain place at an appropriate time.
The press intrusion used to be manageable, but in recent years it seems that even the most respected publications have stooped to new levels by intruding one step further. If this continues, celebrities risk losing control of everything they do and leading lives entirely out of sight from the public. We need to “look after” our celebrities, and appreciate that they are also normal human beings who have exactly the same interests as we do and that no matter who they are or what they have done, they are entitled to their own privacy as well.
