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As we all know, many celebrities are famous because they crave the media
limelight but does that come at a price in the form of their privacy?
In the current technological age, ordinary people have access to smart
phones with built in cameras and have ability to upload a picture to the web in
a matter of seconds. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media
platforms are full of ‘spotted’ celebrities going about their daily lives. Is
it not unethical to pry into a person’s life regardless of their social status?
If we did this to a random person on the street would we have a bigger issue on
our hands of perhaps even being branded as a stalker?
Those pictures you admire/criticise in newspapers and glossy magazines,
someone paid the paparazzi to publish them. How is this ethical? That the
photographer needs permission for the picture to be used but the celebrity
doesn’t get an option?
In the modern day, digital media has made it difficult for the paparazzi,
with competition from the average citizen’s automatic photo uploads and
therefore are going to extreme lengths to get their shot which can be
unrivalled.
With technology being so advanced, paparazzi have access to James Bond style
gadgets such as drones with cameras that can be concealed on their clothing
that are invisible to the naked eye; this creates a massive ethical issue of
deception as the person doesn’t even stand a chance of hiding themselves. Other
methods have been going undercover to gain their million dollar shot; with
dressing up as an interior designer to get into the living room of the stars.
Take for example Julia Roberts’ pregnancy photograph, taken by the German
paparazzi Hans Paul that was worth £73,000.
So where are the boundaries for the paparazzi? Or aren’t there anymore?
Do celebrities lose their rights to privacy because they appear in the public
eye so many times?
Again this topic gained a lot of attention in Germany when the famous
ex-formula one driver Michael Schumacher had a skiing accident in Grenoble on
the 30th December 2013 and has been lying in coma since. But even in
this horrible and dramatic situation the paparazzi still try everything to get
a picture of the vulnerable star. Someone even dressed up as a priest to get
inside, but was luckily he was caught.
I don’t like this kind of unethical medial attention and scandal. I
think the stars are a part of the public life and have to expect to get
photographed in the public, but also they have a right of privacy when it comes
to unexpected conditions like an accident. Even if we want it, we don’t have
the right to know everything about someone and “we” don’t have the right to
ignore his or her right of privacy.
What do you think?
Did they choose to be famous and have to deal with it? Or do you agree
with me?
L.V.M & L.C
