From Deborah Orr, in today's Independent (I think)
"Generally, the media defends its "right" to intrude into the private lives of people in the public eye by suggesting that if "celebrities" invite it in, in the cause of furthering lucrative careers, then they can't complain when material that is not generated by the public relations machine is published as well. I don't really go along with this defence, and I've found it quite incredible to note that it has been used widely even when the public relations machine exists only to find a missing child.
The Madeleine McCann case has shown the media at its most hypocritical, tasteless, and ruthless. The mysterious, disturbing disappearance of a four-year-old who caught the public interest, has been hugely exploited in order to sell newspapers and make profits, no matter how much her parents were smeared and attacked in the process. Unbelievably, people seem so carried away with the idea that fame or notoriety of any sort must be just wonderful, that the huge and horrible coverage meted out to the McCanns has been viewd ever since as something generous that was bestowed on the McCanns because they were "middle-class".
The apologies the stable of newspapers owned by Richard Desmond and his Express group have been forced to run today, warn at least that the media has to start being a little more careful who it decides to declare open season on. It would be nice to think that the media might start considering now that it should be more responsible, in general, especially when children are involved.
My own view is that for the sake of the families involved all sorts of people should be treated with a degree of circumspection, from Gerry and Kate McCann to Karen Matthews, from Britney Spears to Heather Mills. Of course, it won't happen. It is much more easy and profitable to villify individuals than it is to consider how a mature popular culture might support all parents by doing what it always says they should be doing, and putting the children first.
At the very least, this might help children to understand what very many adults no longer do: that while it is natural to gossip about people, and to judge them for their mistakes, it is also damaging, destructive and lazy. It's a gulty pleasure that ought to be indulged in only quietly and secretly, among trusted friends, if at all. Anyway, how can we expect children in a playground to be kind and respectful to each other, and patient with the flaws and errors of others, when mocking the afflicted and the suffering in print and on the internet has become a national obsession? It isn't just lost children we should be worrying about. It is also lost decency."
I've highlighted the bit which particularly caught my attention.
Last edited by Barry Shnikov; 20th-March-2008 at 06:08 PM.
almost prophetic the words "money can't buy me love"
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