Some people believe that media should be allowed to publish information about the private lives of famous people. Others say that everybody has a right to privacy and this practice must be controlled or even stopped. Discuss both views.

We are living in a celebrity obsessed world where everything that famous people do or say makes headlines. If media publish 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 don’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, the 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 the 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.