I think that, looking at the concept of “We the Media”, the fact that anyone can post anything has turned people into media hunters. Just an average person can get involved in another persons life. They don’t know when to stop and when to leave people alone. One good example of this is the paparazzi. They are out looking for the best and most embarrassing photo to take of celebrities. And the way they handle it is with extreme measures — even sometimes breaking the law. They invade the privacy of the celebrities and by doing that they endanger the lives of themselves, the celebrities, and even innocent bystanders. I think that, because of them not knowing when to stop, they make situations dangerous. There is also the consideration of moral decency.
In the latest edition of the magazine, The Week, there were two articles which I was reading that were about this exact topic. One of the articles was about paparazzi and the other talked about “Should the media back off?” (back off Britney Spears, that is). In the article, one quote from Miranda Devine of The Sydney Morning Herald was very interesting and true:
Thanks to camera phones and the internet, the professional media doesn’t have the power it once had to decide what should or shouldn’t be covered. The tabloids could call off their hounds tomorrow, and Spears would still be pursued by packs of photographers – albeit with less-expensive cameras – for the delectation of the tens of millions of online voyeurs who have developed a “taste for Britney’s distress.”
“We the Media” has to learn that sometimes it is necessary to just leave people alone. It’s the decent thing to do.
