Celebrity culture: Is it an impossible

challenge to journalism?

 

Children as young as five want to be like Victoria and David Beckham when they grow up, states a survey conducted by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ALT).

David Beckham topped the survey with teachers stating that almost 53% of their pupils wanted to be like the multi-millionaire footballer and nearly 30% of teachers stating that their pupils wanted to be like his very glamourous wife Victoria Beckham.

Celebrity culture has grown considerbly over the last five years, states the survey and journalists are trying to keep up with this rise in demand. With 24 hour news and high competition for the latest scoop where is the line between a celebrities privacy and a good story?


Celebrity magazines can be seen to fuel this need. Emma Ledger, Editorial Assistant for More! Magazine, said: “In an increasingly secular society with a lack of community you feel part of something in your shared desire to read about them. It binds people to one another.”


Due to this type of celebrity culture Mr Whittingdale MP said that British newspapers seem to be constantly pushing “at the boundaries as to what is legally permitted.”


With society having an increasing interest in celebrity lifestyle and newspapers and magazines rushing to fulfil that need, there has been a rise in the number of court cases featuring concerns about privacy.


Marcus Agar, Director of Marcus Agar Communications, who has dealt with celebrities such as Sam Fox, says that celebrities “sometimes forget that they put themselves into a position where they do become a currency in the media.”


Mark Stephens, media lawyer with Finer Stephens Innocent, says that if a person protects their privacy then the amount of media interest around you is smaller than if you relentlessly peruse the media and use your private life to further your career.

  
This however does seem a difficult thing to be able to do as “celebrities by definition need the press”, says Mr Agar.


Mr Stephens feels that in order for the rulings concerning privacy to be accurate “we need to look very carefully at how the celebrities market themselves. There are some celebrities that do keep a very distinct line around their private life and don’t expose their families through the pages of OK!”



The issue that Mr Stephens raises highlights the fact that people who are in the public eye need more protection over their privacy than others, as Keith Schilling, a renowned media lawyer of the firm Schillings, says.


Mr Stephens’ views on this issue differ to that of Mr Schilling, the head of the law firm Schillings, as he feels that even if someone had given numerous interviews and opened their life up to the public, they still deserve to be protected.


The difficulty with celebrity culture is that in order for it to exist, there must be press interest, as Mr Agar notes. Journalists and newspapers are therefore constantly expected to see where that, as yet undefined, line lies between a public interest story and the invasion of privacy of someone’s privacy.

 

 

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