Freedom of the press, a good idea?

[Kizmic]

Freedom of press isn't even used as intended considering they aren't ballsy enough to report actual going ons in the government but instead fixate on celebrities. The press always uses the "well you are a public figure" as their excuse but it's stalking!

I think celebrities are people too and when they are doing their thing in their own time should be treated like a private individual.

I do think there needs to be lines drawn for the media. They've taken this freedom of the press too far and it's an invasion of privacy. They make money off of celebrities and do they pay royalties to those they make money off of? They slanderize far too often and there should be penalties.

 

[Kizmic]

I agree completely Hoofmark. But the responsibility goes both ways, as does simple respect. That's what's missing more than responsibility IMO. There has always been sensationalism and gossip rags. But here in the US we can blame the lack of respect on the fall of Nixon. That's when what should have been real news became sensationalized entertainment, at the expense of an office that should be respected. After that anyone and anything was fair game. We don't need to know what politician is sleeping with who, it's not our business. But it's entertaining. Also, the steady increase in the sorry state of the world since the 70s has made the general public want to hide its head in the sand.

There are celebrities, then there are Celebrities. Princess Diana was a Celebrity, so was Michael. But if you think about celebrities, only the ones who want to be in the tabloids are. There are many who you never read about, because they do keep their private life private.

The fact is, tabloids wouldn't exist if the public hadn't asked for them in the first place.

Any kind of censorship leads to more. If there were bans on what could be written about celebrities, that would be an open door to suppressing the freedom to criticize the government or the president or anything else.

I don't think tabloids should even be thought of as the press because freedom of the press is intended for actual news sources not people out to ruin people's reputation to fill their own pockets or make up stories.

It isn't the gateway for making the news stop criticizing the government. If anything, freedom of the press has been twisted in favor of junk news. I don't see the real news actually showing what goes on around the world, the real truth do you?

 

[Kizmic]

Well let me give you guys an example.

In Norway wich is a small country, the tabloids were using paparazzi pictures to write stories. This lead to the kind of chaos we see in the news today. You took a picture, sold it to the magazine and they created a story.

But celebrities quickly reacted to this, and there were court cases. In the end, the government passed laws that prohibits a magazine using pictures taken by paparazzis to write a story. Not only that, it became illegal for a paparazzi to follow a celebrity around while they were doing normal day things.

If they want to take pictures, they have to ask the person who is famous first, and then the magazine must ask the celebrity if they can write a story.

This applies only when people are not doing public things, but are just simply outside walking to the store or whatever. This law also applies to none celebrities. I myself have experienced this. Whenever I did an interview or was being filmed, they always ask me if it is ok to use the footage or picture for a story.

If Norway can do it, so can everyone else. This law did not prohibit freedom of press and at the same time protects an individuals right to privacy.

I used to work in a store in a place in Oslo where a lot of celebrities live. High profile celebrities, politicians etc. Not once did I see any paparazzi lurking around waiting for a scoop, thanks to this law.

Wow! That is great. Good for Norway!

 

[Mikejoefan]

Freedom of press isn't even used as intended considering they aren't ballsy enough to report actual going ons in the government but instead fixate on celebrities. The press always uses the "well you are a public figure" as their excuse but it's stalking!

I think celebrities are people too and when they are doing their thing in their own time should be treated like a private individual.

I do think there needs to be lines drawn for the media. They've taken this freedom of the press too far and it's an invasion of privacy. They make money off of celebrities and do they pay royalties to those they make money off of? They slanderize far too often and there should be penalties.

:clapping: You are speaking the truth!

I don't think tabloids should even be thought of as the press because freedom of the press is intended for actual news sources not people out to ruin people's reputation to fill their own pockets or make up stories.

It isn't the gateway for making the news stop criticizing the government. If anything, freedom of the press has been twisted in favor of junk news. I don't see the real news actually showing what goes on around the world, the real truth do you?

:clapping::clapping: Right once again! I wish would could have freedom FROM the press.-_-

Wow! That is great. Good for Norway!

:yes: The usa need to follow suit.

Great thread kos I was recently thinking about this and I think its time for a change. Ppl's private lives have nothing to do with the public, period. I aslo hate when ppl say it comes with the territory or they're famous so its ok. Um no just because someone is well known for being in a movie or singing a song doesn't mean that the world needs to know who they are dating. If a regular person was followed by a stalker everywhere they went you could file a restraining order on them so why is it ok for the paps to do it. IT's still stalking. No famous ppl ever got famous for their private life to begin with. They became famous first, for thing they did publicly such as model, movies, singing, etc. Now what give anybody a right to follow them, lie on them, and create stupid stories etc just because they are well known. Come on now. I actually hate the media (mass) and I feel like the media isn't here to bring corruption to light but all they do is lie to the public and ruin lives. They don't ever do investigative journalism at all. Just sensationalism for rating. Btw the media is controlled by certain powers that tells us what they want us to know, to control us. So for those acting like it so important for free press I could understand you wanting this IF the press actually reported the truth but they don't. Why anyone would want that I don't know.

I want freedom FROM the press.

 

[JaneBond]

freedom of the press, freedom of speech.... too rights/acts/laws that need to be revised and up to date with our world today. too often the media is used as a platform to discredit, slander, violate, humiliate, ridicule and destroy a persons life, their family, their career, their future and well being when not used in a professional and factual manner.

freedom of the press and freedom of speech are necessary rights, but i don't think sources (tabloids and media) should be allowed to hide behind them to destory someone, if they cannot validate the information. i think they should be held responsible, when they are responsible for damaging or destroying a person and their careers. many times we have heard about famous people that have sued tabloids for slander, false accusations, defammation, etc. so they must get very tired of always having to respond to the trash printed about them, and having to pay a lot of money to fight and sue the tabloids and media. a lot of times they just ignore it because they know it's not true, but they must tire of the lies and dirt printed and always being stalked by those junk mags all the time too. it's like they never learned anything in the death of princess di... they continue, and unfortuantely people keep buying their magazines, and watching their gossip shows on TV, so they continue to print stuff that damages or destroys a persons credibility, their careers, their name, and hurts their family and their well being.

i would love for something to happen, whereby freedom of speech and freedom of the press is ammended, up dated and those media sources are responsible for what they print, when it is not true. i don't think each and every person they violate should always have to sue them, pay so much money to take civil action against them. they should be charged, made to retract what they printed, apologize, something, anything, to be held responsible by the system, not just the person they violate. not sure what could be done, or how that could be done, but it's time for those two rights/acts to be up dated and revised and the tabloids/media held responsible for what they print, when not true, instead of hiding behind them, just to make money by making stuff up or buying "inside stories" that can't be validated.