An essay on paparazzi [9-]

Celebrities are able to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle, but fame comes at a price. Famous people are always being hounded by the paparazzi who invade their private lives in order to satisfy the curiosity of the public. Some people have called for restrictions to be put on the press, while others are against the idea.

Write an essay in which you weigh up the pros and cons of restricting press freedom to protect privacy. Quote any famous cases you have heard of to back up your arguments.

No one can forget the pain brought by knowing that our beloved Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris when fleeing from paparazzi. Because of this tragedy, people began to consider whether the press has been given too much freedom. Until now, paparazzi are still invading celebrities’ private lives, even more serious than before. Therefore, some are calling for restrictions to be put on the press while some disagree. In order to reach a fair and reasonable conclusion, we must first look at pros and cons of this issue.

First of all, some agree with the proposal of putting restrictions on the press because it helps to safeguard our basic human rights, one of which should be privacy. The fact is that no one has the right to exploit one’s privacy. It is even ridiculous and unfair to say that celebrities being the well-known people have to sacrifice their privacy to satisfy the curiosity of the public. We should always remember that privacy is something that every one of us could enjoy, let alone the celebrities. Moreover, these days no one can deny that animals are gaining more and more rights. Even the SAR government has set up laws to protect them from being abused. Similarly, human rights of the celebrities have been invaded seriously by the paparazzi, why can’t the government do the same thing to protect them?

Secondly, restrictions to be put on the press will not only benefit the celebrities, but also the whole society – every one of us. If we don’t do something to stop this worsening problem or just keep our arms folded, the problem will once become ours. Since most people are interested in the private lives of the celebrities reported in the magazines, the press may think their actions are recognized and approved – this will probably encourage them to do more. Worse still, every one of us may become the next Gillian Chung as we may be photographed in the streets, the dressing rooms or even at home. So, if we still don’t restrict the freedom of the press, the problem may become too big to control. It may erode our social moral values, kill our privacy or even destroy the social order.

However, some disagree with the above arguments, and they are strongly against with the restrictions to be put on the press.

Celebrities are the idols of the teenagers. What they act, what they say may seem to be the freedom of their own, but actually they always have a great influence on their fans. Teenagers like to imitate the clothes their idols wear, the hairstyle their idols have and even their behavior, no matter good or bad. Therefore, some say that the press is a kind of good monitoring instrument which can help to restrict the impetuous and indecent actions of the celebrities, such as fighting, swearing and drug-abusing. While human rights are very important to every individual, protecting the next generation from receiving so much wrong messages is even more vital to our society. So, how can we lose this effective and helpful monitoring role?

Another problem that concerns us most after the restriction on the press freedom is that we may lose much valuable news and information. Politically specking, if the governments don’t want something undesirable to be revealed in the newspaper, they may use this as a reason to hide and conceal the fact, then we may never know the truth. Scaring as it may sound, restrictions to be put on the press freedom indeed involve more complex impact than we may think. Therefore, it is not worthwhile to set up laws to restrict the press just because of the paparazzi’s disgusting actions.

All in all, after understanding the arguments from both sides, it is true to say that restriction to be put on the press freedom is a complicated issue. Before the public can reach an agreement on how to strike a balance between upholding press freedom and restricting paparazzi’s powers, we have to seek for other ways. Showing disapproval and hostility towards the paparazzi, choosing not to buy the gossipy magazines are good ways to say “no” to this indecent trend.

Comment: Frankly speaking, this is an impeccable essay.