Papparazi media harassment

[Phil Pascoe]

Bleddy good job Butler isn't on the loose.

 

[ColeyS1]

Hearing Jeremy Kyle's tv programme getting finally axed was a good day. Making entertainment about other people's misery didn't sit right.

I had little sympathy with the "victims" - they were there by choice. They deserved some kind of mini Darwin Award.

Yeah, it was almost like they selected the vulnerable [WINKING FACE]

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[Phil Pascoe]

They may well have been bribed - but they weren't forced. We're not their keepers.

 

[TFrench]

This is why I don't buy newspapers or read their websites - to do so just fuels the fire.

 

[Blackswanwood]

They may well have been bribed - but they weren't forced. We're not their keepers.

Maybe we are not their keepers but the argument of they should have known better doesn’t really cut it when the most vulnerable in society are being exploited for so called entertainment.

 

[ColeyS1]

Game over, that's it. Gone. Cheerio. Savage

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[sunnybob]

This subject is very emotive, but heres the point nobody ever considers. Newspaper (and facebook and "social media") would not publish such twaddle without the MILLIONS of people who WANT to see and hear about "famous" people.

If the general public stopped buying newspapers whenever a sleazy story was published, the practice would cease overnight.
Paparazzi are part of the system, earning wages by supplying a need just like everybody else.
Disclaimer;
No, I dont buy newspapers, no I am not on facebook, No, I am not a photographer.

 

[doctor Bob]

Those not realising how tragic it is that she saw her only option at 40 was to end her own life, are in a very fortunate and enviable position.

 

[Andy Kev.]

Some people seek celebrity, some have it thrust upon them.

I have a lot of sympathy for those of the latter group who are subject to intrusive press coverage and little for the former group. Those who seek celebrity are in my opinion like politicians, artists and criminals i.e. they're all volunteers, nobody forced them into it and if a leading practitioner leaves the scene, hundreds queue up to fill his/her boots.

It would appear that some of the seekers are mentally/emotionally unstable enough to the point where they top themselves when they don't like the attention they're getting. It is, of course, regrettable but I do find it hard to generate much sympathy.

 

[Doug B]

I don’t think you can equate being a silly attention seeking celebrity with malicious tabloids who will literally do anything to sell a story. Yes these people do invite a lot of attention and I do find it all rather pointless but that doesn’t mean they deserve half of the stuff tabloids throw at them. It is truly disgusting and another embarrassment to the country.

I don’t disagree with your last sentiments but the problem particularly with the sun isn’t a new one & has been like it for donkeys years, even I’m aware of it & I don’t read newspapers.

My point is unless you have lived under a rock everyone knows what to expect from the tabloids if your desire is celebrity & as has already been said if there wasn’t a market for this tripe they wouldn’t exist.

Plus I don’t think these people are silly, they see the vast rewards that even minor celebrity can bring & are happy to degrade themselves to achieve it, they want it because they watch it so I’m sure they are aware of the pitfalls that has happened to others better than I do who doesn’t actively follow along.

As I see it non of it is new it just seems more degrading these days :shock: going back to the Sun I remember a joke in my childhood favourite Porridge when fletcher is asked if he wants something from the shop he replies “the Sun...........oh & something to read” must be 40 years old that one.

 

[stuartpaul]

Those not realising how tragic it is that she saw her only option at 40 was to end her own life, are in a very fortunate and enviable position.

What is even more tragic Bob, is that there appears to be a whole generation who seem to think that suicide is the only/best way out.

That saddens me immensely.

 

[Doug B]

I listened a while ago to a radio 4 program on suicide the figures are quite staggering 6507 in 2018 with men & women in there late 40’s being the biggest proportion.
With that sort of number it’s unbelievable there hasn’t been government intervention on a nationwide scale, if those sort of numbers we’re happing in say the workplace there would be uproar

 

[doctor Bob]

I listened a while ago to a radio 4 program on suicide the figures are quite staggering 6507 in 2018 with men & women in there late 40’s being the biggest proportion.
With that sort of number it’s unbelievable there hasn’t been government intervention on a nationwide scale, if those sort of numbers we’re happing in say the workplace there would be uproar

I think it's coming to the forefront these days, mental health etc, just takes time and rarely a quick fix.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

My wife came into the room and told me that Ms Flack had died. My first reaction was "who". My second was a quick google to find out who she was. I then knew why I didn't know who she was - her programs were ones I generically file as garbage and never watch.

But that a successful, attractive, (I assume) prosperous 40 year old to feel so distressed that she would take her own life is disturbing.

To blame this on the media may be unfair. But there is no doubt that the media ruthlessly exploit peoples emotions irrespective of the damage it does in pursuit of more sales.

This may be the price we have to carry for a free press - but I do feel that any step out of line should be punished through publication of a similar number of column inches and pictures as the original intrusion. The current 2 colmn inch apology on page 11 is no deterrent!

I do suspect that huge success creates major personal stresses:

- who are real or fair weather friends
- reliance on adulation and recognition, if it dries up how do you cope
- deference is a drug - every time you go to a bar, restaurant, party etc
- you fear the loss of fame and what life may become thereafter

To trivialise slightly - a grey hair could be the precursor to old age. A harbinger of career and personal collapse for someone whose persona embraced
appearance, attractiveness and energy. It's no wonder that many in a similar position suffer mental stress and worse.

 

[Lons]

Sorry... empty people and empty lives. Both those who want to be on something like Love Island and those who watch and comment about it (obviously not you guys)..

I find the whole thing profoundly depressing. "Idiocracy" is here and now.

+1
I got to know one of those "wannabe celebs at any cost" during protracted negotiations when buying my current car in November 2017, she was a MB saleswoman at the time and although a very pleasant girl to talk to it was clear during several general conversations just what she wanted to do with her life.
She left MB Newcastle shortly after to appear on Love Island and followed that up with Ex on the beach. I didn't watch any of them btw as I find those programs are pure cr*p!

For those interested in exposed flesh her name is Ellie Brown, I'm not going to link but easy to find via google.

 

[Lons]

Unfortunate people whoever they are to feel that the only way out is suicide and the figures are shocking but I wonder how many of those especially those doing it via overdose are crying for help and hoping to be found in time.

I've known a couple of people quite well who have taken their own lives and one famous footballer who lived on the outskirts of out village for a while, Gary Speed. In all of those cases I doubt anyone knew what was coming as they hid it so well.

One lad was a close friend of my son through school, visited and stayed at our house and part of a very tight group of around 15 or so who are still close friends to this day. All seemed fine with him though he'd broken up with his girl friend and went to stay with his sister in London for a week. She came home from work to find him hanging in the bathroom. He was early twenties 15 years ago and my son still feels guilty for not knowing and can't understand why he didn't talk to his mates.

The other was very recent and shocked me to the core, a 79 year old close friend for 30 years her husband died 5 years ago and we kept in very close touch as she lived only a few miles away. Her son in the same little town visited every day. My wife and I visited her the week before she overdosed when she was happy and joking, she left a note, it was well planned but none of us had even a hint it was coming.

 

[rafezetter]

Social media undoubtedly has a lot to answer for. With the exception of this forum I take no part in it - I couldn't give a monkey's toss what other people are doing, like or dislike or what they think of me. To do otherwise, madness lies.

Mark Zuckerberg ....charged with crimes against humanity. I live for the day when I see that headline.

While I think he's a scumbag - despite the billions he gives to charity, he didn't do it, the people did - all he did was open the door, which wouldn't have been possible without the internet; so it's the old adage - "guns don't kill people, people kill people".

The simple truth is, there is and has been for many years all the evidence a person needs to see that stepping into the spotlight on a reality TV show is a certainty to become a target, because you've got nothing else to offer up to the tabloids but sordid details of your past that anyone who knows you will gladly serve up for a fat fee, and if they won't talk or you're actually a pretty good human being, the tabloids will make stuff up anyway.

The same goes for every other "nobody" attention seeker on social media.

Everyone else in the media is there for professional reasons; music, acting, politics etc etc etc and often that's enough to keep the media from prying too much into thier personal life - unless ofc they annoy the media in some way.

I'm all for a "free press", but I'm sure the "free" part didn't mean "free to persecute at will".

 

[rafezetter]

Those not realising how tragic it is that she saw her only option at 40 was to end her own life, are in a very fortunate and enviable position.

It wasn't her only option, and a good portion of the blame should to go her friends, family and the Love Island show itself (as I personally feel they have a duty of care). This wasn't some young person suffering in secret - it was headline news - someone should have told her that prosecuting for defamation and slander was a very real option. Where were they? Did they stand by her side and tell her to fight? Tell her to make those.... pinapples... pay? Alive she could have cleared her name, and with the newspapers being found guilty of defamation and outright lying quite a few times in recent history I'd say her chances were very good of winning.

Now.... now, it'll be left to those who knew her to face any a-hole who tries to perpetuate the lies in the months and years ahead.

 

[Trevanion]

if they won't talk or you're actually a pretty good human being, the tabloids will make stuff up anyway.

I was watching a Ross Kemp program on HMP Belmarsh the other day where there’s a certain very controversial far-right figure locked up. The Sun (or one of the other tabloids) had made a completely false story about him getting beaten up by a seventy four year old during the first week while in prison.

Why are they allowed to produce such lies, even if it’s about a questionable individual?

I also hate the “name and shame” culture that’s appeared lately amungst social media and the regular media. I think court cases and accusations should be kept totally private until proven guilty and charged etc... The amount of damage malicious rumours can do to a persons personal life is staggering.