CELEBRITIES have forfeited the right to privacy from the Media, when they have worked with the Media to promote themselves – according to Sunday Herald journalist, Vicky Allan, today.
Analysing recent reaction to photographs of a semi-naked Duchess of Cambridge appearing in several publications in Europe, not those in the UK, Allan writes: “[There is an overriding] belief [among the general public] that, when stars begin to court fame, when they package their lives through press releases and orchestrated interviews during which they divulge their passions and involve us in their personal story, they sign a Faustian pact.
“It may not be written in black and white, but effectively says: ‘You can have our attention, money, adulation, but you can’t keep even some little piece for yourself – you have to give all. And if what you present is a lie, or inauthentic, we will expose you as a fraud or hypocrite.'”
Allan includes comment from, among others, Alex Barr, a director at The BIG Partnership, PR agency; Paul Holleran, Scottish Organiser, the National Union of Journalists; and Julian Calvert, media and journalism lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University and chair of the Society of Editors (Scotland).
