Right to Privacy

After reading Ch. 5, I was shocked to see how media can ruin people’s lives just by invading their privacy. Media should be held liable for intrusion of privacy especially when it causes harm to those involved. I don’t understand why the media is so intrusive. People’s lives can really be harmed due to the media, for instance the media coverage over the TWA Flight 180 that crashed in 1996. The media completely bombarded Donald Nibert and his family right after they had found out that their daughter had died in the crash. The media took photos without the family’s knowledge as they selected a burial plot for their daughter. The media even went to great lengths by crawling under vehicles just to get pictures of the grieving family.

Another issue that I have about media privacy is the way media deals with sex crimes such as rape. It is a known ethics rule that you never publish a rape victim’s name because of the stigma attached to the victim. What really disappointed me was that the New York Times named a rape victim because a tabloid did it first. Instead of protecting the victim, the Times published her name since it was already out there. Not only did the Times publish her name, but they also named members of her family and even profiled her sex life which completely makes me disgusted. It made me lose some credibility for the Times.

I think that privacy is extremely important to all individuals and the media should respect that. I understand that sometimes privacy should be invaded when the public has a right to know, but only if it is of legitimate concern to the public. Other than that, the media should never intrude on people’s lives just to get a good story.