This man: ex-President Bill Clinton is a public figure. Does he have rights to privacy?
The answer is no. (It will be explained later).
This week's seminar is about public figures, privacy, right to know. A case study was presented about the biggest health insurance company in America, WellPoint which invaded insurance holders' personal information especially with health reports. Typically if a policy-holder is diagnose with an illness, the company seeks to find loopholes in agreements and contractual expressions to drop the insurance coverage. This came other national spectacle and the Obama Administration had to step in to prevent such frauds and exploiting personal information.
Rights to privacy is a problematic concept in America. According to Wisegeek (2011), the First Amendment looks to protect the freedom of speech of the media, while American laws do accept rights for privacy, the statements made must not be facts. As a loophole, under the pretext of speculation and assumption, media outlets can indeed release personal information.
In 1998, ex-President Bill Clinton came under fire after a scandal outbroke with Monica Lewinsky. He was scrutinised by the public and the press to release details and confession of having any intimate and sexual relations with a White House intern. If the President then did have his rights to privacy, he need not answer those questions that could potentially embarrass him or be marked for life.
It should be noted that public figures or celebrities cannot have rights to privacy. This is because they willingly accept to trade their private lives for fame and reputation, to be recognised. Fame for one, could be exchanged for fortune because they have a reputation for being good in their trade (acting for celebrities, persuasion and capabilities as a politician).
It is indeed a difficult situation for journalists to follow to report on news that has a thin line between the public's right to know and need to know. It should be understood that if it is a worthy cause to expose ill-practices or illegality like WikiLeak has done, it is justifiable for a news report.
References:
Wisegeek 2011, What is Invasion of Privacy, Wisegeek.com, viewed 25 June 2011, <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-invasion-of-privacy.htm>
No comments:
Post a Comment