Public Interest

I am a member of the public and I do not consider it to be in my interests to see pictures of Prince Harry performing his antics. Some newspapers claim that they have the right to publish these photographs because they have already been seen by everybody on a celebrity internet site. Well, I do not look at celebrity sites and I have no intention of doing so. When these pictures are limited to the internet viewers have to make a positive effort to see them, but when the person sitting opposite holds up their newspaper close to our face we have no choice but to look. The newspapers should consider this. We can all use our imagination about what happened so we do not need to have it pushed into our faces. It is debatable whether the antics of the Prince in Las Vegas should have been published at all. All this is done in the name of making money not in the public interest.

Please consider this: there is an outside but reasonable chance that Prince Harry will become the Head of State. Whether you are a republican or a monarchist do you want your Head of State  to become the subject of ridicule or public entertainment? The press should consider this too.

This weekend we have been treated to headlines from the popular press that there are rumours that a singer and a professional footballer have been having an affair. Once again you cannot avoid seeing these headlines. We have no way of knowing whether these rumours are true of not. We do not need to know about or read about such rubbish. Publication of such rumours is not in the public interest.

Once again the press is causing anguish to the family and friends of famous people when there is no need for it. Let's hope that the Leveson enquiry shows some teeth to prevent the publication of nonsense and rumour which has no bearing upon legitimate public concern.