Rihanna

I don’t pay much attention to all celebrity news and drama. I feel that most of the stuff the media tells is blown way out of proportion and just do it to make money. But for other people, they love hearing about who is dating who and which celebrity moms are the hottest and so forth. But when I heard about Rihanna and Chris Brown I was a little interested and as I kept reading about it I realized that Public Relations plays a big part in the whole ordeal.

In an article from ABC News titled Rihanna Won’t Discuss Chris Brown, but Thanks Fans, it talks about a leaked photo that might have come from the police dept. It says that the phone was first posted by a celebrity Web site called TMZ which didn’t explain its origin. The picture wasn’t even supposed to be viewed by anyone but the police and TMZ didn’t think twice about putting the picture up once they got their hands on it. There has been a lot of controversy on where the picture came from and whether they should published it at all.

The picture was supposedly taked after Rihanna’s boyfriend Chris Brown abused her and left her with bruises and cuts on her face. (click to see picture)

An article from PR Weekly Titled Rihanna aftermath rouses ethics debate explains that “traditionally, journalistic standards required reporters and editors to keep the names and photos of victims form publication.” David Hauslaib, editorial director of Jossip.com said “Rihanna’s star status and the luminary-obsessed nature of entertainment media have thrown the old rules away”

Jossip and TMZ are not the only outlets of the news, among them are Gawker, Newsday, the New York Post as well as US Weekly. They all published the photo; Oprah Winfrey also showed the picture and discussed the whole situation on her February 20 show.

People magazine was one that didn’t publish the photo. The news editor of People, Rob Howe said, “The photo is not supposed to be publicized; the police have made that clear. She (Rihanna) is a public figure, but we can help, as much as possible, protect her privacy by not publishing that image.”

So what is more important, good media or the privacy of a human being? Yes, Rihanna is a very well known celebrity but I believe that whoever released this picture was only thinking of themselves. Issues like this should be kept private, at least until the police figure the whole situation out. The people that chose to publish the picture were only doing their job and giving people what they want. But, I think that some things are more confidential then others. It’s an ethical issue and a choice that people have to make.