How much is too much?

Matt Hook
mh174104@ohio.edu

Today's age is one of instant access. We as a people decide that we need our information now and we need it wherever we can get it. Long gone are the days when we would sit and read our newspaper while we sipped our morning coffee. We go to work, checking our email and news updates on our Blackberries and iPhones. You want to be able to trade stocks or update your Facebook? There's an app for that. Want to be able to stalk your favorite celebrity and find them around town? Definitely an app for that.

Because of our obsession and need for information that comes instantly, we have resorted to a need for voyeuristic transparency with every desired piece of information we find relevant or interesting. After reading about the Princess Di fiasco with the media, it certainly raised the question, do we really need to know what Tom Cruise did in the bathroom? I mean really, it's a bathroom. There are only a certain number of things you can do in a bathroom.





Now the question is how do you solve the dilemma from an ethical standpoint? It is hard to deny that these people have the legal right to take photos in a public area or report that certain people were present in a public place. But how close are we to invasion of privacy?

As much as we have a right to information, don't the subjects of our articles have a right to privacy as well? We as journalists have a responsibility to step back and evaluate what is pertinent to our audience and what is newsworthy. This is a major issue for us to reign in during a time when we are viewed as intrusive and meddlesome. We would do well to heed our audience, before we indeed become a dying breed.